All appeared as vigorous in
frame, and robust in health, as at the moment when they
had last quitted the waters of the Detroit; and but for
the inward sinking of the spirit, reflected in many a
bronzed and furrowed brow, there was little to show they
had been exposed to any very extraordinary trials.
Their meal having been hastily dispatched, and sweetened
by a draught from the depths of the Huron, the seamen
once more sprang into their boats, and devoted themselves,
heart and soul, to the completion of their task, pulling
with a vigour that operated on each and all with a tendency
to encouragement and hope. At length the vessel, still
impelled by her own sweeps, gradually approached the
land; and at rather more than an hour before sunset was
so near that the moment was deemed arrived when, without
danger of being perceived, she might be run up along the
shore to the point alluded to by the boatswain. Little
more than another hour was occupied in bringing her to
her station; and the red tints of departing day were
still visible in the direction of the ill-fated fortress
of Michilimackinac, when the sullen rumbling of the cable,
following the heavy splash of the anchor, announced the
place of momentary concealment had been gained.
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