Chapter 26 - Page 2

was time to go away from there. The captain
was on the roof with a red-headed major from Memphis--a fine-looking man.
I heard him say he wanted to leave here, but 'that pilot is killed.'
I crept over to the starboard side to pull the bell to set her back;
raised up and took a look, and I saw about fifteen shot holes
through the window panes; had come so lively I hadn't noticed them.
I glanced out on the water, and the spattering shot were like a hailstorm.
I thought best to get out of that place. I went down the pilot-house guy,
head first--not feet first but head first--slid down--before I struck
the deck, the captain said we must leave there. So I climbed up the guy
and got on the floor again. About that time, they collared my partner
and were bringing him up to the pilot-house between two soldiers.
Somebody had said I was killed. He put his head in and saw me on the floor
reaching for the backing bells. He said, 'Oh, hell, he ain't shot,'
and jerked away from the men who had him by the collar, and ran below.
We were there until three o'clock in the afternoon, and then got away all
right.

The next time I saw my partner, I said, 'Now, come out, be honest,
and tell me the truth. Where did you go when you went to see that battle?'
He says, 'I went down in the hold.'

All through that fight I was scared nearly to death.
I hardly knew anything, I was so frightened; but you see,
nobody knew that but me. Next day General Polk sent for me,
and praised me for my bravery and gallant conduct.
I never said anything, I let it go at that. I judged it wasn't so,
but it was not for me to contradict a general officer.

Pretty soon after that I was sick, and used up, and had to go
off to the Hot Springs. When there, I got a good many
letters from commanders saying they wanted me to come back.
I declined, because I wasn't well enough or strong enough;
but I kept still, and kept the reputation I had made.

A plain story, straightforwardly told; but Mumford told me
that that pilot had 'gilded that scare of his, in spots;'
that his subsequent career in the war was proof of it.

We struck down through the chute of Island No. 8, and I went below
and fell into conversation with a passenger, a handsome man,
with easy carriage and an intelligent face. We were approaching
Island No. 10, a place so celebrated during the war.
This gentleman's home was on the main shore in its neighborhood.
I had some talk with him about the war times; but presently
the discourse fell upon 'feuds,' for in no part of the South
has the vendetta flourished more briskly, or held out longer
between warring families, than in this particular region.
This gentleman said--

'There's been more than one feud around