ever. This continued
four or five days, and then gradually passed off; and he woke up one
morning perfectly conscious. His mother was sitting on a chair at the
bedside.

"What is the time, mother?" he asked. "Have I been asleep long?"

"Some time, dear," she answered gently; "but you must not talk. You are
to take this draught and go off to sleep again; when you wake you may
ask any questions you like." She lifted the lad's head, gave him the
draught and some cold tea, then darkened the room, and in a few minutes
he was asleep again.

CHAPTER VII.

THE "MERRIMAC" AND THE "MONITOR."

It was some weeks before Vincent was able to walk unaided. His
convalescence was somewhat slow, for the shock to the system had been a
severe one. The long railway journey had been injurious to him, for the
bandage had become somewhat loose and the broken pieces of bone had
grated upon each other, and were much longer in knitting together than
they would have been had he been treated on the spot.

As soon as he could walk he became anxious to rejoin his troop, but the
doctor said that many weeks must elapse before he would be able to
undergo the hardships of a campaign. He was reconciled to some extent to
the delay by letters from his friends with the troop and by the perusal
of the papers. There was nothing whatever doing in Virginia. The two
armies still faced each other, the Northerners protected by the strong
fortifications they had thrown up round Washington--fortifications much
too formidable to be attacked by the Confederates, held as they were by
a force immensely superior to their own, both in numbers and arms.

The Northerners were indeed hard at work, collecting and organizing an
army which was to crush out the rebellion. General Scott had been
succeeded by McClellan in the supreme command, and the new general was
indefatigable in organizing the vast masses of men raised in the North.
So great were the efforts that, in a few months after the defeat of Bull
Run, the North had 650,000 men in arms.

But while no move had at present been made against Virginia there was
sharp fighting in some of the border States, especially in Missouri and
Kentucky, in both of which public opinion was much divided, and
regiments were raised on both sides.

Various operations were now undertaken by the Federal fleet at points
along the coast, and several important positions were taken and
occupied, it being impossible for the Confede