GEESE 



pile of game that all but filled the tiny skiff 

 which they had thoughtfully brought along. 

 By the time we had loaded it with the dead 

 birds and the crate of live decoys it was gun- 

 wale deep, so we set out to wade back to the 

 launch, towing it behind us. 



Night had fallen; fog and rain occasionally 

 obscured the gleam of our distant ship's lan- 

 tern. Other lights winked at us out of the 

 gloom, and although they were miles away, 

 nevertheless they all looked alike; so, natu- 

 rally, we got lost. We headed for first one 

 then another twinkling beacon, and altered 

 our course only when the water deepened so 

 that we could proceed no farther without 

 swimming. 



I have been successfully lost where you 

 would least expect it, but never before had I 

 been lost at sea with nothing whatever to sit 

 down upon except the ocean, and after an 

 hour or two I voted it the last word in nothing 

 to do. I can think of no poorer way of spend- 

 ing a rainy December night than chasing will- 

 o'-the-wisps round a knee-deep mud flat the 

 size of Texas, with an open channel between 

 you and the shore. 



I presume we waded no more than twenty - 

 29 



