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THER-WAR LIBRARY. -
- IN FOR THE WAR;
vey : : ——or,—— :
: Tae. BPorts of the Mississippi.
A Romance of Thrilling “Adventure Afloat
: and Ashore.
a :
- ; BY WARD EDWARDS, “ HIGH PRIVATE,’’ U. & V.
CHAPTER I.
DOWN THE RIVER.
Vicksburg!
What memories are aroused by the mere
‘’.. mention’ of the place, the Gibralter, of
: ‘America, as the Confederates called it.
_ Especially willit be remembered by Sher-
man's brave boys, those who went up the
Yazoo River in the cold December weather
‘and then sought to tight their.way through
of the swamps toward Vicksburg—a fruitless
of task, for the swamps were passable only by
sf narrow causeways, which were so well
- uarded that to force a way through was an
of _. impossibility, each attempt meaning just so
. many more brave boys Jaying down their
lives for their country’s sake.
Prete These were blue days for the Union cause
nr —these last daysof ’62 and the early ones of
a ’63—for the substantial victories of the
ot ~ Union arms had beeu few and far between.
: Particularly nad this been true inthe West.
ot. Farragut's splendid work at New Orleans
'. ‘had made the North hopeful of other and
Breater results to follow, but these had not
m
Farragut had been in front of Vicksburg,
but the falling of the river in the autumn
had compelled him to return to New
Orleans.
-The opportunity was seized- by the rebels
to add to the defenses of the Mississippi,
and the Port Hudson batteries were erected.
=~~+t—-Then had followed Sherman's attempt to
reach the place by land, Failure had come
once’ again. January, 1863, found much
grumbling at the North, found a demand
that something should speedily be done.
Then Grant was put in command of opera-
tions at this point, and hope revived.
It was only afew days subsequent to his
taking command that a man might have
been seen to enter his headquarters, a man
who was worthy of more than a passing
glance.
He was short of stature to be sure, but his
figure was one of those that impress an ob-
server with the idea of an immense reserve
strength.
_. His hair was of a sandy hue, and yet too
~ dark to come under the classification of red.
His eyes were a-sort of deep blue, small,
sharp, shrewd, and overhung by a pair of
. bushy eyebrows that matched his hair as to
color.
He received a cordial welcome.
*‘J have been looking for you for the last
: port hour,”’ was added to the words of greet-
: ing.
“Tam sorry I kept you waiting, general,
but I could not well get here sooner. Are
the despatches for the commander ready ?”’
“They are. You will please see that they
= are delivered into Farragut’s hands alone,’
“They shall be.”
“When will you leave here?”
** As soon as night falls.
“How do you propose to return?”
“By the river?”
Inavoice that was filled with surprise,
the general repeated the other’s words:
‘ : “By theriver!’
Ty . With a smile playing about his lips, Volney
j Blair return
“You correctly understood me.”
**It is sure death in my opinion.’
“Trust me for getting throwzh. How.
: : ever, I may say that didI not consider it
% : the safest I would not go that way. As you
are aware, | came up by land, meeting with
not a few obstacles on the way, which I hope
to avoid by returning by way of the river.”
“But you will have to pass the batteries
at Vicksburg?”
“‘ Certainly.’
aang, those of Warrenton?’
“Ye
“And ‘Grand Gulf?”
“Of course, and Prophet's Island and Port
Hudson as well. But I hope to run past in
the night without being discovered.’
“How about torpedoes?”
» Volney Blair shrugged his shoulders.
“IfLam to stop to think of all the possi-
bilities I doubt if I can muster up pluck to
Yet a wise man counts the cost
always. And you must be aware that these
despatches are very important.”
“Tam aware of it; and they will be deliv-
ered inside of three days.”
“In case of capture becoming inevitable
what would you do?’
** Open the despatches, and find out what
they Pontained, then destroy therm
“So you would open my despatches ina
tone that was none too well pleased in ac-
cent.
“Yes, sir.”
‘“*Suppose I ordered you otherwise?’’
“In that case I should at once destroy
them.”
** Unless specifically | ordered you would,
however, epee them ?”
oo Iw uld.”?
“why 7
“*So that in case I was not captured after
all, or managed to escape after being captur-
ed; I should be able tosay tomy commander
what the nature of your orders were.’
“What good would that do?”’
“The same good that receiving your writ-
ten orders would do,” was the “quiet reply.
“*T possess the confidence of Admiral Farra-
gut, sir.’’
“So much so that he would take your
word even ina weighty matter ?””
“*T believe so, sir.”
‘““Well, open the despatches under such
circumstances as you describe and acquaint
yourself with their contents, but not other-
we Certainty, not. You said the despatches
were ready ?’
“T did. Here they are
Volney Blair took tie little packet of
folded papers and secreted it about. his
clothing.
Then saluting respectfully, he withdrew.
It was no child's play that this daring
man had before him.
The distance by the river to where Admi-
ral Farragut’s vessel lay was nearly or quite
two hundred and fifty miles.
It was through a country completely un-
der the control of the rebels, and on either
bank their batteries frowned, threatening
death to any who tried to pass.
It wasaterrible gantlet that he proposed
to run.
Could he do it and come out alive?
At the first blush it seemed out of the
range of possibilities.
But , he had come to the general from Far-
ragut by way of the land, and had encoun-
tered stich dangers as made him believe that
the risk in this 3 way could be no greater, and
he was determined to try it.
The night was dark, fortunately for the
spy, for under that catezory he was to be
placed, since if captured he would be treat-
ed as such.
He had already secured a small boat, a
light skiff with a flat bottom, and in this he
embarked a few minutes past nine.
There was none to see him depart, none to
say good-by or wish him success, none to
whom he could deliver a last message to
mother or brother or sister or loved one in
case he never again should see them.
Two hundred and fifty miles!
A journey indeed at which a man might
stand appalled.
But Volney Blair showed;no signs of faint-
heartedness; on the contrary, he rather
scemed to enjoy the idea of the trip before
im.
One good strong push sent the skiff far
enough from shore for it to feel the influ-
ence of the current, and her head swinging
down stream she then moved slowly along
of her own volition.
He did not take the oars for some little
time, being busy in arranging some matters,
the nature of which will become apparent
in due season.
He was only a few miles above Vicksburg,
the lights of which were soon in sight.
bi As he drew nearer to them he muttered to
C Now then, you Johnny Rebs, let’s see if
you are as wide awake as you were the night
passed the forts below Now Orleans. You
gave me a hot dose that night, but I got
through and won the everlasting gratitude
of Farragut. Ha, ha! the general wondered
what good would be done iy my delivering
his orders word of mouth; he would not
have asked the question had he ever had an
opportunity forafew words about me with
Farragut.”
Nearer still he drew to the city.
Nearer still he drew to those terrible bat-
teries that could deal out such awful death.
Nearer still he drew to that spot which
the rebels ‘considered impregnable, from be-
fore which Farragut had been compelled to °
retreat. .
Now he took in his oars, and stretching
himself out allowed the skiff to float down
the middle of the stream, while he bent over
the side of the craft to watch for danger
The greatest peril he had to look for was
torpedoes, of which it was understood there
were a great number planted in the chan-
ne
His care was not amiss
When near to the city he saw a dark ob-
ject in the water ahead of him.
Instantly he knew what it was.
A torpedo!
With his hand dragging in the water he
sheered the skiff sufficiently to pass by with-
out coming into contact with it.
Danger ‘number one was met success-
fully,
How would it be with number two?
The question could not well be answered
until the natufe of danger number two
should become know
It was not long before the spy was brought
face to face withit.
He was yet half a mile to the north of the
batteries, and was moving along with the
utmost caution when he awoke to the fact
that a most deadly peril menaced him.
Aware of the possibility of meeting small ~
boats in the vicinity of the city he had kept
his ears wide open, but to no purpose it
would seem, for here, right ppefore him,
directly in his course, was a
What would be the result?
It was now too late to make an attempt to
evade the boat, forit was not more than a
couple of hundred feet away. Had he dared
to use his oars, he might even in the short
distance left him have sheered his skiff suf-
ficiently to pass the other boat; but this he
dared not do, for had they not already dis-
covered him, the sound of the oars would
betray his presence. S
From their actions he judged that he had
not yet been discovered, and his hope was
that they would move away before he ap-
proached much nearer.
There was some basis for such a hope find-
ing a place in his breast, for the other boat
was, like his own, floating down with the
tide, although, being larger and more heavily
laden, not quite so fast. Hence he was slow-
ly overtaking the patrol-boat, for such he -
took it to be.
Softly thrusting his hand as deeply into‘
the water as he could reach, he gave it a ~~
sweep forward, which served to retard the
headway of the skiff while it also turned her
head a trifle to the right.
Could he repeat this experiment a number
of times he might succeed in getting the
skiff far enough @ away to lessen the danger
of discovery.
Just as he was beginning to feel hopeful,
what he so greatly feared, happened.
One of the inmates of the guard-boat
chanced to see the black object on the water
and drew the attention of his companions to™.
t
“There is something there,” he said. \
‘* Where
“To the right hand of us, astern. Dorit
you see it?”
Volney heard the words. They informed
him that he had judged aright in thinking
prior to this minute that he had not been
seen, while at the same time they were a
warning to him to prepare for the worst.
To the words of the man, the sharpness of
whose eyes ‘Volney was berating, the answer
was giv’
“T see , something.
out to be?”
“1 lo’ t make it out to beanything. All
my eyes tell me is that there is a black ob-
ject there.”
“We must investigate.” coe aee
“Correct. It would not do to let a Yankee
spy run past us without our so much as
smelling him.” !
“ Out” yi your oars!’’ now came the 2:
comma
Volney Sneard the oars placed in the row-
ocks,
It was now high time for him to decide on
a course to pursue. °
For one moment he thought of sliding ‘
overboard and clinging to “the stern, to +
create the impression that they had stum- :
bled on a skiff adrift.
He abandoned the idea as soon as formed, 2
however, because if they believed it to bea. ...~
skiff adrift they would naturally take it in
tow, and he would probably reach the in-
terior of the Vicksburg worksif be hung fast *
tothe stern. And he could not afford to:
lose the skiff, for whilehe might be able to
What do you make it