old fellow?"

He addressed his remarks to one of the great guns, and he patted the
long, polished barrel. Harry agreed with him that Charleston harbor
could be held inviolate. He did not believe that ships would have much
chance against heavy cannon in earthworks.

He was back in Charleston several days before he had a chance to go to
Madame Delaunay's. She was unfeignedly glad to see him, but Harry saw
that she had lost some of her bright spirits.

"Colonel Talbot tells me," she said, "that mighty forces are gathering,
and I am afraid, I am afraid for all the thousands of gallant boys like
you, Harry."

But Harry had little fear for himself. Why should he, when the Southern
cause was moving forward so smoothly? They heard a day or two later
that the rail-splitter, Lincoln, had been duly inaugurated President of
what remained of the old Union, although he had gone to Washington at
an unexpected hour, and partly in disguise. On the same day the
Confederacy adopted the famous flag of the Stars and Bars, and Harry and
his friends were soon singing in unison and with fiery enthusiasm:

"Hurrah! Hurrah! for Southern rights, hurrah!
Hurrah for the bonnie blue flag that bears a single star!"

The spring deepened and with it the tension and excitement. The warm
winds from the South blew over Charleston, eternally keen with the odor
of rose and orange blossom. The bay moved gently, a molten mass now
blue, now green. The blue figures could be seen now and then on the