r, and at the
end of that time there was a thundering explosion near the fleet,
hurling up great volumes of water into the air.

Soon there were signs of fright in the ships. The anchors were raised,
sails were set, and off they went to safer quarters down the bay. They
did not care to be too near such dangerous affairs as that.

Boats were sent out to the aid of the _Turtle_ and it was brought ashore
at a safe place. On landing Abijah gave, in his queer way, the reasons
for his failure.

"It's just as I said, Gineral; it went to pot for want o' that cud of
tobacco. You see, I'm mighty narvous without my tobacco. When I got
under the ship's bottom, somehow the screw struck the iron bar that
passes from the rudder pintle, and wouldn't hold on anyhow I could fix
it. Just then I let go the oar to feel for a cud, to steady my narves,
and I hadn't any. The tide swept me under her counter, and away I
slipped top o' water. I couldn't manage to get back, so I pulled the
lock and let the thunder-box slide. That's what comes of sailing short
of supplies. Say, can you raise a cud among you _now_?"

Later on, after the British had taken the city of New York, two more
attempts were made to blow up vessels in the river above the city. But
they both failed, and in the end the British fired upon and sunk the
_Turtle_. Bushnell's work was lost. The best he had been able to do was
to give them a good scare.

But he was not yet at the end of his schemes. He next tried to blow up
the _Cerberus_, a British frigate that lay at anchor in Long Island
Sound. This time a schooner saved the frigate. A powder magazine was set
afloat, but it struck the schooner, which lay at anchor near the
frigate. The schooner went to pieces, but the _Cerberus_ was saved.

The most famous of Bushnell's exploits took place at Philadelphia, after
the British had taken possession and brought their ships up into the
Delaware River.

One fine morning a number of kegs were seen floating down among the
shipping. What they meant nobody knew. The sailors grew curious, and a
boat set out from a vessel and picked one of them up. In a minute it
went off, with the noise of a cannon, sinking the boat and badly hurting
the man.

This filled the British with a panic. Those terrible kegs might do
frightful damage. They must be some dreadful invention of the rebels.
The sailors ran out their guns, great and small, and began to batter
every keg they saw with cannon balls,