The harbor was “a sight for to see,” as one of the men said. Transports were there without number, big and small, some filled to overflowing with soldiers, others waiting for their loads of human freight. Here and there a band of music was playing and the Stars and Stripes were everywhere to be seen. The sight was an inspiring one, and Louis and Harry enjoyed it thoroughly. “Creation, what a lot of us!” cried Harry Bingham. “Hang me if I don’t believe half the men in the country have taken up arms.” “We are bound for Fortress Monroe,” came the word a bit later. “The rebels are congregating around Richmond, and we are to wipe ’em out!” “Hurrah!” went up the cry. “On to Richmond, boys, and no turning back this time. Hurrah for Little Mac!” “Besser ve valk to Richmond,” said Hans Roddmann, one of the new members of the Goreville company. “Ven I come me ofer from Chermany I bes sick more as dree-quarters der dime. I ton’t vonts me no more sickness like dot.” “Oh, this is only a little coast trip,” said Harry Bingham, lightly--too lightly altogether, as he remembered later on. “We sha’n’t hardly be out of sight of land.” “Vell, I ton’t know.” Hans Roddmann shook his head meditatively. “Put I vould besser been sick anyhow as let von of dem repel gunpoats come along und plow us up, hey?” “You’re right there, Hans,” laughed Louis. “We’ll have to keep a sharp watch out for the enemy. Although we are nearly a thousand strong, our rifles would prove a poor defense against a number of ten or twenty-pounders.” “Maybe de got some twenty ouder dirty pounders on board dis ship,” concluded Hans. The man had been the village cobbler at Goreville and it had taken a good bit of talking upon Captain Paulding’s part to get him to volunteer, and even then it had taken still more talking to get Mrs. Roddmann to consent to the enlistment. The woman was alone in the world, excepting for her husband, and it was only when Mr. Rockford had consented to take her in the house and give her work that she had granted her husband permission to leave at his country’s call. At last the time came to cast off the lines and start on the voyage down the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay. A final hurrah went up as the _Boston Queen_ swung clear of the dock. “Good-bye, boys; meet me on the peninsula.” “What’s the matter with meeting you at Richmond?” came back the reply. “Just the thing. I’ll make a date of it.” “All right; April first suit?” “You klown, dot vos Abril fool’s tay!” shouted Hans Roddmann, and then those on the boat and those left on the dock passed out of hearing of each other. Soon the voyage southward had begun. The day, which had promised fair, now turned cloudy, and soon the _Boston Queen_ was enveloped in one of the dense fogs for which this section of our sea coast is famous. Louis had thought to remain on deck, but now he was glad enough to seek the shelter of the cabin, already crowded to suffocation.