Robert Waite declared that the
Confederates would never permit it to reach the fort.
Mrs. Carleton was very anxious. She had not received any message from
her husband.
"If I could sail a boat I would go to Fort Sumter myself," she said one
morning as she and Sylvia stood at a window overlooking the harbor.
"I can sail a boat," responded Sylvia.
Mrs. Carleton turned and looked at the little girl.
"If all this trouble ends in war, if the Confederates really dare fire
upon the flag of the United States, I do not know how I can get any word
from my husband," she said.
Sylvia thought that her friend's voice sounded as if she were about to
cry, and the little girl slipped her hand into Mrs. Carleton's. She
wished there was something she could say to comfort her. Then she
thought quickly that there was something.
"I'll sail you over to the fort to see him whenever you ask me to," she
said impulsively.
"Dear child, I may have to ask you, but I hope not. 'Twould be a
dangerous undertaking," she said, leaning over to kiss Sylvia's cheek.
That was the sixth of January, 1861, and on the ninth a steamer, The
Star of the West, with supplies and reinforcements for Major Anderson,
entered Charleston harbor and was fired upon by a Confederate battery
concealed in the sand-hills at Sullivan Island.
And now for many days the Fultons heard only discouraging news.
Everywhere there was great activity among the Confederates. Mrs.
Carleton became more and more anxious for news of Captain Carleton, but
she did not remind Sylvia of her promise.
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