Gray clouds drifted along the sea's far rim, and a sharp wind came out of the Northwest.

Heavy waves rolled into the mouths of the narrow and difficult passes that led into the bay.
"The Lord Himself fights for us," Harry heard Colonel Leonidas Talbot murmur.

"No ships on such a sea would dare the passes in the face of our guns." The pale light widened.

Sumter was black and threatening again, and the flag waved there before it.
General Beauregard, his staff and a body of civilians arrived, and almost overflowed the battery.

Harry noticed among the civilians an old man, seventy-five at least, with long hair, snow white.