_Merrimac_
would shortly go out to try her strength with the enemy, nothing was
known of the fact that the next morning had been fixed for the
encounter; the secret being kept to the last, lest some spy or adherent
of the North might take the news to the fleet. After putting up his
horse Vincent went down to the navy yard, off which the _Merrimac_ was
lying.

This ship had been sunk by the Federals when, at the commencement of
hostilities, they had evacuated Norfolk. Having been raised by the
Confederates, the ship was cut down, and a sort of roof covered with
iron was built over it, so that the vessel presented the appearance of a
huge sunken house. A ram was fixed to her bow, and she was armed with
ten guns. Her steam-power was very insufficient for her size, and she
could only move through the water at the rate of five knots an hour.

"She is an ugly-looking thing," a man observed to Vincent, as he gazed
at the ship.

"Frightfully ugly," Vincent agreed. "She may be a formidable machine in
the way of fighting, but one can scarcely call her a ship."

"She is a floating battery, and if they tried their best to turn out the
ugliest thing that ever floated they could not have succeeded better.
She is just like a Noah's ark sunk down to the eaves of her roof."

"Yes, she is a good deal like that," Vincent agreed. "The very look of
her ought to be enough to frighten the Federals, even if she did nothing
else."

"I expect it will not be long before she gives them a taste of her
quality," the man said. "She has got her coal and ammunition on board,
and there's nothing to prevent her going out this evening if she wants
to."

"It will be worth seeing when she does go out to fight the Northerners,"
Vincent said. "It will be a new experiment in warfare, and, if she turns
out a success, I suppose all the navies in the world will be taking to
cover themselves up with iron."

The next morning, which was the 8th of March,--a date forever memorable
in naval annals,--smoke was seen pouring out from the funnels of the
_Merrimac_, and there were signs of activity on board the _Patrick
Henry_, of six guns, and the _Jamestown_, _Raleigh_, _Beaufort_, and
_Teazer_, little craft carrying one gun each, and at eleven o'clock they
all moved down the inlet on which Norfolk is situated. The news that the
_Merrimac_ was going out to attack the enemy had now spread, and the
whole population of Norfolk turned out and hastened down toward t