"Mr. Huntsworth," said Jeanne as they were for a few moments out of ear-shot of the lamenting Bob. "I heard a man say that the Yankees would be here before long. Do you think it can be true?"
"I don't know, child. Let us hope so," was the answer.
But the day passed and no Yankees made their appearance and the citizens settled once more into a semblance of quiet. But from that time the regular siege of Vicksburg began. Utterly cut off from the world and surrounded by a circle of fire, the fiery shower of shells went on day and night. Regular occupations were discontinued, and people did nothing but eat what they could get, sleep when they could and dodge the shells.
For some time Aunt Sally, Bob, Dick, Jeanne and Mr. Huntsworth, and the servants had been living in the commodious cave prepared for them. The girls no longer sewed or walked about. They were content if they could keep out of range of the shells. Once every day some one of them ran the gauntlet of shells to buy the meat and milk. Mule meat was the staple article of diet, but this Bob and Jeanne utterly refused to touch and confined themselves to rice and milk.
"It is not at all bad," declared Mr. Huntsworth as he sat at the door of the cave one evening a piece of the meat in his hand. "Come here, girls, and let me show you the difference in the shells. There goes a Parrott. That's a mortar shell that curls so beautifully down yon hillside. This"--as he dodged back into the cave to escape one--"is a rifle shell."
"I don't see what difference it makes," said Bob retreating to the back of the cave, "what kind of a shell it is if it kills you. Do you, Jeanne?"
"I think not," answered Jeanne tremblingly. "What a fearful thing war is! Oh!"
A shell fell just without the mouth of the cavern like a flame of fire, making the earth tremble, and with a low, singing sound the fragments sped on in their work of death.
"We seem to be within range this evening," said Mr. Huntsworth as he came to where the trembling girls crouched.
Shell after shell followed each other in quick succession, and our little party stood without speaking, awaiting the sudden death that seemed almost certain. Jeanne's heart stood still as she heard the reports from the guns and the rushing fearful sound as the shells came toward them. As the shells neared the cave the noise became more deafening; the air was full of the rushing sound; pains darted through her temples; her ears were full of the confusing noise; and, as one would explode, the report flashed through her head like an electric shock, leaving her in a state of terror, painful to be imagined.