Dick sat up in a daze and heard a bullet hum by his ear.

Then he heard a powerful voice shouting: "Down! Down, all of you! It's only some skirmishers in the woods!" Then a cannon on one of the armor clads thundered, and a shell ripped its way through the underbrush on the west bank.

Many exclamations were uttered by the half-awakened lads.
"What is it?
Has an army attacked us ?" "Are we before the fort and under fire ?" "Take your foot off me, you big buffalo!" It was Colonel Winchester who had commanded them to keep down, but Dick, a staff officer, knew that it did not apply to him.

Instead he sprang erect and assisted the senior officers in compelling the others to lie flat upon the decks.

He saw several flashes of fire in the undergrowth, but he had logic enough to know that it could only be a small Southern band.