pervade the whole
ship's company during that day did not escape my notice, and was, in
some degree, contagious.

The officers, when not on duty, kept mostly in their staterooms, and
there was no hilarity among the men.

In the captain's storeroom there was a nook where Charley Reck was in
the habit of spending his leisure moments, and during that afternoon he
had been closeted there longer than was his wont. Just before sunset he
came out, and approaching me with the customary salute, he handed me a
neat little package, and said, "Doctor, when you go down the river, will
you please give this to Louise?" Not understanding him, I replied, "Are
you going to leave us, Charley; aren't you going to stick by the ship?"

Very sadly he answered, "This is my last day; I shall die to-night!" I
tried to rally him by saying, "Nonsense! you are just as likely to come
out all right as any of the rest of us!" But he only replied, "Please
take it, Doctor; I am sponger of that gun, and I shall do my duty; but I
shall be killed to-night!" Then I took the package and locked it in my
desk, thinking as I did so that I would return it to him on the morrow,
and have a good laugh at his expense.

The story of that fearful night has long since been published, and I
shall not attempt to repeat it, further than relates to the subject of
this sketch. I had arranged the ward-room for my "cock-pit," and in the
midst of the awful conflict I heard a voice call down the companion-way,
"Doctor, here's a man with his arm shot off!" and I shouted back, "Bring
him down, quick!"

We laid him on the table, unconscious. His right arm was shattered
midway between the shoulder and elbow. I thought he had fainted from
loss of blood, but the next moment I saw plainly enough that he was
dead.

A shell had exploded near him, and sent a large fragment clear through
his lungs and heart, killing him instantly.

I looked in his calm, white face. It was Charley Reck.

When we were safely at anchor, out of reach of the guns, I thought of
the package for Louise which he had left in my care. It was not sealed,
but simply tied, and the captain said, in view of the relation which he
and Charley had sustained to each other, he would take the
responsibility of opening it, and ascertaining its contents before it
should be delivered. There was an ambrotype of the sweet young girl, and
a letter written in French, breathing all the devotion of a true and
faithful heart.