Under Fire: A Tale of the Shenandoah Valley — page 25: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

18 BETRAYED AND BETRAYER. ing at least one spark of the divine nature implanted in every human breast, if the subtle chord can pe but touched. Captain Trafton was yet to experience that sensa- tion. For the present we can only aver that his sonorous breathing testified that his conscience and his material self seemed to be on excellent terms. In the meanwhile, as morning grew apace, the excitement in and about the city mounted to fever heat. The Mercury and other daily papers issued extras with flaring head-lines and lurid descriptions of the latest aspects of the bombardment. The citizens of Charleston flocked to every avail- able point whence a view of the scene transpiring down the bay could be observed. Business was at a stand-still. The one topic engrossed the public mind. The issue was readily discounted, the only questions were how long would it last, and what effect would the assault on Fort Sumter have on the North. Would it serve to bring the country to its senses? Would the Federal Government recognize at last the great fact of a completed and successful revolu- tion? _ Was the madness which inspired it to depart with this single paroxysm ? Was this to be a drama of a single act, or merely the prologue to a most momentous military tragedy? The forts and impromptu batteries surrounding Sumter maintained a steady and uninterrupted fire all day. The beleaguered garrison returned the compliment after an intermittent fashion, for they were sadly at disadvantage in the fray. The smoke rolled away seaward in act clouds. Several times it was noticed that flames had broken GEomicbooks.co