"Looks as wild as the great plains on which I've hunted with my father,"
said Pennington.
"But we hunt bigger game than buffalo," said Dick.
"Game that is likely to turn and hunt us."
"Yes."
"Do you know where we're going?"
"Not exactly, but I can make a good guess. I know that we've taken on
Tennessee River pilots, and I'm sure that we'll turn into the mouth of
that river at Paducah. I infer that we're to attack Fort Henry, which
the Confederates have erected some distance up the Tennessee to guard
that river."
"Looks likely. Do you know much about the fort?"
"I've heard of it only since I came to Cairo. I know that it stands on
low, marshy ground facing the Tennessee, and that it contains seventeen
big guns. I haven't heard anything about the size of its garrison."
"But we'll have a fight, that's sure," said young Pennington. "I've
been in battle only once--at Columbus--but the Johnny Rebs don't give
up forts in a hurry."
"There's another fort, a much bigger one, named Donelson, on the
Cumberland," said Dick. "Both the forts are in Tennessee, but as the
two rivers run parallel here in the western parts of the two states,
Fort Donelson and Fort Henry are not far apart. I risk a guess that
we attack both."
"You don't risk much. I tell you, Dick, that man Grant is a holy
terror. He isn't much to look at, but he's a marcher and a fighter.
We fellows in the ranks soon learn what kind of a man is over us.
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