"
Fernando and his new acquaintance drew nearer. The hissing of the steam
and the roaring of the furnaces were fearful.
"Do you know Robert Fulton?" Fernando asked.
"Indade, I do. Would you like to see the greatest lunatic out of Bedlam?
Then it's mesilf as will point him out to yez."
"I should like to see him."
There were a number of men at work on the boat, all expressing the
wildest eagerness and anxiety. They were rushing forward and aft, above
and below, to those ponderous engines and boilers; but no one could see
what they did. At last Mr. Fulton, the great inventor, appeared. He was
a large, smooth-shaved gentleman, with a long head and melancholy gray
eye. On his nose was a smut spot from the machinery. Thousands were now
assembled to witness the trial voyage. Mr. Livingston gave the order to
cast off, and start the vessel. The lines were loosed and the steam
turned on. Loud hissed the confined monster; but the wheels did not
move. What was the matter?
"Failure!" was on every tongue, and the crowd assembled already began
to hoot and jeer. Mr. Fulton's face expressed the deepest anxiety. He
ran below to inspect the machinery. A bolt had caught. This was removed,
and then the ponderous wheels began to move. The great paddles churned
the water to a mass of foam, and the boat glided forward against wind
and tide at a rate of speed astonishing.
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