Mr. Huntsworth’s eyes twinkled, and he gave a low chuckle of appreciation.
“My dear,” said he, “just answer every one who asks you questions in the way you have me, and you’ll come out all right. Of course you would want to see your uncle under those circumstances.” Again he chuckled and looked at her approvingly. “She knows that I am her friend,” he mused, “yet she will not tell me why she is sent down here. That there is some reason for it I am convinced. A very remarkable girl!” Aloud he continued, “Here we are at Memphis, child. What shall you do now?”
“It is so near night that I guess that I’d better go to a hotel,” said Jeanne. “That is what father always does first. Then to-morrow morning I want to find Commodore Porter. I have a letter for him.”
“Porter is down the river with Farragut. I doubt if you will be able to find him. But we’ll see in the morning. The thing to do is to get a good night’s rest after this journey. Here is a cab for the Gayoso House. I always stop there. It is a good place, and overlooks the river. Have you ever seen the Mississippi before?”
“No,” answered Jeanne trying to look about in the gathering darkness. “It’s a great river, isn’t it?”
“None greater,” answered Mr. Huntsworth enthusiastically. “Whichever side of this struggle holds it will be the winning side. It is the backbone of the rebellion, and the key to the whole situation.”
“But we hold it, sir,” said Jeanne earnestly. “My father says that now that Vicksburg is taken it will not be long before Richmond will fall and then the rebellion will be over.”
“Pray God that your father may be right,” said Mr. Huntsworth. “But I fear that he is mistaken. These Southerners are not so easily whipped. Every inch of the Confederacy will have to be conquered before they will acknowledge themselves beaten. The North makes the same mistake as the South does. Each forgets that both are of the same Anglo-Saxon blood that never knows defeat. I fear the struggle will be a long and bloody one, all the more bitter for being waged between brothers.”
“I hope that it will not be long,” sighed Jeanne. “I shouldn’t like for Dick to have to be away much longer.”
“Is your brother in the army, my dear?”