Waters," said Dick, as
their transports swung from the shore upon the dark surface of the
river. "The mighty rivers help us. Look how we went up the Cumberland
and the Tennessee and now we've harnessed a flowing ocean for our
service."

"Getting poetical, Dick," said Warner.

"I feel it and so do you. You can't see the bluffs any more. There's
nothing in sight, but the lights of the steamers and the transports. We
must be somewhere near the middle of the stream, because I can't make
out either shore."

There were two regiments aboard the transport, the Winchester and one
from Ohio, which had fought by their side at both Perryville and Stone
River. Usually these boys chattered much, but now they were silent,
permeated by the same feelings that had overwhelmed Dick. In the
darkness--all lights were concealed as much as possible--with both banks
of the vast river hidden from them, they felt that they were in very
truth afloat upon a flowing ocean.

They knew little about their journey, except that they were destined for
the eastern shore, the same upon which Grand Gulf stood, but they did
not worry about this lack of knowledge. They were willing to trust to
Grant, and most of them were already asleep, upon the decks, in the
cabins, or in any place in which a human body could secure a position.

Dick did not sleep. The feeling of mystery and might made by the
tremendous river remained longer in his sensitive and imaginative
nature. His mind, too, looked backward. He knew that the great
grandfathers of Harry Kenton and himself, the famous Henry Ware and the
famous Paul Cotter, had passed up and down this monarch of streams.
He knew of their adventures. How often had he and his cousin, who now,
alas! was on the other side, listened to the stories of those mighty
days as they were handed from father to son! Those lads had floated
in little boats and he was on a steamer, but it seemed to him that the
river with its mighty depths took no account of either, steamer or canoe
being all the same to its vast volume of water.

He was standing by the rail looking over, when happening to glance back
he saw by the ship's lantern what he thought was a familiar face. A
second glance and he was sure. He remembered that fair-haired Ohio lad,
and, smiling, he said:

"You're one of those Ohio boys who, marching southward from its mouth
in the Ohio, drank the tributary river dry clear to its source, the
mightiest achievement in quenchi