tion to fight at
long range, retreating up the sound as the fleet advanced--a movement
which soon brought the latter under the fire of a battery that opened
from the shore.

The air, which had previously been perfectly clear that morning, was now
loaded with clouds of smoke, which puffed from a hundred guns, and
surging up from the vessels of the squadron, from the rebel gunboats, and
from the shore battery, rolled away in broken, sun-illumined masses,
wafted by a light northeasterly breeze.

The soldiers in the rigging of the transports could see the flashes burst
from the cannons' mouths, the spouted smoke, the shots throwing up high
in air the water or sand as they struck, or coming skip-skip across the
sound, the shells exploding, and the terrible roar of the battle filled
the air.

For a time the fire of the attack was about equally divided between the
rebel steamers and the fortification on the island. It was soon
discovered, however, that boats had been sunk and a line of piles driven
across the channel abreast of the battery, to prevent the farther advance
of our gunboats in that direction. Behind those the retreating steamers
discreetly withdrew, where they were presently reenforced by several
other armed vessels. The gunboats made no attempt to follow, but took
positions to give their principal attention to the battery.

The fire from the shore gradually slackened, and thousands of hearts
swelled anew as the hour seemed at hand when the troops were to land and
carry the works at the point of the bayonet.

Burnside paced the deck of the Spaulding, keeping an eye on the fort,
watching the enemy's shots, and looking impatiently for the arrival of
the transports. At length they came crowding through the inlet, dropping
their anchors in the sound just out of range of the fort. Seen from the
gunboats, they were a sight not less astonishing than that which they
themselves were coming to witness. Troops, eagerly watching the conflict,
crowded the decks and hung upon the rigging like swarms of bees. Ropes,
masts, and yards were festooned with the heavy, clinging clusters, which
seemed ready to part and fall with their own weight. The effect of the
picture was enhanced by the mellow brilliancy of the afternoon sky,
against which the dark masses were clearly defined, and by the perfect
tranquility of the water, like a sea of glass mirroring the ships and
their loaded spars.

The gunboats sent to the ships the roar