Page:Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War.djvu/83



night—a friendly one;

A haze dimmed the shadowy shore

As the first lampless boat slid silent on;

Hist! and we spake no more;

We but pointed, and stilly, to what we saw.

We felt the dew, and seemed to feel

The secret like a burden laid.

The first boat melts; and a second keel

Is blent with the foliaged shade—

Their midnight rounds have the rebel officers made?

Unspied as yet. A third—a fourth—

Gun-boat and transport in Indian file

Upon the war-path, smooth from the North;

But the watch may they hope to beguile?

The manned river-batteries stretch for mile on mile.