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miles, then due west again to
Gloucester Point.
The entire run was made in three and a half hours, the sailing distance being about thirty miles.
On nearing
Gloucester Point, they were hailed by a sentinel, with the usual challenge:
Who comes there?
The blockade-runner sent back the answer:
Marshall-mail boat!
“Stand,
Marshall, and give the countersign!”
“No countersign,” was the reply.
The sentinel then called out:
Sergeant of the Guard, Post No. I!
And another voice, further away, cried:
Who's there?
“
Marshall, with mail boat and passengers.”
“ Sentinel, let them pass.”
A few minutes later the passengers disembarked, and found themselves in a rebel camp.
Webster, with others, went to
Marshall's shantya rude, wooden structure, which that worthy had built on the
Point for the accommodation of his passengers-and there the remainder of the night was spent in the refreshing companionship of
Morpheus.
On the following morning
Webster was up and astir at an early hour.
He ascertained that the encampment at
Gloucester Point consisted of two regiments of infantry, two companies of cavalry, and one field battery of six guns, all under the command of
Col. Charles H. Crump.
The entrenchments comprised
