The following morning found the _Boston Queen_ well down towards Chesapeake Bay. The fog was as thick as ever, but a wind had sprung up and this caused the ship to roll lazily from side to side as she moved southward. About noon Louis saw Harry drop upon a bench and catch his face in his hands. “What’s the matter, Harry, home-sick?” he asked, lightly. “No, I’m not _home_-sick,” was the short reply, and then Harry added, with a peculiar twitching of his mouth, “but I’m getting awfully sick otherwise.” “He vos sea-sick, py chiminatty!” roared out Hans Roddmann. “Now you vos see how _you_ likes him, hey?” “Oh, it’s awful!” was all Harry could answer, and then he made a rush for the outer deck, closely followed by Jerry Rowe, who had been similarly attacked. An hour later Hans Roddmann had joined the pair, and during the remainder of the voyage the trio had plenty of company, for overloaded with men and baggage, the _Boston Queen_ rolled dreadfully as she worked her way slowly along. Twenty-four hours before they came in sight of Fortress Monroe the fog lifted, and soon after that came a good deal of a scare. Two strange vessels were seen approaching from the eastward and were instantly put down as rebel cruisers or gunboats. At once the guns on board of the transport were gotten into readiness for firing and the soldiers were called to arms. In the meantime, the _Boston Queen_ did all possible to increase her speed, in the hope of getting within the protection of the guns of the fortress before she could be run down or sunk. The excitement lasted for two hours, and more than once the heart of many a soldier was in his throat. Many of the men could not swim and they knew that a single round shot, properly delivered, could put the _Boston Queen_ at the bottom of the Atlantic. Then came a hurrah from the mast-head, as those on the watch made out that the approaching vessels were friends and not enemies. The boats proved to be two transports which had in some way strayed from the fleet in the fog. They were flying signals to that effect, and soon after they joined in the rear of the vessels behind the _Boston Queen_, and again the passage to Fortress Monroe was resumed. CHAPTER XVI THE LANDING--ON TO YORKTOWN “Well, here we are at last, Harry. Now for Richmond and the capturing of the Confederate Capital.” It was Louis who spoke. The Goreville Volunteers, after landing at the government wharf at Fortress Monroe, had crossed the bridge leading to Hampton, marched through that semi-deserted and forlorn-looking town, and came to a halt on the highway leading to Yorktown. “We are on land, that’s a fact,” returned Harry Bingham. “But where is another question. What a desolate country!” he added, as his eyes swept a wide range of half-ploughed and neglected corn and tobacco fields. “Is this what we have come to conquer?”