It seemed as if we were being weighed in a great balance and thatwavering and swaying up and down; balanced about equally between hope andfear, life and death.

[Illustration: "THE MICHIGAN."--AFTER LEAVING THE ISLAND IN THESPRING 0F 1834.]

No one could tell which way it would turn with us. I made up my mind, andpromised if ever I reached terra-firma never to set leg on that lakeagain; and I have kept my word inviolate. I was miserably sick, as werenearly all the passengers. I tried to keep on my feet, as much as Icould; occasionally I would take hold of the railing and gaze upon the ferociousterrific scene, or lean against whatever I could find, that wasstationary, near mother and the rest of the family. Mother was calm, butI knew she had little hope that we would ever reach land. She said, herchildren were all with her and we should not be parted in death; that weshould go together, and escape the dangers and tribulations of thewilderness.