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Show 4-!2 1'RAVELS THROUGH UPPER CANADA: anchor, anJ in a Owrt time to bring the veffcl once more into deep water, and out of all dan l!e r. Great was tl1e j oy, as may well be imagined, which this circumO:· nee difrukd among fl: the paflc ngers; and well plcafcd was each one. after the f:.tt-igue and an ·icty of the preceding day, to think he might ic curcly Jay himtelf down to refl:. The next morn1ng tb · fun arofc in all his majcfl:y from behind one of the di fbnt iHand ·. The azure iky was unobfcured by a fingle cloud, the air felt ferendy mild, and the bi rd , as if equally delighted with man that the il:onn was over, iwectly v;arbled forth their !ongs in the adjacent woods; in Chart, had it not been for the difordcred comlition in which we faw our vefTel, and every thing belonging to us, the perils we had gone through would have appeared like a dream. The firf1 objeCl of examination was the rudder. The tiller was broken to atoms; and he failors who went over the O:ern reported, that of the four gudgeons or hooks on which the rudder was fufpendcd, only one was left entire, and that one was much bent. On being unlhippcd, the bottom of it was found to be fo much .lhivered that it actually refembkd the end of a broom. The keel, there was every reafon to fuppofe, was in the fame .lhattered condition; neverthelefs the ve!fcl, to the great afionifhment of every perfon on board, did not make much water. Had .lhe been half as crazy as the King's ve!fd in which we went up the lake, nothing could have faved her from defiruCtion. A confultation was now held upon what was bcfi to be Jone. To proceed on the voyage appeared totally out of the quefiion; and it only remained to determine which way was the eafief1 and readiet1: to get back to Malden. All was at a fiand, when an officer in the American fervice propofed the beating out of an iron crow bar, and the manufaCturing of new gudgeons. This was thought to be impracticable; but necc.filty, the mother of invention, having fet all our heads to work, an anvil was formed of a number of axes laid upon a block of wood; a large fire was kindled, and a party of us aCting as fmitbs in turns, by the end of three hours contrived to hammer out one very refpeCtable gudgeon. In the mean time oth rs of the paflengers were employed in making a. new tiller, and others undertook to fi.lh for the cable and anchor that had • ·SIIIP R E F I T T E D. 4 23 h.ad .been fiippc_d, whilil: the fctilors were kept bufily employed at the nggmg. By mghtfall the vcfJCI was fo far refitted that no appn.: h<:nfions were any longer entertained about our being abk to rc:::.ch Malden in £1fety, and forne began to think there wcmld be no danger in profc eu ti ng the voyage down the lake. The captain faid that his conduCt mu£1: be regulated entirely by the nppearance of the wc.lther on the following day. Early the next morning., whilfl: we yet remained flretched in our births, our party wa much furpri(ed at hearing the found of firangc voices upon deck; but. Ottr furpri(c was fiill g reater, when on a nearer approach we recogmzed them to be the voices of two young friends of ours, who, like ourfelves, had croficd the Atlantic to mal e a tour of the continent of ~orth ~merica, and whom, but a few d ys before we had quitted Phlladel phta» we had accompanied fame miles from that city on their way .to~a.rds the fouth. They had travelled, it feemed, from Philadelphia to VH-gll1ta, afterwards to Kentucky, and had found their wav from the Ohio to Detroit on horicback, after encountering numberle(s inconv eniences. There they had engaged a pafi"age in a little .lloop bound to Fort Erie, the lafi vefrel which was to quit that port during the prcfent feafon. They had embarked the preceding day, and in the ninht had run in to Put-in-Bay, as the wind was not favourable for going do~vn the lake. The commander of the .lloop offered to fiay by our veffel, and to give her every affi{b.nce in his power, if our captain cho(<.: to proceed down the lake with him. The offer was gladly accepted, and it was agreed that the two veflels lhould fail together as foon as the wind W<\S fa vou ra ble. After having breakfafled, we proceeded with our young fL·iends, in the /hip's boat, to that part of the iiland off which we had b en expo(cd to fo much danger. Here we found the il1orc firewcd with the oars. fpars, &c. which had been wa01ed overboard, and from the dreadful mann r in which they were lbattered, no doubt remained on our minds, but that if the ve!fel had been wrecked, two thirds of the .pa.fl't:ng rs nt k afl: mufi have perin1ed amidfl: the rocks and breakers. W c fpcnt the day ramblin.g about the woods, and recounting to each other our adventures a fince |
