Kary, Elizabeth Read Online Free

my opinion of his drawings?"
    "Because
two heads are better than one, and you do have the advantage of schooling as
well as a lifetime spent around steamboats in one capacity or another. Have you
had a chance to study his plans?"
    Banister
nodded. "There were copies at his office."
    "And
what did you think of them?"
    "I
think the plans are brilliant!" Hayes admitted, his voice deep with
admiration. "Oh, there are some problems as I see it. Covering
conventional riverboats with iron plating will make them heavy and slow to
maneuver, and I think the sheathing on the pilot house should be made thicker
since that will be the nerve center of any mission the ironclads
undertake."
    "Do
you have any recommendations to remedy the problems you've outlined?"
    "Yes."
Hayes nodded and launched into a complicated explanation of the revisions he
would suggest to augment Eads's original plans.
    Travis
listened intently, obviously pleased with Banister's carefully considered
changes and his own correct assessment of the other man's abilities as an
engineer. "I'd be much obliged if you could write a report outlining what
you just told me. Anything we can offer those men in Washington to encourage
them to make up their minds about this project will give us that much more of a
head start on the Rebels."
    Hayes
agreed. "I just wonder if St. Louis is the place to build this new ironclad
fleet. After what happened out at Camp Jackson this afternoon, it's obvious
that Southern sympathy is running high, so the place is bound to be riddled
with Confederate informers. The local papers seem to be full of Secessionist
doctrine and—"
    Travis
laughed with what seemed to be genuine humor. "I think old Nathaniel Lyon
has the situation well in hand. He was out there scouting Camp Jackson just
yesterday, and when he saw evidence of the arms shipment they'd received from
Baton Rouge, he had the evidence he needed to move on that nest of
traitors."
    Hayes
was stunned at the news that the commander of the Federal arsenal had been in
the militia camp. "Wasn't he shot-on sight?"
    Travis
laughed again. "What those Confederates saw was Major Frank Blair's old,
blind mother-in-law out for her usual afternoon carriage ride. Lyon dressed in
one of her black gowns and bonnets, with a mourning veil added for good
measure. Not one of those Southern boys stopped playing soldier long enough to
question him."
    "The
attack was well planned; I'll give him that. Frost never had a chance. But the
incident afterward was tragic."
    "There
will be hell to pay for that, I reckon," Nathan Travis conceded as he rose
to go.
    "You
write me that report now, won't you, Banister? Leave it at the front desk
addressed to Mr. Jones. And then you might as well go on home to
Cincinnati."
    Hayes
looked up at the enigmatic man standing over him. "Now that I've seen
Eads's plans, I have a hankering to meet the man himself."
    Travis
shrugged. "Suit yourself, Banister, but I have a feeling your involvement
with Mr. Eads and his plans for the ironclad fleet is far from over."

CHAPTER 2
    "Well, I
for one think it's a disgrace that Union troops would fire on innocent
bystanders!" Althea Pennington's voice rose above the sounds of the meal
as she addressed the others who had gathered at her well-laid table. "And
when I think that our Leigh was exposed to that kind of danger—"
    "As
you can see, Mother, I escaped unscathed, thanks to Mr. Banister," Leigh
broke in, "but I'd hardly say that mob out at Camp Jackson this afternoon
was innocent of any wrongdoing. If they had not taunted the soldiers and pelted
them with anything at hand, I doubt there would have been trouble."
    Her
mother was outraged. "I don't know how you can say that, Leigh, when you
know that awful General Lyon has been spoiling for a fight ever since he took
over General Harney's command."
    "Leigh's
right," Hayes Banister agreed, expressing his views on the afternoon's
episode for the first time. "There's no question that those troops