n American penny-a-liners. So, I let
them--lie.

On the fourth evening of my imprisonment, there was an unusual stir in
the building soon after nightfall. Intercourse between the different
rooms is prevented as much as possible, but the channels of covert
communication are many, and not easily cut off. In ten minutes every one
was aware that the iron-clads which were to annihilate Charleston had
recoiled, beaten and wounded. My mate rejoiced greatly after his
saturnine fashion, and I--the fullness of listlessness being not
yet--felt a brief glow of satisfaction. Others were more demonstrative.
Loud came the paean of the warlike priest through our mural
speaking-trumpet; while the sturdy soldier on the left, after hearing
the news, and taking a trough-full of "old rye," expressed himself "good
for two months more of gaol." Some one at a lower window began to sing,
softly at first, the National Anthem of the South; then voice after
voice joined in, in spite of sentinels' warnings, till the full volume
of the defiant chorus rolled out, ringingly:

"Hurrah! hurrah! for Southern rights, hurrah!
One cheer more for the bonnie blue flag
That carries a Single Star."

On the whole, I think that Sunday evening passed more rapidly than any
that I can chronicle here.

The newspapers, for the next few days, were rather amusing. The
well-practiced Republican apologists exhausted their ingenuity in
endeavoring to explain away the reverse. It was an experiment--a
reconnaissance on a large scale--anything you please but a repulse. But
the facts hemmed them in remorselessly; at last, in their desperation,
they fell fiercely, not only on their Democratic opponents, but on each
other.

The truth is, that the failure of the iron-clads was so complete, that
it ought to furnish some useful hints for the future. With the exception
of the Keokuk, whose construction differed slightly from that of her
fellows, none were sunk or fairly riddled with shot; but scarcely one
went out of that sharp, brief battle efficiently offensive. The starting
of bolts might easily be remedied, but it is clear that the revolving
machinery of the turrets is far too delicate and vulnerable; and that
these are liable to become "jammed" by a chance shot at any moment. This
objection is the more serious, when you consider how miserably these
vessels seem to steer. Almost all were more or less "sulky" as soon as
they felt the strong tideway, and the h