Well it was that we did so, if we counted on satisfying our hunger that day, for two hours later the men were yet absent, and then Mistress Devoll told me we should make our preparations for the night. Now you know that this was no small task. The beds and bedding were stowed in the wagons during the day, and when night came, all must be taken out and spread upon the bottom of the boat for the women and children, while the boys--and of course I was numbered among them--slept in one of the wagons. On this night, however, because Captain Haskell and Master Rouse had not returned, Mistress Rouse believed that I should make my bed at the end of the boat near the fireplace, where I could stand guard, or, in other words, where I might be ready to do whatsoever would be needed during the hours of darkness. TOO MUCH WATER I congratulated myself not a little that I was to sleep upon a very comfortable sack of feathers, which had thus far served Captain Haskell. Without giving very much heed to the fact that the men yet remained in town when there was every reason why they should have come back to the boat, I laid myself down, and was speedily lost in slumber, for the work during the day had been severe, and I was needing rest sorely. I may have slept two or three hours, certainly as long as that, when suddenly I was awakened by a sense of discomfort, and, turning over, was brought to my feet very quickly by discovering that the water had come in even over the top of my bed. [Illustration] I cried out, not from fear, but rather from surprise, and on the instant the women, as well as the older girls, being awakened, started aft to learn what might be the matter, when they plunged nearly to their knees in water. Straightway the outcry was great, for they, as well as I, believed that the boat was sinking beneath us. Strangely enough, the women seemed to consider that I was able to play the part of a man at such a time, and Mistress Devoll asked in a tone of fear what ought to be done. During an instant I stood undecided, hardly having my wits about me, and then, still believing the clumsy craft was going to the bottom, I urged that we get on shore as speedily as possible. ESCAPE OF THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN [Illustration] Fortunately for us the boat had been moored with a short hawser, in such a manner that when Captain Haskell and Master Rouse left us they could readily leap from the gunwale to the land, and after the women were gathered on the shoreward side of the boat, instead of being obliged to jump, I found that they might readily step over the rail without wetting their feet in water, although they sank above the tops of their shoes in mud. [Illustration] Once they had what might be called a firm footing, I passed the younger children over, and while doing so the twins made a great outcry, whereupon Mistress Devoll and Mistress Rouse commanded them to remain quiet.