They
stopped over night at a tavern, and at early dawn the stage horn awoke
them, and after a hasty breakfast they were again on their journey.
Several weeks were spent in traveling from town to town, and on
September 1st, 1807, they found themselves in New York City, still
undecided where they would go.
One morning Fernando went for his usual walk toward the river, when a
large crowd of people at the wharf attracted his attention. Drawing
near, he saw a curious-looking boat on the water, the like of which he
had never seen before. It was one hundred feet long, twelve feet wide
and seven feet deep. There was a staff or mast at the bow, another at
the stern. From a tall chimney there issued volumes of smoke, while from
a smaller pipe there came the hissing of boiling water and white steam.
Two great, naked paddle-wheels were on the boat, one on each side near
the middle. Fernando thought this must be the toy of which he had heard
so much, being constructed by Robert Fulton and Chancellor Livingston.
On one side of the boat was painted the name _Clermont_.
"What is that?" Fernando asked of a rollicking, fun-loving young
Irishman about twenty-two or three years of age, who stood near.
"Faith, sir, it's a steamboat. We have all come to see her launched.
They call her the _Clermont_; but it's mesilf as thinks she ought to be
_Fulton's Folly_, for divil a bit do I believe she'll go a
cable's length.
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