ave commander was no more. A shot from one of the batteries had struck
and killed him, when on the very verge of gaining the highest honor that
man could attain,--that of saving his native town from the horrors of
starvation or massacre.

While this was going on, the state of feeling of the lean and hungry
multitude within the town was indescribable. Night had fallen before the
ships reached the boom. The lookout could no longer see and report
their movements. Intense was the suspense. Minutes that seemed hours
passed by. Then, in the distance, the flash of guns could be seen. The
sound of artillery came from afar to the ears of the expectant citizens.
But the hope which this excited went down when the shout of triumph rose
from the besiegers as the Mountjoy grounded. It was taken up and
repeated from rank to rank to the very walls of the city, and the hearts
of the besieged sank dismally. This cry surely meant failure. The
miserable people grew livid with fear. There was unutterable anguish in
their eyes, as they gazed with despair into one another's pallid faces.

A half-hour more passed. The suspense continued. Yet the shouts of
triumph had ceased. Did it mean repulse or victory? "Victory! victory!"
for now a spectral vision of sails could be seen, drawing near the town.
They grew nearer and plainer; dark hulls showed below them; the vessels
were coming! the town was saved!

Wild was the cry of glad greeting that went up from thousands of
throats, soul-inspiring the cheers that came, softened by distance, back
from the ships. It was ten o'clock at night. The whole population had
gathered at the quay. In came the ships. Loud and fervent were the
cheers and welcoming cries. In a few minutes more the vessels had
touched the wharves, well-fed sailors and starved townsmen were
fraternizing, and the long months of misery and woe were forgotten in
the intense joy of that supreme moment of relief.

Many hands now made short work. Wasted and weak as were the townsmen,
hope gave them strength. A screen of casks filled with earth was rapidly
built up to protect the landing-place from the hostile batteries on the
other side of the river. Then the unloading began. The eyes of the
starving inhabitants distended with joy as they saw barrel after barrel
rolled ashore, until six thousand bushels of meal lay on the wharf.
Great cheeses came next, beef-casks, flitches of bacon, kegs of butter,
sacks of peas and biscuit, until the qu