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_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
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