Vll 



his party embarked, and soon perceived that the two boats 

 were desperately racing. The circumstance was, however, 

 too common to excite any apprehension in the minds of the 

 party, or even to occasion remark. They sat upon the deck 

 enjoying the graceful shores that fled by them - - a picture 

 on the air. Mr. Downing was engaged in lively talk with 

 his companion, who had never been to Newport and was 

 very curious to see and share its brilliant life. They had 

 dined, and the boat was within twenty miles of New York, 

 in a broad reach of the river between the Palisades and the 

 town of Yonkers, when Mrs. Downing observed a slight 

 smoke blowing toward them from the centre of the boat. 

 She spoke of it, rose, and said they had better go into the 

 cabin. Her husband replied, no, that they were as safe 

 where they then were as anywhere. Mrs. Downing, how- 

 ever, went into the cabin where her mother was sitting, 

 knitting, with her daughter by her side. There was little 

 time to say anything. The smoke rapidly increased; all who 

 could reach it hurried into the cabin. The thickening smoke 

 poured in after the crowd, who were nearly suffocated. 



The dense mass choked the door, and Mr. Downing's 

 party instinctively rushed to the cabin windows to escape. 

 They climbed through them to the narrow passage between 

 the cabin and the bulwarks of the boat, the crowd pressing 

 heavily, shouting, crying, despairing, and suffocating in the 

 smoke that now fell upon them in black clouds. Suddenly 

 Mr. Downing said, "They are running her ashore, and we 

 shall all be taken off." He led them round to the stern of 

 the boat, thinking to escape more readily from the other side, 

 but there saw a person upon the shore waving them back, 

 so they returned to their former place. The flames began 

 now to crackle and roar as they crept along the woodwork 

 from the boiler, and the pressure of the throng toward the 

 stern was frightful. Mr. Downing was seen by his wife to 

 step upon the railing, with his coat tightly buttoned, ready 

 for a spring upon the upper deck. At that moment she was 

 borne away by the crowd and saw him no more. Their 

 friend, who had been conversing with Mr. Downing, was 



