Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/259

 Rh the capes of Virginia. Of the longitude they had no idea.

The wreckage of the masts and bulwarks was now cleared away, and the hull of the brig examined, but no leak found. The soldiers came on deck and dried their clothes, for there was not a dry stitch on the brig, even in the knapsacks, but everything had been soaked in salt water and slime. The sailors rigged a jury-mast on the stump of the mainmast, and on the following day another on that of the foremast.

On the 19th prayers were offered by the Hessian soldiers, to thank God for their deliverance in the storm. A hymn was sung and the 107th Psalm was read. Even the sailors, who could not understand a word of what was said by the Germans, showed much reverence and seemed to be praying themselves.

The Triton now slowly made her way to the northward, meeting with tolerable weather. Several vessels were seen, but none came to her assistance. Wiederhold elaborated a plan of action by which, in his hardly manageable hulk, he was to resist any privateer that should attack him. He proposed to hide his men, decoy a boat-load of Americans on board the Triton, and capture them. The privateer would now be unwilling to fire into the brig for fear of hurting her own men, and could not board it, on account of the superior numbers of the Hessians. It was, perhaps, fortunate for Wiederhold and his party that circumstances prevented them from trying to put this ingenious scheme in action.

On the morning of the 25th of September the capes