Upon her arrival at the Patuxent, Mrs. Talbot went immediately on board of the sloop, with her attendants.  There she found the friendly cornet and his comrade, Hugh Riley, on the alert to distinguish their loyalty in her cause.  The amphibious Master Skreene was now at the head of a picked crew,—­the whole party consisting of five stout men, with the lady, her child, and nurse.  All the men but Skreene were sons of the Emerald Isle,—­of a race whose historical boast is the faithfulness of their devotion to a friend in need and their chivalrous courtesy to woman, but still more their generous and gallant championship of woman in distress.  On this occasion this national sentiment was enhanced when it was called into exercise in behalf of the sorrowful lady of the chief of their border settlements.

They set sail from the Patuxent on Saturday, the 31st of January.  On Wednesday, the fifth day afterwards, they landed on the southern bank of the Rappahannock, at the house of Mr. Ralph Wormeley, near the mouth of the river.  This long voyage of five days over so short a distance would seem to indicate that they departed from the common track of navigation to avoid notice.

The next morning Mr. Wormeley furnished them horses and a servant, and Mrs. Talbot, with the nurse and child, under the conduct of Cornet Murray, set out for Gloucester,—­a distance of some twenty miles.  The day following,—­that is, on Friday,—­the servant returned with the horses, having left the party behind.  Saturday passed and part of Sunday, when, in the evening, Mrs. Talbot and the Cornet reappeared at Mr. Wormeley’s.  The child and nurse had been left behind; and this was accounted for by Mrs. Talbot’s saying she had left the child with his father, to remain with him until she should return to Virginia.  I infer that the child was introduced into this adventure to give some seeming to the visit which might lull suspicion and procure easier access to the prisoner; and the leaving of him in Gloucester proves that Mrs. Talbot had friends, and probably confederates there, to whose care he was committed.

As soon as the party had left the shallop, upon their first arrival at Mr. Wormeley’s, the wily Master Skreene discovered that he had business at a landing farther up the river; and thither he straightway took his vessel,—­Wormeley’s being altogether too suspicious a place for him to frequent.  And now, when Mrs. Talbot had returned to Wormeley’s, Roger’s business above, of course, was finished, and he dropped down again opposite the house on Monday evening; and the next morning took the Cornet and the lady on board.  Having done this, he drew out into the river.  This brings us to Tuesday, the 10th of February.

As soon as Mrs. Talbot was once more embarked in the shallop, Murray and Riley (I give Master Skreene’s own account of the facts, as I find it in his testimony subsequently taken before the Council) made a pretext to go on shore, taking one of the men with them.  They were going to look for a cousin of this man,—­so they told Skreene,—­and besides that, intended to go to a tavern to buy a bottle of rum:  all of which Skreene gives the Council to understand he verily believed to be the real object of their visit.