58 THE INLAND PASSAGE. 



razors, and will cut one's fingers or a raccoon's paw 

 terribly, unless care is taken in handling them. 

 The 'coon's plan is to slyly watch at low tide, when 

 the beds are bare, till the unsuspicious bivalve, 

 longing for a breath of the pure air of heaven as a 

 change from the insipid diet of salt water, opens 

 his mouth, when he quietly creeps forward and 

 drops a piece of shell into the opening. Mas- 

 ter oyster endeavors to resume his natural close- 

 ness of mouth, but in vain ; the early closing move- 

 ment has no reference to him. 



My plan of treatment was different, although the 

 final consequence to the oyster was about the same. 

 To open such sharp-edged creatures in the ordinary 

 way would soon have put our crew, experienced in 

 oyster opening though they were, hors du combat, or 

 to state it in English, useless for rope-hauling. 

 Even to separate them from one another was a peril- 

 ous job, so I hit upon the simple plan of putting 

 them in bunches just as they grew into the ovens of 

 the two stoves. There I let them roast till they 

 opened their mouths of their own accord, precisely 

 as they had done for the raccoon, but under a little 

 more compulsion. Cooked in this way they were so 

 delicious as to be worth a trip to Jekyl's Creek 

 merely to get. We almost lived on Jekyl Creek 

 oysters, and if any one of the party got out of spirits, 

 if Mr. Green or the Doctor wanted to propitiate one 

 of the queens of the yacht, and the Doctor especially 

 was continually engaged in that way, he never failed 

 with a roasted raccoon oyster. 



