Now the columns of soldiers began to move.
A couple of Navy men dashed past on their way to their ship, holding their little pie-shaped hats, their bell-bottomed trousers flopping foolishly around their ankles. A soldier raised a little cheer and the whole column took it up. One of the sailors blushed and quickened his pace.
Kautz and Dawson were waiting at the end of the pier. They motioned the soldiers forward and directed them to climb the gangplank.
As the men reached the deck they passed a solemn old sailor with a full white beard. He watched them closely as one by one they stepped to the deck, nodding to each in a silent gesture of mournfulness.
The transport moved through the anchored fleet and into the channel. She steamed east until she was well away from shore. When she was two miles out she swung northeast, and some of the soldiers sought shelter from the heat on the deck below or in the shadows of the boats.
Tim leaned against the rail with Red, watching the distant shore. Close by, the air seemed clear and the sun reflected on the water, but the distance was shrouded in haze.
Shortly after noon one of the lookouts gave a yell. A big, black-bearded gunner shouted to his men, and they struggled up from where they lounged with the soldiers on the deck.
Two thirty-pound cannon were mounted near the stern, one on either side. The gunner leaned on the starboard cannon and shielded his eyes, looking into the mist that veiled the horizon.
Tim strained his eyes, then clutched Red’s arm and pointed across the crowded deck. “There she is!”
A small, gray packet ghosted through the mist, about two miles off their starboard bow. The transport swung to port and the soldiers were ordered to stand clear. The gun crew went to work. They sponged and rammed. The gunner grabbed a big pinch bar and crouched and moved the gun around its track. He adjusted the screw to suit his judgment. When the gun seemed ready the gunner sighted again along the barrel and gave another wrench with the bar. Then he stepped aside and shouted, “Fire!”