The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1894-07-07
UNDER FIRE.

pOSo hSNCL luChCu LII
excitement. The great river rolled
before them, and it's capabilities were
exhaustless. Steamers passed back
and forth at all hours of the day and
night, and it was seldom that several
of them could not be found at the
wharves, discharging or taking on
cargo. And naturally the boys felt
it incumbent or them to see that ev-
erything was done right. No freight
could be properly transferred with
out their presence. No passenger
left the boat without the conscious
ness of being under close surveil-
lance.
The wharves were the common
property of the boys, and woe to the
wharfinger who said them nay. His
life was h%enceforth a burden to him.
and the juvenile ingenuity of the city
was freely taxed in his behalf. But
usually the wharfinger was a wise
man in his generation, and freely
conceded what he knew could not be
withheld. There We're many coy
hooks among the piles of freight and
cotton bales, and here the boys met
to discuss the present and lay plans
for the future, and generally the fu-
ture oscillated between steamboating
and piracy.
But when the early sixties saw the
freight of steamers gradually change
from cotton bales and merchandise to
soldiers and munitions of war the
ambition of the boys veered round to
the possession of muskets and re-
vOlvers. Swimming contests and
plratlcal schemes were forgotten in
the quickly formed military COM
pany and in marches and counter
marches up and down the streets.
The question of social distinction
had long ago been settled, and those
who could outswim, outdive and out
run the others had taken easy prece-
dence.
So it was that ragged Newt Bixby,
whose father fired on the River Belle,
became leader and Charlie Calhoun
second in command. Charles father
was colonel of the - Mississippi
and was with Lee in Virginia. Char
lie was a born aristocrat and had
been raised" on a large sugar plan
tation, where there were always
hundreds of negroes who were ready
to obey the slightest wish of the
young mas'r." He had thus natu-
rally acquired a naughty manner, but
was generous, brave and noble in dis
position and a universal favorite with
the boys. His knowledge of tactics
and military matters seemed wonder
full, and it was not long before it be-
came a saying among the boys that
he furnished the brains and Newt
the dash for the company.
All the leisure time was now spent
in drills and maneuvers. There were
few able men in the city outside the
garrison. Even the older boys were
on duty with the guard or away in
the regular army. Provisions were
getting scarce as the river communi-
cations began to close up, and every
face grew anxious and e~xpectant.
The boys forgot their years and went
into the drill with the %earnestness of
those who expected to be called to the
front at any time.
Gradually the gunboats of the en-
envy crept toward the city until the
entire water front was occupied.
Then soldiers and batteries seemed
to spring up from all the land sides,
and the city awoke to the fact that it
was %besieged. 1t could be only tenn
porary, Of course, for were there not
$1,000 of the bravest of the southern
army on guard? What mattered it
how superior We're the forces of the
enemy2
But it became terribly real when
the bombardment commenced. The
previous silence had seemed almost
oppressive, and when it was suddenly
broken by the laundering crashes of
artillery, which made the ground
and the very foundations Of the build
ings tremble, pandemonium itself
might have broken loose. The sky
was cobwebbed with the c~risscross-
ing red lines streaming from flying
bombshells. Broken window glass
ratified upon the sidewalks, and a
hailstorm of iron fragments descend
ed upon the city.
No wonder the noncombatants
frantically sought a place of safety
cellars, strong buildings, anything
which promised shelter. But a few
hours showed them how futile such
shelter was. The screaming shells
and heavy masses of iron had little
respect for frame buildings and stone
walls.
All through the day they crouched
trembling, and not till the darkness
put an end to the uproar did they
venture forth to ascertain the dam
age done.
AS the days went by and week fol-
lowed week in slow, dreadful sus-
pense the first u~nreasoning fear be-
gan to wear off, and the curse of a
shell was watched with a
tolerably correct calculation of it's
x~o,h h1o fon