OH, SHOOT! 



Hatteras Life-saving Station rowed out to 

 tell us that such weather was impossible 

 and threatened to ruin their business, but 

 what could you expect under a Democratic 

 administration? 



One morning, Ri outlined a desperate plan 

 to me, and I leaped at it. Away inshore, 

 across miles of flats, we could see probably a 

 million geese and twice that many ducks 

 enjoying a shallow footbath where no boat 

 could approach them. 



"Let's leave the launch outside, wade our 

 rig up to their feedin' ground, and dig it in. 

 It '11 take a half day of hard work, but there's 

 goin' to be a loose goose flyin' about three 

 o'clock, and you can shoot till plumb dark. 

 We'll leave the box down and wade back." 



It sounded difficult, so we tried it, towing 

 the empty battery behind us. The big decoy 

 skiff dragged like an alligator, but we poled, 

 waded, shoved, and tugged until we came to 

 where the bottom was pitted and white with 

 uptorn grass roots. Here we dug a hole deep 

 enough to sink the box no easy job with a 

 broken-handled shovel put out our stools, 

 and then the men shoved the empty boat away. 



Tons of wild fowl had gone out as we came 

 26 



