Early the next morning found all hands on deck down at the old ferry landing bustling about and making ready to perform a rescue. Loomis and Clem got the turnbuckles off the steel cable holding the pontoon platform anchored close to shore and eventually with a lot of experimentation and work Crick and crew managed to secure the barge to the tractor and bolted the cables together. After a few tentative maneuvers to get the feel for his unwieldy craft Crick signaled that he was ready to push it up river and would meet them at the plantations landing before setting off for the rescue mission.
Preparations for today were minimalist at best, Getting ready to receive 50 or so starving people when there is so little extra food around was problematic. A big hog scalding cauldron was scrubbed out
