Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/39

29 us in our retreat, ſo that we were preſently as completely drenched as he.

We had very little repoe during the whole night: but the wind abating the next day, we ſucceeded in reaching Amboy before it was dark, after having paſſed thirty hours without proviſions, and with no other drink than a bottle of bad rum, the water upon which we rowed being ſalt. In the evening I went to bed with a very violent fever. I had ſomewhere read that cold water, drank plentifully, was a remedy in ſuch caſes. I followed the preſcription, was in a profuſe ſweat for the greater part of the night, and the fever left me. The next day I croſſed the river in a ferry-boat, and continued my journey on foot. I had fifty miles to walk, in order to reach Burlington, where I was told I ſhould find paſſage-boats that would convey me to Philadelphia. It rained hard the whole day, ſo that I was wet to the ſkin. Finding myſelf fatigued about noon, I ſtopped at a paltry inn, where I paſſed the reſt of the day and the whole night, beginning to regret that I had quitted my home. I made beſides ſo wretched a figure, that I was ſuſpeſted to be ſome runaway ſervant. This I diſcovered by the queſtions that were aſked me; and I felt that I was every moment in danger of being taken up as ſuch. The next day, however, I continued my journey, and arrived in the evening at an inn, eight or ten miles from Burlington, that was kept by one Dr. Brown.

This man entered into converſation with me while i took ſome refreſhment, and perceiving that I had read a little, he expreſſed towards me conſiderable intereſt and friendship, Our acquaintance continued during the remainder of his life. I believe him to have been what is called an itinerant doctor; for there was no