ied in the hotel
alembic, were not found pure gold.

So the country grumbled. The newspapers snarled, criticised and
asserted, with some show of truth, that things were at a dead
standstill, and that nothing practical had been accomplished.

Such was the aspect of affairs at Montgomery, when on the 10th of
April, Governor Pickens, of South Carolina, telegraphed that the
Government at Washington had notified him of its intention to supply
Fort Sumter--"Peaceably if we can; forcibly if we must."

Bulletins were posted before the Exchange, the newspaper office and the
"Government House;" and for two days there was intense suspense as to
what course the South would pursue. Then the news flashed over the
wires that, on the morning of the 12th of April, Beauregard had opened
the ball in earnest, by commencing the bombardment of Fort Sumter. This
caused the excitement to go up to fever heat; and the echo of that
first gun made every heart in the breadth of the land bound with
quickened throb. Business was suspended, all the stores in the town
were closed, while crowds at the hotels and in the streets became
larger and more anxious as the day wore on. Various and strange were
the speculations as to the issue of the fight and its consequences; but
the conviction came, like a thunder clap upon the most skeptical, that
there was to be war after all!

CHAPTER IV.

"THE AWAKENING OF THE LION."

When tidings came of the fall of Fort Sumter, there was wild rejoicing
throughout the South and it culminated at her Capital. All the great,
and many of the little men of the Government were serenaded by bands of
the most patriotic musical persuasion. Bonfires blazed in every street
and, by their red glare, crowds met and exchanged congratulations, amid
the wildest enthusiasm; while the beverage dear to the cis-Atlantic
heart was poured out in libations wonderful to see!

One-half of the country thought that this victory of a few untrained
gunners would prevent further progress of the war; that the Federal
Government, seeing how determined was the stand the South had
taken--how ready she was to defend her principles--would recede and
grant the concessions demanded. The other half felt that, however fair
an augury for the future the great and bloodless victory might be--and
it will be recollected that the only loss was the death of a few United
States soldiers, in the salute Beauregard permitted them to give their
flag--the re