ff the boat; especially as it was believed
the bark would be not only drier but safer than a smaller craft, should
they be overtaken by the wind. This indecision, so common in cases of
uncertainty, was the means of exposing Adelheid and her father to all
those fearful risks they had just run.

When the night came on, the people of the town began to understand that
the tempest would be grave for those who were obliged to encounter it,
even in the best bark on the Leman. The darkness added to the danger, for
vessels had often run against the land by miscalculating their distances;
and the lights were shown along the strand, by order of the bailiff, who
manifested an interest so unusual in those on board the Winkelried, as to
draw about them more than the sympathy that would ordinarily be felt for
travellers in distress. Every exertion that the case admitted was made in
their behalf, and, the moment the state of the lake allowed, boats were
sent off, in every probable direction, to their succor. But the Winkelried
was running along the coast of Savoy, ere any ventured forth, and the
search proved fruitless. When the rumor spread, however, that a sail was
to be discerned coming out from under the wide shadow of the opposite
mountains, and that it was steering for La Tour de Peil, a village with a
far safer harbor than that of Vevey, and but an arrow's flight from the
latter town, crowds rushed to the spot. The instant it was known that the
missing party was in her, the travellers were received with cheers of
delight and cries of hearty greeting.

The bailiff and Roger de Blonay hastened forward to receive the Baron de
Willading and his friends, who were carried in a tumultuous and joyful
manner into the old castle that adjoins the port, and from which, in
truth, the latter derives its name. The Bernois noble was too much
affected with the scenes through which he had so lately passed, and with
the strong and ungovernable tenderness of Adelheid, who had wept over him
as a mother sobs over her recovered child, to exchange greetings with him
of Vaud, in the hearty, cordial manner that ordinarily characterized their
meetings. Still their peculiar habits shone through the restraint.

"Thou seest me just rescued from the fishes of thy Leman, dear de Blonay,"
he said, squeezing the other's hand with emotion, as, leaning on his
shoulder, they went into the chateau. "But for yonder brave youth, and as
honest a mariner as ever floate