CHAPTER VIII.
About the first thing we did was to organize and select a captain, and, very much against my wishes, I was chosen to this important position.
Six of us had guns of some sort, Richard Field, Dallas's cook, was not armed at all.

We had one regular axe and a large camp hatchet, which was about the same as an axe, and several very small hatchets owned by the men.

All our worldly goods were piled up on the bank, and we were alone.
An examination of the old ferry boat showed it to be in pretty good condition, the sand with which it had been filled keeping it very perfectly.

We found two oars in the sand under the boat, and looked up some poles to assist us in navigation.

Our cordage was rather scant but the best we could get and all we could muster.