Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 8).djvu/86

The night was dark, and the rain poured down in torrents; there was no shelter, not even a tree to defend them from the tempest. The three men took each of them a child, wrapped it in a blanket, {51} and sat down upon such clothing or bedding as came nearest to hand. The other man and the woman were obliged to sit without anything but their clothing. I often called to them from the boat, but the howling of the tempest prevented me from being heard. In this situation they all remained about eight hours till daylight, when it ceased to rain, but the wind continued to blow very hard. I then moved the stern of the boat round and got on shore; but the sight of these weather-beaten objects presented a spectacle I cannot describe. The children, however, had been kept considerably comfortable through the night. The woman acknowledged she was alive, and that was all that could be said of her; the men appeared much better than I should have supposed. As for myself, I was comfortably situated, and should have slept well had it not been for the anxiety I felt for my unhappy fellow-travellers on shore. The lake now appeared more like the Atlantic than like an inland navigation, the waves running so high that it was impossible for us to venture out; and the high grass and a few bushes at a little distance promising some assistance in sheltering us from the storm, we evacuated the old post and retired to them for shelter, where with the help of our blankets and other things we contrived so to break the wind as to enable us to kindle up a fire sufficient to warm and dry ourselves. We then prepared the remainder of our scanty food, which was sufficient for a meal after reserving a part of it for the woman and her children. We remained here through the day and night, the wind still blowing a gale. The next morning very early, three men went in search of provisions, and did not return till three