A VOYAGE TO BEARD'S ISLAND. 141 



Here we came upon a wounded sheldrake, whose 

 quick and clever diving and desperate beatings 

 along the tops of the waves enabled him to es- 

 cape us. In the river's wandering across this 

 meadow it led us close to a charming home spot. 

 A high hill, broken on the river side into many 

 gray ledges, overhung a narrow, bright green 

 field. This was the home acre. A house sur- 

 rounded by shrubbery, a barn blessed with 

 calves, hens, broods of young chickens, a kitchen 

 garden newly planted, an orchard with swelling 

 flower buds, a bridge with many piers and a 

 bright red boat moored near it, all these things 

 lay cosily under the ledges. Swallows flew 

 merrily back and forth between meadow and 

 barnyard, and a bluebird sang sweet music in an 

 apple-tree. We paused under the bridge and 

 took account of the weather. The wind was 

 rough and came in gusts ; the sky was now com- 

 pletely overcast, and in the north ugly clouds 

 seemed pressing forward up the river. Oilskin 

 coats and rubber covers for the tops of the ca- 

 noes were brought into play, and then away we 

 sped under reefed sails across the next mile of 

 river. Rain, hail, and snow all pelted us, and 

 helped the wind lash the river into foam. 



An hour before noon we landed at a hillside 

 covered with pines and cedars, and sought shel- 

 ter in the woods for dinner and a fire. The hill 



