sheltered the well-nigh
dead as best we could in the bottom of our boat, of course our chief
thought was to return to the shore as swiftly as possible. But on this
head there was no call to entertain the smallest solicitude; for after
old Bill, from a motive that we could not yet name, had 'stepped' a mast
through one of the foremost thwarts of the boat, and rigged a sail all
ready to be spread, we cast off from the wreck, and presently, dropping
into the full strength of the wind, were swept onward like an arrow,
with scarce the least use of any other oar than that in the hands of our
stalwart steersman. Speedily crossing the outer waters, we leaped and
bounded over the breakers; and when old Bill, as we were rushing along
the inlet, gave orders for the hoisting of the sail, we not only
hastened to obey him, but immediately saw an all-important reason for
the command. For we were now about entering the ice of the sounds; and
as the boat flew in its midst, her stiff, tight sail drove her through
the stubborn obstruction as easily and in much the same manner as the
steam plow rips up the matted bosom of the prairies. In due season we
reached the landing where we usually disembarked from the sounds, and
where we found a wagon awaiting us, to which we bore our sad freightage,
and led the way for old Bill's house. On arriving, we laid the corpse in
an outbuilding and carried the sailors into a bedroom. But what was to
be next done? To tell the truth, most of us knew no more than so many
children. But here our leader again showed his knowledge. Strongly
condemning the lighting of a fire in the apartment,--which some one was
about to do,--he set us busily at work bringing him a good supply of
tubs, and buckets of cold water, into which he dipped the naked persons
of the sufferers; and as this treatment, combined with a patient, gentle
chafing, which was also administered, at last restored the flow of their
vital forces, he gave them a few spoonfuls of broth apiece, and, while
they looked a gratefulness they could nowise express, lifted them like
babes with his giant arms to warm beds, where they fell into what was
at first a fitful, broken slumber, but finally a childlike, placid
sleep. They were saved!

If the reader is now curious to know why a man like old Bill was not a
patrician and captain in the campaign of life, rather than the mere
private and plebeian he was, I can answer that there were several things
which impeded