There for the time his more acute troubles ended. A few days later, at
Detroit, a throng of persons, half helpless with laughter, noisily
escorted to the Fort a forlorn, bald-headed, painted scare-crow, clad in
a tattered Indian blanket, which scare-crow presently introduced itself
to the commandant as Andrew Kerr, lately a prisoner of the Indians.
Once recovered from his fatigues and hardships, Andrew, as one of a
small force, was sent to Niagara to obtain supplies for the Detroit
garrison. The outward voyage down Lake Erie was safely and pleasantly
accomplished. But these vast American lakes are subject to sudden and
violent storms, and on the return trip, during an exceptionally fierce
squall, the little 40-ton sloop, heavily laden as she was with military
stores, sprang a leak, and to save themselves the crew were forced to
run her aground on a gravelly beach under the lee of a projecting
headland. The situation at best was most critical, for if the wind
should shift but a few points the sloop must inevitably break up; and
not only was the one boat available a mere skiff incapable of living in
a heavy sea, but even should they all succeed in safely getting ashore
with muskets intact and ammunition dry, their position would still be in
the last degree precarious.
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