OFF CHATHAM BARS 189 



extricate ourselves, I could not see. I supposed they knew; 

 but even experts miscalculate. We had run about midway 

 into the entrance when I saw coming a wave that fairly ap- 

 palled me. The fishermen exchanged anxious glances, and 

 the helmsman swung the yacht to meet it, bowsprit on, while 

 I hurriedly closed the hatchway. I can never forget the 

 ominous look of that wall of water towering above me, before 

 it struck. It was green and sinister, with a curling crest that 

 rose high above our heads, like the flowing mane of a war- 

 horse. Its onward rush seemed like the charge of a troop of 

 cavalry. All we could do was to cling to something and take 

 it. Then it fairly buried us. The yacht lurched violently, but 

 did not capsize. The next thing I knew, the standing-room 

 was full of water, the deck swept of all movable articles, which 

 were floating or sinking out beyond us, and the seine-boat 

 had broken away. Fortunately the strong tide was racing in, 

 which carried us to safety before the next comber could reach 

 us. Had the tide been the other way, it might have been 

 much more serious for us. So, to this day, when I am tempted 

 to be rash to secure a coveted opportunity with sea-birds, 

 a vision of that white-crested, green comber rises to forbid. 



It was two years after the unsuccessful attempt mentioned 

 on the preceding page before I was able to try again. Another 

 September day found me at Chatham. The next two days 

 the bars moaned and thundered, but on the third came the 

 realization of the great event. The Chatham cat-rig plunged 

 and tossed considerably, but, fortunately for my water-fowl 

 studies, my equilibrium is not easily upset. Once through the 

 line of breakers, we took the long, even swell, and soon hove 

 to to catch some dog-fish for livers with which to bait up birds. 

 Of late years the cod and haddock have mostly disappeared 

 from the coast, and it was necessary to resort to this degen- 

 erate sort of fishing to secure bait. But no one who knows 



