thing bore evidence to the fact that the fight had been a most desperate
one; that the rebels had surrendered only when they found that it was
impossible to hold out longer.

In some places the streets ran through deep cuts in the bank, and in
these banks were the famous "gopher holes." They were [ca]ves dug in
the ground, into which a person, if he happened to hear a shell coming,
might run for safety. Outside the city, the fortifications were most
extensive; rifle-pits ran in every direction, flanked by strong forts,
whose battered walls attested the fury of the iron hail that had been
poured upon them. It was night before Frank was aware of it, so
interested was he in every thing about him, and he returned on board his
vessel, weary with his long walk, but amply repaid by seeing the inside
of what its rebel occupants had called "the Gibraltar of America."

During the next two days, several vessels of the squadron passed the
city, on their way to new fields of action further down the river. One
of them--the Boxer, a tin-clad, mounting eight guns--had Frank on board.
He had been detached from the Trenton, and ordered to join this vessel,
which had been assigned a station a short distance below Grand Gulf. As
usual, he had no difficulty in becoming acquainted with his new
messmates, and he soon felt perfectly at home among them. He found, as
he had done in every other mess of which he had been a member, that
there was the usual amount of wrangling and disputing, and it amused him
exceedingly. All the mess seemed to be indignant at the caterer, who did
not appear to stand very high in their estimation. The latter, he
learned, had just made an "assessment" upon the mess to the amount of
ten dollars for each member; and as there was no paymaster on board, the
officers had but very little ready money, and were anxious to know where
all the funds paid into the treasury went to. He also found that the