n, and to see if any
other traces were left, except those on the hand of my son, which it was
necessary, in the first place, to attend to. I remembered frequently to
have applied with success in burns the most simple and easy of remedies,
which everybody can command: this is, to bathe the hand affected in cold
water, taking care to renew it every eight or ten minutes. I placed
Ernest between two tubs of cold water, and, exhorting him to patience
and perseverance, I left him to bathe his hand, and approached the
opening, to try and discover what had preserved us, by averting the
direction of the lightning, which one might have expected would have
killed my son, and destroyed our dwelling. I saw only some light traces
on the table; but, on looking more attentively, I found that the greater
part of the surgical instruments which Ernest had placed upon it were
either melted or much damaged. In examining them separately, I remarked
one much longer than the rest, which projected beyond the edge of the
table, and was much marked by the fire. I could not easily take it up;
it had adhered somewhat in melting, and, in endeavouring to disengage
it, I saw that the point, which was beyond the opening, touched a thick
wire, which seemed to be suspended from the roof of our tent. All was
now explained to me; except that I could in no way account for this
wire, placed expressly to serve as a conductor for the lightning. It
seemed to be the work of magic. The evening was too far advanced for me
to distinguish how it was fastened, and what fixed it below; therefore,
enjoining Ernest to call loudly if he needed me, I hastened down. I saw
my three cooks very busy, as I passed through, preparing the broth for
their mother--they assured me it would be excellent. Fritz boasted that
he had killed the fowl with all speed, Jack that he had plucked it
without tearing it much, and Francis that he had lighted and kept up the
fire. They had nothing to employ them just then, and I took them with me
to have some one to talk to on the phenomenon of the lightning. Below
the window I found a large packet of iron wire, which I had brought from
Tent House some days before, intending on some leisure day to make a
sort of grating before our poultry-yard. By what chance was it here, and
hooked by one end to the roof of our house? Some time before I had
replaced our cloth canopy by a sort of roof covered with bark nailed
upon laths; the cloth still enclosed the