However, if you like to be present, I will give you three days' leave, as you have been working very hard lately.

You can start early to-morrow, and can get down by train to Norfolk in the evening.

I should advise you to take your horse with you, and then you can ride in the morning to some spot from which you will get a fair view of the Roads, and be able to see what is going on." "Thank you very much, sir," Vincent said.

"I should like it immensely." The next morning Vincent went down to Norfolk.

Arriving there, he found that, although there was a general expectation that the _Merrimac_ would shortly go out to try her strength with the enemy, nothing was known of the fact that the next morning had been fixed for the encounter; the secret being kept to the last, lest some spy or adherent of the North might take the news to the fleet.