224 PEPACTON 



the sky threatening. The clouds had a singulai 

 appearance; they were boat-shaped, with well-de- 

 fined keels. I have seldom known such clouds to 

 bring rain; they are simply the fleet of iEolus, and 

 so it proved on this occasion, for they gradually 

 dispersed or faded out, and before noon the sun was 

 shining. 



We saw numerous flocks of ducks on the passage 

 down, and saw a gun (the man was concealed) 

 shoot some from a " blind " near Fort Washington. 

 Opposite Mount Vernon, on the flats, there was a 

 large "bed" of ducks. I thought the word a good 

 one to describe a long strip of water thickly planted 

 with them. One of my friends was a member of 

 the Washington and Mount Vernon Ducking Club, 

 which has its camp and fixtures just below the 

 Mount Vernon landing; he was an old ducker. 

 For my part I had never killed a duck, — except 

 with an axe, — nor have I yet. 



We made our way along the beach from the land- 

 ing, over piles of driftwood, and soon reached the 

 quarters, a substantial building, fitted up with a 

 stove, bunks, chairs, a table, culinary utensils, 

 crockery, etc., with one corner piled full of decoys. 

 There were boats to row in and boxes to shoot 

 from, and I felt sure we should have a pleasant 

 time, whether we got any ducks or not. The 

 weather improved hourly, till in the afternoon a 

 well-defined installment of the Indian summer, that 

 had been delayed somewhere, settled down upon the 

 scene; this lasted during our stay of two days. 



