GEESE 



Human endurance, however, could not out- 

 game that weather. The evening finally 

 came when the boys announced that their 

 time was up, so, after supper, we sent the 

 small boats up to Ocracoke on the inside and 

 fared forth into the dark sound. 



As we blindly felt our way out from our 

 anchorage, we ran over a stake net, picked it 

 up and wrapped it around our propeller, and 

 grounded helplessly on the edge of the outer 

 bar. There we stuck. Examination showed 

 a very pretty state of affairs. The net with 

 its hard cotton lead line had wedged in be- 

 tween the propeller and the hull, and discon- 

 nected the shaft a trifling damage and one 

 that could have been repaired easily enough 

 had we possessed a deep-sea diving outfit or 

 a floating dry dock. But, search our baggage 

 as we might, we could find neither. That's 

 the trouble about leaving home in a hurry, 

 one is apt to forget his dry dock. 



Just to show us that he was still on the job, 

 old J. W. Jinx arranged a shift in the wind. 

 It had been calm all day; now a gale came off 

 the sound and held us firmly on the reef. 

 Pamlico began to show her teeth in the 

 gloom, and with every swell we worked higher 



31 



