Elizabeth looked about her with breathless interest, realizing that here
she was to find war. It happened that on her arrival there was a lull in
the cannonading. Both sides had paused to draw breath, but the lull was
far from perfect silence, and to her inexperience this occasional
thunder of bursting shells seemed sharp conflict. She said so to the
Captain as they drew toward shore.
"Bless yer!" he answered with a laugh. "This ain' t no thin' at all,
this is nothin' but child's play. Wait till yer see it hot and heavy. I
s'pose we shall go back to-morrow, though. I'd like to have yer see some
good stout work first."
"Ain't we in danger here?" inquired Nancy.
The skipper rolled his quid of tobacco in his cheek reflectively a
moment. "Well, no," he said, "I guess nothin' to speak of. They're too
busy answering the batteries; it's only the stray shot that comes our
way. There's a thousand chances to one agin' its hitting us, and I guess
we can stand the one." He looked at Nancy closely to guage the amount of
her courage.
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