"As for Jackson, when he reached Mobile, on the 11th of November, he received messages urging him to hasten to the defence of New Orleans. "He left that place on the 21st, reached it on the 2d of December--but of what he accomplished there I have already told you." "Yes, papa," said Lulu; "I'll never forget that interesting story. But do tell me, will we pass near enough to Mobile to see those forts?" "Yes," he said; then turning to Grandma Elsie, asked, "Mother, would you like to stop and visit the forts?" "I am willing if the rest wish it," she replied; "but otherwise would prefer to press on toward home, my Ion home, which, now that we have left Viamede fairly behind, I begin to long to see again." "That being the case I am sure no one of us will wish to stop," returned the captain gallantly, a sentiment at once re-echoed by Mr. Dinsmore and all present. "We are nearing there now, are we not, my dear?" asked Violet. "Yes; we are moving rapidly, and if all goes well may expect to see the forts early this evening." There was an exclamation of pleasure from several of the young people; then Lulu asked, "Papa, are there not some other historical places we shall have to pass while we are in the Gulf or after we reach the ocean?" "Quite a number, daughter, but we will not delay our voyage in order to visit them at this time." "Perhaps some other day, then?" she returned inquiringly, smiling up into his face as she spoke. "Very possibly," he returned, smoothing her hair with caressing hand; for she was, as usual, close at his side. A pause in the talk was at length broken by a remark from Cousin Ronald. "You had some great men among your Union officers, Captain, in both army and navy, in the days of that terrible Civil War." "We had indeed, sir," was the hearty response; "a number of them in both arms of the service, and none more worthy of respect and admiration than Farragut, who did such splendid service at both New Orleans and Mobile Bay, to say nothing of other places. The city of Mobile could not be captured as New Orleans had been, by reason of shoal water and obstructions in the channel, but the passage of blockade runners, carrying supplies to the Confederacy, was stopped, which was the main object of the expedition." "Yes, he did good service to his country," returned Mr. Lilburn, "although, if I mistake not, he was a Southerner." "He was born in Tennessee," replied Captain Raymond. "In the winter of 1860-61 he was on waiting orders at Norfolk, Virginia, where he watched with intense interest the movements of the Southern States, and especially the effort to carry Virginia out of the Union into the Confederacy; and when that was accomplished he remarked that 'the State had been dragooned out of the Union.'