know that I was standing by you until I had been here some
time," said Shepard, as if he sought to indicate that he had not been
seeking Harry and his comrade.

"I thought you had left Charleston," said Harry, who had not seen him
for a week.

"Not at such a time," said Shepard, quietly. "So much of overwhelming
interest is happening here that nobody who is alive can go away."

He put a pair of powerful glasses to his eyes and scanned the sea's rim.
He looked a long time, and then his face showed excitement.

"It comes! It comes!" he exclaimed, more to himself than to Harry and
Arthur.

"Is it the steamer? Is it the Star of the West?" exclaimed Harry
forgetting all doubts of Shepard in the thrill of the moment.

"Yes, the Star of the West! It can be no other!" replied Shepard.
"It can be no other! Take the glasses and see for yourself!"

When Harry looked he saw, where sea and sky joined, a black dot that
gradually lengthened out into a small plume. It was not possible to
recognize any ship at that distance, but he felt instinctively that it
was the Star of the West. He passed the glasses to Arthur, who also
took a look, and then drew a deep breath. Harry handed the glasses back
to Shepard, saying:

"I see the ship, and I've no doubt that it's the Star of the West.
Do you know anything about this vessel, Mr. Shepard?"

"I've heard that she's only a small steamer, totally unfitted for
offense or defense."

"If the batteries fire upon her she's bound to go back."

"You put it right."

"Then, in effect, this is a test, and it rests with us whether or not to
fire the first shot."

"I think you're right again."

Others also saw the growing black plume of smoke rising from the
steamer's funnel, and a deep thrilling murmur ran through the crowd
gathered on the sea walls. To many the vessel, steaming toward the
harbor, was foreign, carrying a foreign flag, but to many others it
was not and could never be so.

Shepard passed the glasses to the boy again, and he looked a second time
at the ship, which was now taking shape and rising fast upon the water.
Then he examined the walls of Sumter and saw men in blue moving there.
They, too, were watching the coming steamer with the deepest anxiety.

Arthur took his second look also, and Shepard watched through the
glasses a little longer. Then he put them in the case which he hung
over his shoulder. Glasses were no longer needed. They could now see
with