CHAPTER V. THE RESTORATION OF THE GREAT RIVER. In the twilight, the children, with their parents, gathered on the porch to enjoy the evening air, and be "morantic," affirmed Roger, "thinking of the moon, and listening to the warbling frogs" in the distant pond. "When they first begin as 'peepers they sound rather pleasantly," said Maedy. "but now they do nothing but cr-r-r-oak from night till morning, the tiresome creatures!" "How would you enjoy camp life with Horace, down South ?" asked Roger; "where alligators paddle ashore at the barking of a dog, and eat, not dogs only, but the little black babies, if any are lying round. I would like to hear them roar, though-the alligators, not the babies," he added. "Alligators roar?" said Frank, doubtfully. "I don't think they ever do.” "Sometimes they make a harsh, rumbling noise like distant thunder, but not often," said Mr. Warren. "They're generally quiet animals, and therefore the more disagreeable; for, like snakes, they often are mistaken at first for inanimate objects. None but a practiced eye could note the difference between an alligator and a log of drift-wood lying in the water, till the creature raises his head and snaps his jaws." "Horace said that under the throat they have two pores or openings, which give out a strong, musky fluid. It's very disagreeable to approach them, on account of it. And the swamps and bayous swarm with them," continued Frank. "Indeed!" exclaimed Roger. "I think the jaw-snapping would be unpleasant enough to keep people away; for my part, I shouldn't care to trouble them for any further demonstration. father?" What are bayous, The "They're sluggish streams-outlets to a lake; or old channels of the Mississippi, still containing water. The Department of the Gulf abounds with them; and a most ugly region it is for man and beast. Much of it is simply a vast simmering Chickahominy. You recall the swamps which Daniel traversed last year. southern part of Louisiana, in particular, is a slimy, half-made country, full of decaying vegetable matter, cypress roots, snags; infested with alligators, copperheads, rattlesnakes, and overhung with woods, curtained with the southern treemoss, hanging long and black, like funeral drapery from the branches." "Ugh! what a picture!" exclaimed Frank. "I hope Horace will never be ordered into Southern Louisiana." And so did the others of the group most fervently. "Nevertheless, our New England boys have set the flag firmly amid these gloomy swamps; nor was it through any fault of theirs that they did less well in Texas. Early in January, soon after Banks's appointment to the Department, Galveston, the principal city in that State, was surrendered to the rebels by the commanding officer, one Renshaw, who is reported to have been on good terms with the leading secessionists of the neighborhood, and who, it is certain, had made no preparations for resistance. But when two of the enemy's boats bore down upon the 'Harriet Lane,' one of our fleet lying in the harbor, they found neither traitors nor cowards there. Her commander, Captain Wainwright, fought till he fell dead; and Lieutenant Lee, another officer, was mortally hurt. This latter was the son of a major serving. with the enemy, and the two recognized one another, as the young man lay dying. Captain Wainwright's son, a lad only ten years old, stood at the cabin door, with a revolver in each hand, firing till the last load was gone. But a ball shattered his hand, at sight of which his spirit gave way, and, bursting in tears, he cried: 'Do you want to kill me? "Poor little man!" exclaimed Mrs. Warren. "That was hard; a child younger than Roger fighting against an armed force!" "The sailors' record in the struggle was noble throughout. On the 'Owasco,' the master's mate narrowly escaped death, bullets hitting his cap, clothes and sword, while he led the men in cheering for Yankee Doodle.' Another of the same crew remained on deck during the whole combat, loading and firing with a mutilated hand bound in a handkerchief. When a second shot, on the shoulder, sent the blood spurting through his shirt, he was ordered below, but stoutly refused to obey, saying, 'As long as there's work to be done on deck I can stay.' We may well believe that this sailor is always ready for work. A day or two afterward the captain said: |
