A HERMIT'S WILD FRIENDS 



his return once when the wind was blowing 

 a fierce gale. The little boat would careen 

 until the sail trailed in the water and it 

 seemed to me that she must capsize. At the 

 last moment she would come up into the wind 

 and right. In this slow, dangerous manner 

 she was worked to the mouth of Annisquam 

 River and tied up above the Cut Bridge. 

 The next day I asked the fisherman how he 

 had managed to keep his boat right side up. 

 " Oh, that was easy. When she heeled too 

 much, I shook her up, and kept her from 

 taking in water." " Shook her up," was a 

 new phrase to me. 



Below my Eyrie lay the little hamlet called 

 the Cut. Some of its cottages had straggled 

 up to the base of the cliff just below the tent. 



I could look down on a long stretch of 

 Western Avenue beginning at the Cut and 

 ending in Ward Five, beyond the Cut Bridge. 

 The latter was a drawbridge, and when open 

 the city of Gloucester was on an island, with 

 the exception of Ward Eight, which lies on 

 the west side of Annisquam River. 

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