138 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



wet and slippery that we were glad to retire below into 

 the close little cabin. We had embarked at sunset, a§ 

 the tide did not suit until then, and not even a small 

 schooner of the dimensions of the "Jack Easy" can leave 

 the Windsor river until the impetuous tide of this curious 

 bay sweeps up, and, rising to the height of forty feet, 

 bears up all the craft around the wharves from their soft 

 repose in the red mud. It was now dark, and the storm 

 increased ; the wind, being against tide, raised a tumul- 

 tuous sea. Presently there were two or three vivid flashes 

 of lightning, followed by increased violence of the wind 

 and dense driving hail, and the little schooner lay heavily 

 over. We, the passengers, were huddled together in a 

 cabin so small that it was with difficulty we could keep 

 our knees from touching the stove round which we 

 crowded. Everyone smoked, of course, and the strong 

 black tobacco of the settlers vied with the rushes of 

 smoke, driven by the wind down the stove-pipe, in pro- 

 ducing in the den a state of atmosphere threatening 

 speedy sufibcation, and we were glad to grope our way 

 into the dark hold and seek an asylum amongst the tubs, 

 barrels, and potato sacks which were rolhng about in 

 great uneasiness. At last it was over : a quieter state of 

 affairs, a great deal of stamping and slipping on deck, 

 and, finally, the long rattle of the cable, told us we were 

 anchored off Parsboro' — a fact which was corroborated 

 by the captain opening the hatch and lowering him- 

 self amongst us, one mass of ice and snow ; his clothes 

 rattled and grated as he moved as though they were 

 constructed of board. There was no shore bed for our 

 aching bones that night ; the tide did not suit to reach 

 the wharf, the village was a mile and a half away, and 



