BLUE-FISHING. 295 



restlessness. " Let's follow some other boat, that 

 one ahead, she acts as if going our way." 



"It is a thousand to one she is not, there are 

 villages all along the bay, and every cove is con- 

 verted into a harbor. We shall find the house, but 

 what troubles me is the course. I seem not to have 

 marked it on the chart. I must have known it so 

 well once." 



"And suppose we cannot find it, what then?" 

 groaned Mr. Green. " Where can we make a 

 harbor ? " 



"Oh, we can anchor anywhere. The water is 

 not over four feet deep where we are. But we can 

 surely find the channel. It was staked out." 



So they took * * heart of grace " at sight of every 

 oyster stake, and eel-pot stake and net stake in their 

 course. 



"What is the bulkhead, anyhow?" asked Mr. 

 Green, after a pensive pause. 



"It is a strip of sand like a shallow sand bar, 

 miles long, and dividing one part of the bay from 

 the other. There is some way of passing around 

 it, but I do not know how, and that would take us 

 far out of our course, and nearly up to the main- 

 land. We shall find the channel, never fear." 



The Superintendent stood this for half an hour 

 longer, then after they had passed a dozen white 

 houses, none of which the Commissioner recognized 

 as the right one, his patience and confidence gave 

 out together and he exclaimed decisively: 



"The sooner we about ship and go for some 



