If we do not succeed they
must then dash down, and we will try to carry the bridge from each
side. The bridges once secured, and the prisoners loosed and over the
river, the bridges will be secured and the city destroyed--"
Jennie paused and lifted her eyes burning with feverish light.
"Merciful God! How? With oakum and turpentine. A city of one hundred
thousand inhabitants, under the cover of darkness--men, women and
children, the aged, the poor, the helpless!"
Socola made no answer. A thoughtful dreamy look masked his handsome
features.
Jennie read the next sentence from the Dahlgren paper in high quivering
tones:
"The men must be kept together and well in hand, and once in the
city, it must be destroyed and _Jeff Davis and his Cabinet_ killed--"
The girl paused and fixed her gaze on Socola.
"The man who planned that raid came with the willful and deliberate
murder of unarmed men in his soul. The man who helped him inside is
equally guilty of his crime--"
She resumed her reading without waiting for reply.
"Prisoners will go along with combustible material. The officer must
use his discretion about the time of assisting us. Pioneers must be
prepared to construct a bridge or destroy one.
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