The second awakening was about half way between midnight and dawn.
Something cold was continually dropping on Dick's face and he awoke to
find hundreds of sheeted and silent white forms lying motionless upon
the deck. Snow was falling swiftly out of a dark sky, and the fleet
was moving slowly. In the darkness and stillness the engines throbbed
powerfully, and the night was lighted fitfully by the showers of sparks
that gushed now and then from the smoke stacks.
Dick thought of rising and brushing the snow from his blankets, but he
was so warm inside them that he yawned once or twice and went to sleep
again. When he awoke it was morning again, the snow had ceased and the
men were brushing it from themselves and the decks.
The young soldiers, as they ate breakfast, spoke of the rifle shots that
had been fired at them the night before and, since little damage had
been done, they appreciated the small spice of danger. The wildness
and mystery of their situation appealed to them, too. They were like
explorers, penetrating new regions.
"To most of us it's something like the great plains," said Pennington to
Dick. "There you seldom know what you're coming to; maybe a blizzard,
maybe a buffalo herd, and maybe a band of Indians, and you take a
pleasure in the uncertainty. But I suppose it's not the same to you,
this being your state."
"I don't know much about Western Kentucky," said Dick, "my part lies to
the center and east, but anyway, our work is to be done in Tennessee.
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