"Yes; we will reach our anchorage within a few minutes."

"Oh, are we going to stop to see the old fort, papa?" she asked eagerly.

"I think we are," was his smiling rejoinder. "But you don't expect to
find in it a relic of the Revolution, do you?" he asked laughingly,
pinching her cheek, then bending down to kiss again the rosy face
upturned to his.

"Why yes, papa; I have been thinking there must have been a fight there.
Wasn't that the case?"

"No, daughter; the fortress was not there at that time."

"Was it in the war of 1812-14, then, papa?"

"No," he returned, smiling down on her. "The building of Fortress Monroe
was not begun until 1817. However, there was a small fort built on Point
Comfort in 1630; also, shortly before the siege of Yorktown, Count De
Grasse had some fortifications thrown up to protect his troops in
landing to take part in that affair."

But just then the talk was interrupted by the coming on deck of one
after another of their party and the exchange of morning greetings;
then followed the interest and excitement of the approach to the
fortress and anchoring in its vicinity.

Next came the call to breakfast. But naturally, and quite to Lulu's
satisfaction, the talk at the table turned upon the building of the
fort, its history and that of the adjacent country, particularly
Hampton, two and a half miles distant.

The captain pointed it out to them all as they stood upon the deck
shortly afterward.

"Which is Old Point Comfort, papa?" asked Grace.

"That sandy promontory on the extremity of which stands Fortress
Monroe," he answered. "Yonder, on the opposite side, is Point
Willoughhy, the two forming the mouth of the James River; and these are
the Rip Raps between the two. You see that there the ocean tides and the
currents of the river meet and cause a constant ripple. There is a
narrow channel of deep water through the bar, but elsewhere between the
capes it is shallow.

"Beyond the Rip Raps we see the spacious harbor which is called Hampton
Roads. It is so large that great navies might ride there together."

"And I think some have ridden there in our wars with England?" remarked
Rosie, half inquiringly.

"You are quite right," replied the captain; "that happened in both the
Revolution and the last war with England.

"In October, 1775, Lord Dunmore, the British governor of Virginia,--who
had, however, abdicated some months earlier by fleeing on board a
man-of-war, the _Fowey_,