Creative Books

Around the crown of the heights was a ring of
batteries and lower down, enclosing the town, was another ring.
Far off on the Mississippi the three saw puffing black smoke marking
the presence of a Union fleet, which never for one instant in the whole
course of the war relaxed its grip of steel upon the Confederacy.
Dick's heart thrilled at the sight of the brave ships. He felt then,
as most of us have felt since, that whatever happened the American navy
would never fail.
"I hear the ships are going to bombard," said Warner.
"I heard so, too," said Pennington, "and I heard also that they will have
to do it under the most difficult circumstances. The water in front
of Grand Gulf is so deep that the ships can't anchor. It has a swift
current, too, making at that point more than six knots an hour. There
are powerful eddies, too, and the batteries crowning the cliffs are so
high that the cannon of the gunboats will have trouble in reaching them."
"Still, Mr. Pessimist," said Dick, "remember what the gunboats did at
Fort Henry. You'll find the same kind of men here.


Pages:
73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97