During all this time poor bufy thoughtlefs 

 Mac — never recolle&ed that he had no boat 

 hired, nor any means fecured of taking the cow 

 offto the Chip. He had urged on, ftraight for- 

 ward, and now, feeing the man, and the cow 

 before him, felt as certain of fuccefs as though 

 the undertaking had been completed. 



The cow was, at laft, led down to the 

 beach, and, on arriving with her at the water's 

 edge, poor unthinking Mac — met with new 

 difficulties, to which the confident fecurity of 

 his vacant mind had lent no expectation. 

 Yet they proved to be more infurmountable 

 than any he had encountered, being of a na- 

 ture equally unyielding to fober circumfpec- 

 tion, as to the ftorming aflaults by which he, 

 commonly, forced the obftacles that oppofed 

 him. It was the hurried moment of depar- 

 ture. The fleet, obeying the fignalfor failing, 

 was crowding, in full canvafs, out of the har- 

 bour, and all the cutters, boats, fcullies — every 

 veflel capable of carrying an oar, or a fail, 

 was gone off, at an exorbitant hire, with fome 

 one in danger of being left behind. No boat 

 was to be had, at any price ! This was an 



