OLD MURRAY BAY 



One handled the tiller, laying a course as 

 close to the land as he dared, another man- 

 aged the sheet, the skipper communed with 

 the world beyond. Which of the four 

 wrought best — praying with hands, lips, or 

 eyes — I wot not, but just as the helmsman 

 called 'the last wave pooped us, she won't 

 stand much more', the lookout, heart in 

 mouth, roared the command 'wear and run 

 in', and the labouring yawl passed in a few 

 seconds through the angry smother into 

 shelter and peace. Un bel adon, as the old 

 speech has it, for one might not look to 

 tumble upon such luck twice in a lifetime; 

 and Lord! what a night wind and water 

 made of it as we lay with scarce a ripple 

 lapping on the side. 



On short cruises, as on long, it is well to 

 keep the weather eye lifting for the signs of 

 change. Picnic parties have often been 

 driven to take the rough way home by land 

 where a wind has come up against the tide, 

 but those who use the river know that the 

 ebb will soon draw an easterly swell off the 

 shore, leaving a passage smooth enough for 

 canoes. To cross the bay from cape to 

 cape is wise only on a very settled day, for 

 the Murray valley is the natural channel 

 for the adjustment of atmospheric balance 

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