"Why, I hadn't heard of it," said Rodney, looking surprised.
"No, I don't imagine you had opportunity to read the papers very often, but I thought perhaps your father had said something about it in his letters. I have whipped two heavy iron-clad men-of-war——"
"Two which?" exclaimed Dick, while Rodney opened his eyes and looked still more surprised.
Captain Tom repeated the words and was going on to tell about the fights with the gunboats when Rodney interrupted him with:
"Did those vessels belong to the upper or lower fleet?"
"I don't know," replied Tom. "But they came up from New Orleans."
"Then they were not iron-clads; you may rest assured of that."
"Don't I know an iron-clad when I see it?" cried Tom angrily. "I have it from good authority that the armor on their sides was eleven inches thick, and that there were four feet of solid oak back of that."
"Great Moses!" ejaculated Dick. "There isn't a vessel in the Yankee navy that could carry such a load as that. Farragut has done all his brilliant fighting with old wooden ships, and there are no iron-clads in his fleet unless they have come to him since he ran past Forts Jackson and St. Philip."