38 THE INLAND PASSAGE. 



that there are innumerable brant on the ocean 

 side." 



"That is just as I supposed/' was Mr. Green's 

 reply, as he took up the axe that lay on the deck, 

 "and as you have no battery, how do you expect 

 to kill them ?" 



The doctor and I had nothing to reply, and Mr. 

 Green, carrying the axe, called one of the men and 

 rowed away to the shore in triumph. During his 

 absence the doctor, who is a cordon bleu, prepared 

 the turkey that we had purchased at Kitty Hawk 

 for cooking, by stuffing it with the oysters that 

 we had tonged at Roanoke Island. By the time 

 this culinary feat was accomplished, our master of 

 fish culture had returned. He had cut a dozen 

 stakes about eight feet long, which were to be used 

 to improvise a blind, by thrusting them into the 

 bottom and tying strings around from one to the 

 other, and hanging reeds or grass tied in bunches 

 over the strings. 



These precautionary measures being taken, we got 

 under-way. The wind had increased to almost a 

 gale, and our brave little vessel fairly leaped before 

 it towards the South like a race horse. Quite a sea 

 had made in the broad expanse of Pamlico Sound, 

 which can be stormy enough when in the humor, 

 and the waves rolled after us in vain and vindictive 

 fury. There were two large steamers going South, 

 and we held them for some time, and had hopes of 

 keeping up with them, but they slowly drew ahead, 

 and left us alone in the waste of tumultuous waves. 



