e had been a few hours more of
daylight, she would have served the rest of the Yankee fleet in the same
way."

"Why, Mark, when did this happen?" inquired Mrs. Allison.

"And where?" chimed in Tom.

"And how did you hear of it, seeing that the Yankees have rendered our
post-office at Nashville useless to us?" said his father.

"It happened on the afternoon of the 8th of March, and the scene of the
conflict was Hampton Roads, off the mouth of the James," answered Mark.
"My father told me of it last night, and he first got the news from
Captain Beardsley, who----"

"Ah! I was afraid there wasn't a word of truth in it," exclaimed Mr.
Allison.

"But it is true, every word of it," said Mark earnestly. "Beardsley
always has been half crazy over that vessel, for he says he has seen and
talked with sailor-men who have been all over her; and he has more than
once declared that, when she was ready for sea, she would make a
scattering among the Yankee fleet at Fortress Monroe. He told father
that he had heard a letter read that was in some way smuggled through
from Norfolk yesterday, and that that letter was written by a man who
took part in the fight. All the same father would not believe it until
he had seen and read the letter himself. He thinks it is true, and so do
I."

"I certainly hope it is," said Mrs. Allison. "But those Yankees who came
here a while ago acted more like victors than like beaten men."

Mark Goodwin, who of course got his ideas from his father, declared that
they would not act that way much longer; for as soon as the Federal
fleet at Fortress Monroe had been disposed of, Commodore Buchanan, the
gallant commander of the _Virginia_, would have his choice of two
courses of action: he could not carry coal enough to run up and lay the
city of New York under contribution, but he could reduce Fortress Monroe
and bombard Washington, or he could come South, scatter Goldsborough's
fleet, and recapture Pamlico and Albemarle sounds.

"Glory!" shouted Tom, jumping up and throwing his hat into the air; and
even his father began to show signs of excitement. "Tell him not to mind
us, but to go up and lay Washington in ashes. Our papers said long ago
that it must be purified by fire before Southern legislators would
consent to go there again. Well, which course did Buchanan decide to
follow?"

"I don't know," replied Mark. "I wish I did; but that letter was written
on the evening of the 8th, after the _Virginia