st ushered in, and wondering whether before the
end of that year he could see again his cosey Northern home and wife
and friends, he saw far up the river a cloud of black smoke, that rose
high in the air, and blotted from sight the shining winter stars. He
rubbed his eyes, and looked again. There was no mistake: the smoke was
there, and rapidly moving toward him. Clearly it was a steamer coming
down the river; but whether an armed enemy or a blockade-runner, he
could not say. He gave the alarm; and in a moment the roll of the
drums made the sailors below spring from their hammocks, and, hastily
throwing on their clothes, rush on deck. The drums beat to quarters,
and the crew were soon at their guns. Over the water came the roll of
the drums from the other ships, and from the troops on shore, now all
aroused and in arms. For thirty hours the Federals had been expecting
this attack, and now they were fully prepared for it.

The attacking vessels came nearer, and the men on the Union ships
strained their eyes to see by the faint starlight what manner of craft
they had to meet. They proved to be two large river-steamships, piled
high with cotton-bales, crowded with armed men, and provided with a
few field pieces. Clearly they were only dangerous at close quarters,
and the "Lane" at once began a rapid fire to beat them back. But the
bad light spoiled her gunners' aim, and she determined to rush upon
the enemy, and run him down. The Confederate captain managed his helm
skilfully, and the "Lane" struck only a glancing blow. Then, in her
turn, the "Lane" was rammed by the Confederate steamer, which plunged
into her with a crash and a shock which seemed almost to lift the
ships out of water. The two vessels drifted apart, the "Lane" hardly
injured, but the Confederate with a gaping wound in his bow which sent
him to the bottom in fifteen minutes. But now the other Confederate
came bearing down under a full head of steam, and crashed into the
"Lane." Evidently the Confederates wanted to fight in the old style;
for they threw out grappling-irons, lashed the two ships side to side,
and began pouring on to the deck of the Federal ship for a
hand-to-hand conflict. Cries of anger and pain, pistol-shots, cutlass
blows, and occasional roars from the howitzers rose on the night air,
and were answered by the sounds of battle from the shore, where the
Confederates had attacked the slender Union garrison. The sinking
steamer took up a posit