This morning early it drizzled, but then cleared cold cloudy. This afternoon sun came out, very windy, and [sitck] behind a bank of clouds. Capt. Renaut promised a clear day for tomorrow. [Landsnun] prophecie a storm. It is said that the little boat had three rebel spies. They came near in the fog, the fog suddenly cleared away and they hadn’t time to get off : that another boat had the contrabands. There was [Auff] dog, and it sat heavy on my stomach. The inconvenience of so many of us being here together is exemplified in many ways. One can regard the illness of a [news] of a small family with charity — but when there are thirty or forty, of varied and not all ways pleasant habits, some sick with different diseases, the consumption spreading around, those subject to sick headache puking around — pigs overloading their stomachs, and making themselves disagreeable — oh, for our canvas home and quiet gentlemanly mess. A day passes very quick. Breakfast at nine — a few hours reading brings dinner at four — we then go on deck to watch the sunset, or take a constitutional. The evenings seem the longest however. It seems a long while until nine o’clock . Morris came on board this evening with sailing orders — to go at 7 o’clock in the morning — but its terms and effect I did not learn further. Morris had been used to talking to Neill, who has caught cold and is very deaf, and he bellowed at us as if we were deaf.
