Three days after that I was at sea, in the Norfolk packet, with the farewells of my loyal English friends ringing in my ears.  Captain Graham, the master of the packet, and his passengers found me but a poor companion.  But they had heard of my misfortune, and vied with each other in heaping kindnesses upon me.  Nor did they intrude on my walks in the night watches, to see me slipping a locket from under my waistcoat—­ay, and raising it to my lips.  ’Twas no doubt a blessing that I had lesser misfortunes to share my attention.  God had put me in the way of looking forward rather than behind, and I was sure that my friends in Annapolis would help me to an honest living, and fight my cause against Grafton.

Banks was with me.  The devoted soul did his best to cheer me, tho’ downcast himself at leaving England.  To know what to do with him gave me many an anxious moment.  I doubted not that I could get him into a service, but when I spoke of such a thing he burst into tears, and demanded whether I meant to throw him off.  Nor was any argument of mine of use.

After a fair and uneventful voyage of six weeks, I beheld again my native shores in the low spits of the Virginia capes.  The sand was very hot and white, and the waters of the Chesapeake rolled like oil under the July sun.  We were all day getting over to Yorktown, the ship’s destination.  A schooner was sailing for Annapolis early the next morning, and I barely had time to get off my baggage and catch her.  We went up the bay with a fresh wind astern, which died down at night.

The heat was terrific after England and the sea-voyage, and we slept on the deck.  And Banks sat, most of the day, exclaiming at the vast scale on which this new country was laid out, and wondering at the myriad islands we passed, some of them fair with grain and tobacco; and at the low-lying shores clothed with forests, and broken by the salt marshes, with now and then the manor-house of some gentleman-planter visible on either side.  Late on the second day I beheld again the cliffs that mark the mouth of the Severn, then the sail-dotted roads and the roofs of Annapolis.

We landed, Banks and I, in a pinnace from the schooner, and so full was my heart at the sight of the old objects that I could only gulp now and then, and utter never a word.  There was the dock where I had paced up and down near the whole night, when Dolly had sailed away; and Pryse the coachmaker’s shop, and the little balcony upon which I had stood with my grandfather, and railed in a boyish tenor at Mr. Hood.  The sun cast sharp, black shadows.  And it being the middle of the dull season, when the quality were at their seats, and the dinner-hour besides, the town might have been a deserted one for its stillness, as tho’ the inhabitants had walked out of it, and left it so.  I made my way, Banks behind me, into Church Street, past the “Ship” tavern, which brought memories of the brawl there, and of Captain Clapsaddle forcing the mob, like chaff, before his sword.  The bees were humming idly over the sweet-scented gardens, and Farris, the clock-maker, sat at his door, and nodded.  He jerked his head as I went by with a cry of “Lord, it is Mr. Richard back!” and I must needs pause, to let him bow over my hand.  Farther up the street I came to mine host of the Coffee House standing on his steps, with his hands behind his back.