The children were more dead than alive, and the approaching darkness filled them with terror.  Their mother would say to them, “Keep along, follow closely, the moon is rising, we shall soon have plenty of light.”  In this manner they toiled on till midnight, when they reached the sloop.  Fortunately for the little band of wanderers, Captain Godfrey had left on board the vessel a small Dutch stove and a number of broken boxes.  A fire was soon made, some of the burnt pork was sliced and put in a pan and fried for the night’s meal.  But the children sank to rest soon after getting on board, and lay huddled together on the cabin floor.  After the Captain and his wife had partaken of the meal and before retiring to rest on the hard boards of the floor, Mrs. Godfrey read, by the dim light of a candle, the fifty-fourth psalm.

Nothing can better prove the genuineness of a life, the soundness of a profession, the real character of a man or woman, than those extreme trials and difficulties of earth, when no friends are near to help and where no way of escape seems possible.  In trials, such as those related above, the noblest traits of character or the hollowness and rottenness of a profession are often plainly seen.  Five cold winter days and nights came and passed, yet no relief came to the imprisoned family.  They dare not move out, fearing the Indians would see them and come at night and murder them.  The sixth day Crabtree, who lived some miles distant from where the Godfreys had resided, having heard of the attack of the savages and the destruction they had caused, made his way to the scene of the ruins.  He could find no trace of the Godfreys and was returning by the border of the lake to his log cabin, when he saw the sloop far in the distance like a speck on the frozen surface of the lake.  He hastened out to where she lay.  To his surprise and joy he found out, when nearing the little craft, signs of life on board.  Sparks were issuing from the cabin.  Very soon he was on board.  He was met at the companion-way by the Captain who gave him a thousand welcomes.  Crabtree, after a few minutes rest and conversation, started for his home, eleven miles distant, promising to return early the next morning with a sledge to assist in taking the children to his cabin.  In the morning he returned, and Captain Godfrey, his wife, and little ones, left the sloop and went to Crabtree’s.  Captain and Mrs. Godfrey and Charlie had to walk the entire distance over the lake and through the forest to Crabtree’s log house.

The man who had rescued them attended to their wants as well as his circumstances would allow.  He kept the distressed family until the month of May, when the ice in the river broke up.  Captain Godfrey then set to work to fit out the sloop, being determined to leave the place as soon as possible.  The sails and part of the rigging were consumed in the fire at Grimross.  He had fortunately saved two of the compasses from the flames.  After days of toil he managed to get the vessel in fair working order.  The old half-burnt blankets were patched together and a mainsail and jib were completed.  On the 30th of May, 1771, he set sail for Fort Frederick.