“Yes,” said Sedgwick, “and in three days more I hope to gladden your eyes with the faces of some dear friends.”

“Yo’s mighty kind, old friend,” said the sick man; “but, Jim, I wanter tell yo’, if we should be diserpinted, yo’ll find inside my trunk a little trunk, and in thet yo’ll find things all fixed ter tell yer what ter do.  I ‘ranged it when yo’ war away, not knowin’ what mount be.  Remember one thing mo’:  everything’s all right ‘nd goin’ ter be right.  I’ll get well ‘nd help yo’ ef I ken; ef I don’t, yo’ll make it easy, nuff, without me.”

“Indeed I cannot,” said Sedgwick.  “You must brace up and get well, for I tell you, dear old Tom, that I can see better than you, and I have worked out a plan which is going to be a delight for you.”

“Maybe so, Jim,” said the sick man, and dozed off into a troubled sleep.  The surgeon had been giving the patient some powerful medicine, and told Sedgwick it might make him flighty, but not to permit that to alarm him; that he thought he could promise to hold the life in his friend for a few days more.

Jordan awoke after an hour’s sleep, and said:  “Jim, I had a mighty quar dream, sho.  I seen all ther fleets ez hez ever sailed on these waters, havin’ er grand review.  It war ther ghosts ev ther ships, I reckon, but they looked mighty real.  I seen ther fleets ev Tyre with ther sails like calico mustangs; I seen ther Persian fleets thet ther Greeks done up et Mycale ‘nd Salamis; I seen ther fitin’ ships uv Rome, ’nd Carthage, ’nd Egypt, ’nd Venice, down ter Nelson’s fite on ther Nile.  O, but it war a grand persession!  Thar war calls in a hundred tongues; thar war responses in a hundred mo’; thar war decks filled with armed men, with helmets, spears ‘nd shields; thar war singin’ ‘nd prayin’ ’nd trumpet calls; thar war ther rattle ev arms, ther ring ev steel, ’nd ther harsh blast ev war-horns, ’nd ther sounds changed from age to age, until thar came at last ther roar uv hevy guns in regelar broadsides.  All ther echoes uv all ther battles uv all ther centeries war in my ears.  It war grand; grander nor Chatternooga.  Thar sea gave up its ded fur me, so fur ez this water goes.  History held befo’ me all its pages, ’nd they wuz all ’luminated.  Ez thet picter swept befo’ my eyes, ’nd all thar clamors filled my ears, it war more thrillin’ then anything yo’ ever dreamed of.  I ken har ther calls, ’nd ther replies, ‘nd ther beatin’ uv oars, tho’ thar oars war broken, ’nd ther calls growed still two ’nd three thousand year ago.  It war beautiful, Jim, even ef it war all ’lusion ter ther eyes ’nd ears.  Do yo’ remember, yo’ read me once ‘Ther Midnight Review?’ Why, Jim, thet war nuthin’.  This uv mine war ther review ev all thar ages, er movin’ picter uv ther world since befo’ civilerzation begun.”

Then the sick man dozed off into sleep again, and Sedgwick bathed his face, and hung over him as a mother watches when the life of her child wavers between this world and the next.