S4 
the water should have charms for both of us, and as a con- 
sequence our children took like ducks to the water and 
everything connected with it ; so at any time if on comine: 
home from business I was to say "I think the Euth wants a 
little exercise to-morrow,*' it would he hailed with a shout 
of delight from the children and a pleased smile from my 
wife. 
Well, Wednesday morning came at last, and With it a 
bright sky and a light south wind. The wind had been 
south on the day before and blew quite fresh, but now it 
had moderated to a light breeze and there was every promise 
of a beautiful summer day. The delight of the children 
began to express itself about 5 o'clock, and by § :30 they 
were out of bed, dressed and eager to help at anything that 
would hasten the time of getting into the boat; so after a 
hiirritd breakfast I called Tim, our hired man, and a pretty 
good jack-of-all-trades besides, told him to go down to the 
boat house, which was situated about forty rods from the 
house, clean up the boat, get up steam, back out and get 
everything ready for a start, and to blow the whistle as soon 
as he had steam enough for that purpose. 
By 7 o'clock my wife, with the children's help— though 
whether they did not delay matters more than they advanced 
them was a question with me— had everything necessary for 
the voyage packed. The supplies included various eatables 
for dinner, as we expected to dine en route on the lake, and 
plenty of wraps, as although it was the middle of summer 
yet with a cold wind from the north or northwest and 
plenty of spray flying wraps are very acceptable. 
The boys were so excited that they were entirely uncon- 
cerned about so unimportant a matter as wraps; Cecil, bow- 
ever was careful to have his photographic apparatus all 
right, he being much interested in picture taking, and as in 
all our journeying in the Kuth we had never been further 
south on Cayuga Lake than Aurora, he expected to see many 
pretty bits of scenery, which with the aid of his camera he 
intended to take home with him. 
We had just finished carrying the baskets, wraps, etc., 
out on the stoop preparatory to starting when the shril] 
whistle of the Ruth announced that Tina was ready, so olf 
the boys ftarted, followed more quietly by my wife, Ruth 
and myself. We found our little craft headed to the east 
blowing off steam as if she was as impatient as the boys, so 
in a few minutes we were snugly ensconced, with Tim act- 
ing as engineer, Cecil at the wheel, and Thornton, my wife, 
Ruth and I as passengers. 
A run of a few miles brought us to Mud Lock, where we 
ocked down into the Beupca River, after crossing which we 
ocked up again into the Cayuga Canal ; two miles more and 
Cayuga Lock was reached, from which it is only a distance 
of a few rods to the lake, one of the most beautiful sheets of 
water in the world. Cayuga Lake is 40 miles long and from 
to 3i miles wide; it lies almost north and south. The 
Cayuga bridge, buUt in 1800, and for some yeat^S after looked 
upon as one of the greatest public improvements of the 
State, crossed the lake just outside of the present break- 
water, though there is now nothing left of it but rows of 
piles. This used to be considered the connecting link be- 
tween civilization and the wild West. West of "The Bridge" 
was esteemed in those days an indefinite location, a vague 
somewhere fall of bears, Indians, scouts, and trappers. 
A whistle from the Ruth now notified the keepers of the 
N. Y. C. drawbridge that we w^anted room to pass under, 
and in another minute we were passing the breakwater, built 
to protect canal boats while waiting for a steamer to tow 
them up the lake. 
The Ruth now commenced to lift her nose a little as the 
strong south wind of yesterday, helped by the present light 
south breeze, was sending down long swells, so by the time 
we were well out in the middle of the lake we were dancing 
up and down in very nice shape. This dancing was just 
what pleased the whole family, as we always wished for a 
breeze when we were on the water, smooth sailing not hav- 
ing sufficient excitement. We were by this lims well out in 
the middle and about two miles up the lake, so I now told 
Cecil to steer straight on that course, and after cautioning 
Tim to be careful and watch the glass I settled myself down 
to enjoy the scenery. 
A tew words here in regard to our boat; she was designed 
after a very fine model, was light and rode the water like a 
cork Her forward deck was 6ft. long, much longer than 
is usual in a boat of her size ; her after deck was 4ft. long. 
On account of burning oil for fuel there was no stoking to 
do, as after the fires were once adjusted she would run one 
hour or ten without further attention in that direction We 
had only to be careful of the pump and injector, to see that 
a proper quantity of water was in'the boiler. Rex machinery 
developed 3 horse power. In regard to fittings, we had a 
good anchor, also a sea anchor or drag, made to hold the 
boat head to wind in casecf a storm, or in the event of 
machinery giving out while in rough water. 
This sea anchor we had never had occasion to use, though 
I never felt at ease unless we had it with us I felt very 
different on the subject of sea anchors from a friend of 
mine. Meeting him on Seneca Lake in his yacht and ques- 
tioning him in regard to a sea anchor that he had been at 
great pains through my advice to have made, he replied that 
lie kept the anchor in his boat house. I quietly suggested 
to him that the boat house would be a rather poor place for 
it in case he was caught in a storm. Well, 1 kept mine in 
the boat, and, as circumstances turned out, it was well I 
did. 
We were now six miles from Cayuga, well out in the cen- 
ter of the lake and about opposite to Union Springs. Fron- 
tenac Island, the only island in- any of this chain of lakes, 
was directly to port of us. This island is about one-half 
mile from the shore, due west of Union Springs, and as a 
little bay runs into the lown behind or east of the island 
the lee is well protected, and even in heavy weather the 
water is smooth and quiet. We were all enjoying the trip 
immensely, and as the little Ruth would bravely mount one 
side of a swell and go down the other the youngsters would 
shout with delight. 
However, I had been noticing that the swells were rather 
increasing in size as we neared the widest part of the lake, 
and looking out ahead I saw once in a while a white cap 
break over, and on the Ruth's climbing up and tumbling 
down a rather larger wave than we had been meeting, Tim, 
after looking at the sky, obseved tome; "I should not be 
surprised if we got a little weather before we see Ithaca; 
don't you suppose we had better run into Union Springs f),nd 
wait a while?" I answered, "No; the sky is clear, we will 
make Ithaca in four hours, and no storm will come up in 
that time?" On looking at my watch I found it was now 11 
o'clock, and as Thornton and Ruth had said several times in 
the last half hour that they were as hungry as bears, my wife 
pd I fRade up our winds liiat we wight m well e^t oi^r din- 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
pel?. I Was the more ready to do so as I noticed considerable 
increase of Wind and white caps getting more numerous. I 
thoughti, therefore, that at least it would be more conve- 
nient to eat before the water got rough, if it was going to 
do so. We had, however, been driving along as fast as we 
could go, ISSlbs. of steam on our boiler, with the wheel 
making 600 revolutions, which in smooth water would have 
given us over eight miles an hour, but was at the time doing 
about seven ; so I called to Cecil to pass down the dinner 
basket, and taking out a large fruit can filled with coffee I 
put it in a can we had for that purpose, and on turning on 
some steam from the overflow of the injector in three min- 
utes the coffee was hot and dinner ready. 
Eating dinner on the boat was always as good as a picnic 
for the children, the novelty was agreeable to them and the 
inconvenience a pleasure. Cecil never wanted to steer while 
ealirg, and as Tim would just as soon do both, especially 
the eating, he relieved Cecil; Thornton took charge of the 
engine, and we were soon hard at work eating and chatter- 
ing as fast as tongues and teeth would go, 
I observed, however, that the wind was fast and steadily 
increasing, the swells getting larger, and more white caps 
breaking up, so much so that on striking one of them Tim 
received about a quart of water in his lap, at which he turned 
round with a laugh and called back to us, "We shall have 
some weather before we see Ithaca." The Ruth noW begah 
to kick up her heels, so to speak, as the propeller would 
sometimes throw clear of the water, allowing the engine to 
race; so I told Thornton to "cut her off a couple of notches," 
thus slowing the engine down and consequently detracting 
somewhat from our sjieed. 
We were now through dinner and had put up our baskets, 
"cleared up the wreck," the boys called it, so that we we-e 
again at liberty to enjoy the scenery ; but as another big 
swell came along crowned by a "white horse," which we 
took with the bow of the Ruth dipped toward it, the spray 
flying aft as far as the after deck, we began to be of Tim's 
opinion that we were going to have "a little weather." 
The wind was now blowing quite stiff and rapidly increas- 
ing, and although the sky was clear it was so hot that I be- 
gan to think we might have a gale before we were through. 
My wife also, I could see, was getting a little nervous, and, 
although she is a good sailor and not scared at a trifle, she 
said, "John, 1 don't like the looks of the sky; don't you 
think we had better run in somewhere and wait till, the 
wind is over?" 1 nodded an acquiescence and began to 
look ahead for some bay to run into. The lake where we 
were is rather over three miles wide, and the wind was now 
blowing a gale. Tim was wet through, and the cpray was 
beginning to fly pretty thick as far aft as the length of the 
boat. It was altogether too rough to risk steering either 
due east or due west, and far too rough to think of turning 
around Our only plan was, as the lake here bends slightly 
to the east, to steer diagonally to the west, thus making a 
weather shore for us. I called to Tim and told him to steer 
as near west as the Ruth would stand, and on his heading 
her off from due south we began to take it 
Going diagonally across the waves was very different from 
going straight into them, as the little Ruth began to roll as 
well as pitch, making bad weather of it. We were very 
shortly all as wet as rats, and so much water was coming 
into the boat that I told Thornton to start the syphon. This 
would throw out about a pail of water a minute, and was 
sufficient under ordinary circumstances to take care of all 
the water that would come in, but with the gale increasing 
every minute there soon ceased to be ordinary circum 
stances; in fact it was the worst storm the Ruth had ever 
been in, as we were now shipping water by the pailful, so I 
hastened to get out cans which we had for the purpose, and 
busied myself throwing out water. On account of the roll- 
ing and pitching Thornton was obliged to run his engine so 
slow to avoid racing that we were not making more than 
four miles an hour, so in consequence of not being able to 
steer straight for the shore we would have to go over two 
miles to reach land. It would therefore take a half an hour, 
and I began to wonder if we could keep afloat for that time! 
A new danger now presented itself; our fires were only 
.5iu. above the bottom of the boat, the water was coming in 
too fast for the syphon to throw it out, and if we allowed it 
to get much over 3in, deep, the rolling would make it cover 
the fires. With this danger in my mind, I yelled to Cecil, 
who was also bailing out water for dear life, to clear away and 
make ready the drag; and I had no sooner given this com- 
mand than I noticed the engine racing like mad, and at a 
g'ance saw that the shaft coupling was loose. Thornton see- 
ing also that something was wrong, though he did not know 
what, shut off steam and the engine was "stopped. 
Tim, as a general thing, is slow and very deliberate; wheth- 
er it was the wetting he had received, or whether he real- 
ized it was a good time to brace up, I do not know; however 
he proved himself the right man for the right place in this 
predicament, as he no sooner realized that the engine was 
stopped than he steered the Ruth square intei the wind, and 
jumping back to the boiler, where the drag was kept, he 
threw it overboard. In less than a quarter of a minute we 
had drifted back and were beginning to fall off to the west, 
then we reached the end of the line, tightened up on the 
drag, and we were riding head to wind as comfortable as 
could be. The Ruth now made good weather of it again, 
shipping little or no water, so I began to look around to see 
what was the trouble with our shaft. As far as I could see, 
the jar of the engine racing had loosened the key, which 
having fallen out left, nothing to hold the shaft. By this 
time the syphon had drawn all the water out of the boat, so 
down I got on my hands and knees to find that key, but find 
it I could not; and I was startled from my occupation by a 
sharp clap of thunder, apparently right overhead. Jumping 
up as quick as I coukl, I found that while we had all been 
engrossed with the storm coming from the south, there was ap- 
parently a much worse one coming from the west, and we were 
just far enough out in the lake to get the full benefit of it. 'The 
west was as black as ink, and the cloud was coming toward 
U8 at a rapid speed. Almost as suddenly the wind from the 
south ceased, the white caps all went down, and there was 
nothing but the long, heavy waves left. I had just time to 
call to the boys to sit in the bottom of the boat— my wife, 
holding little Ruth, following their example— and to Tim to 
take a paddle and head her to the west, at the same time 
catching a paddle and working the stern to the east myself. 
We barely managed to get her headed around when the 
storm was on us. 
What thunder! what lightning! aiid what a wind! Our 
previous experience was a calm compared to it. Inside of 
two minutes it was almost dark, the wind, now a hurricane, 
meeting the heavy swells] from the south, cut oft' their tops 
and threw them in blinding and drenching showers over the 
boat. The roar wfj^s as if the last day bad come, and 1 coa- 
[C^AN. 9, ISW. 
fess I thought another day Would never dawn for me or 
mine. Talking or in fact doing anything was entirely out of 
the question, we could only hold on and wait. 
Poor little Ruth, our pet, after whom our little boat was 
named, lay in the bottom with her head in her mother's lap, 
the picture of misery. The boys looked scared, but sat 
square on the floor, knowing that by so doing they made 
good ballast and helped keep the boat right side up. Tim 
Was on his knees holding on to the gunwale with one hand 
and bailing like a good fellow with the other. The thought 
flashed through my mind that if we get out of this scrape 
alive I would never call Tim slow again. 
By this time the waves began to heave up from the west, 
and such waves as they soon became I never want to see 
again. However, riding to tJie drag was very different from 
being anchored, as the drag being only large enough to hold 
us head to wind, it allowed us to drift considerably, so that 
the force of the waves were diminished by the speed of our 
drift. The water, however, still came aboard so fast that 
we saw plainly it was bail or go down, so to bailing we all 
went, and as we now had only to contend with pitching by 
holdine firmly to the gunwale with one hand we were 
enabled to do pretty good execution with the other. Tim 
being in the bow, where all the water now came in, was 
drenched fi-om head to foot by every wave which struck us: 
but he never wavered, he just kneeled on the bottom, facecl 
the music and bailed like a major. 
The watet was now some 5 or 6in. over the floor of the 
boat, and as the Ruth would rise and fall it, would slash fi-Om 
one end to the other like a mill race; the fires Weris out, and 
we were simply Working and waiting, expecting every big 
comber that came alon^ would sweep completely ovei- and 
swamp us. It was, however, just grand the way the little 
launch would ride those wavts; she would bury her bow 
almost the whole length of the deck, and just as we would 
think the green water was coming aboard she would rise 
again, and with the exception of shippiner two or three pail- 
f uls the water would fall off her deck and ro'l by. 
How long this con'inued I could not say ; it seemed a day, 
but was probably about twenty minutes, when to my de- 
light a break in the sky and a light streak clear across the 
west proclaimed that the worst was over, and though the 
wind was still blowing as if it would tear everything loose, 
I foresaw an abatement of its force and felt we were safe 
Oh, what a relief! Never did bright sky look so good or so 
pleasant, and to give way (o my feelings and encourage the 
rest I hurrahed at the top of my voice and pointed west. 
My enthusiasm was contagious, for all three of the boys, 
hearing me, instinctively looked west, and seeing the now 
large and increasing bright space, yelled with delight, and 
worked their bailing cans with tremendous effectiveness. 
We now all felt as happy as if we were on land, and 
though the danger was far from, being over, we felt as safe 
and secure as could be. My wife, hearing our shouts and 
seeing smiles on our faces, threw off her anxious look a.hd 
began to busy herself cheering up Ruth. The wind now 
abated very fast, the bright sky increased in size, and in less 
than ten minutes the sun was shining and nothing of the 
wind was left but a fairly stiff breeze, so as no more water 
came aboard we straightened ourselves up and began to make 
pi'eparations for getting up steam. 
On looking out over the lake we found we had drifted to 
wdthin half a mile of the east shore and were but a short 
distance south of Frontenac Island. Tim and Thornton 
now busied themselves getting up steam, while Cecil and 
myself began hunting for the key; but hunt as we would, 
we could not find it. Whether it flew overboard, or whether 
it had washed up under the floor, we could not and did not 
find it. 
As we could make steam from cold water in our boiler in 
five minutes, the cheerful whistle of the Ruth was soon 
blowing, but as the key necessary for our progress was still 
wanting Tim suggested that perhaps one made out of wood 
would last long enough to run us in to Union Springs. I 
somewhat doubtei its working, but as there was no harm 
in trying Tim split a piece off a stick that we had a fish line 
wound on, whittled it to the right size and drove it into the 
key seat. The lake was now comparatively quiet — the 
white caps all gone— so I told Cecil to haul aboard the drag, 
on his doing which Thornton slowly started the engine and 
Tim headed our little craft for Union Springs. 
Everything went well till we got inside the island, not 
more than forty rods from the dock, when the engine began 
racing again, a sign that our wooden key had given out; but 
another being made and driven in we started slowly, and in 
a few minutes were in the slip, lying alongside of the Sana- 
torium, Dr. Pierce's yacht, of that place. It was now 3 
o'clock P. M., and as we all needed dry clothes, and a key 
had to be made for the shaft, we decided to stay over 
night in the viUage and continue our journey the next day. 
The storm, as it proved, had been the most severe known 
for years, several barns in the path of it being unroofed, and 
one very large one being completely blown down; we there- 
fore made up our minds that we had been through a pretty 
good blow on Cayuga Lake. Sempek Fidelis. 
A Novel Experiment. 
We quote from the Brooklyn Eagle the following account of a 
novel and interestiog experiment which the American Model Y. C. 
is about to undertake. 
Despite the reluctance of the club as a whole to offlciallr encour- 
age the project, several members of the American Model Y. C. have 
decided to build, some time within the coming- year, a practical 30- 
footer from designs which they themselves will shortly originate. 
The members actively interested In the idea are six in number: 
George F. Pigott. George W. Townley, J. D. Casey, J. C. Meyer, O. 
L. Grey and Frank Nichols. The latter is the measurer of the organ- 
ization, and prime mover in the proposed plan of constructing a 20- 
footer, a representative of a class of racing craft that is certain to 
prove extremely popular when the next yachting season is inaugu- 
rated 
Each yachtsman nroposes to construct, according to a Jin. scale, a 
half model of a 20 foo'er. ranging from IS to SOft. on the waterline. 
No attempt at rigging these designs will be made, but when the en- 
tire complement is complete the models wUl be submitted to some 
eminent builder of racing craft, probably A. Gary Smith, by whom 
the threa most pi-omising will be selected. It Is the intention of the 
members to then build perfect models, fully rigged, of the three de- 
signs chosen, and upon their completion sail a series of trial races 
for fiaal supremacy. These yachts, will be constructed according to 
a 2in. scale, which will give them a racing length of either 36 or 40in., 
as determined by the original dimensions. 
Having decided by actual compttition which of the trio of models 
ii the fastest, it is propoied to build the 2J-footer exactly in accord- 
ance with and on the identical lines of the successful craft. If the 
boat is satisfactory as a sailor and racer, its prowess will demon- 
strate conclusively the value and adequacy of model yacht construc- 
tion as a means of obtaining a practical knowledge of boat building. 
With reference to the approaching season, it may be said that the 
American Model yachtsmen will leave untried no course that may 
enable them to win back from the Wave Crest >I. Y. C. the Eagle 
trophy. George W^. Townley's second class sloop Star will be consid- 
erably lightened before spring. The changes are to be made mainly 
in her sp-irs and rigging, and when sailed again she will appear in 
class three, and may later act as challenger io the race for the cov» 
eted cup, " 
