248 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



of the widgeon the harsh cry of the south- 

 southerly the whistling wings of the golden- 

 eye the quack of the butter-ball ; and you were 

 kept constantly on the alert, knocking over can- 

 vass-backs and red-heads, until near noon, when 

 the wind increased to a half gale, the battery 

 went adrift, the scow dragged her anchor almost 

 at the same moment, while the boat was off, 

 and for a while, we were, as sailors say, caught 

 in a h^ap. Giving up the search for the dead 

 ducks, we pulled might and main for the battery, 

 while Fred and the boy lifted the scow's anchor, 

 and hoisting the jib, ran closer in shore. On ap- 

 proaching the box, we found McCullough stand- 

 ing knee deep in water, having thrown over- 

 board all his iron, after driving down through 

 the decoys. The battery had then brought up, 

 but the waves were making a clean breach over 

 the box, and the stools were in a confused state 

 of entanglement and disarray. Some had been 

 detached from their weights and were floating 

 off, or going on to the lee shore to caulk, as Davis 

 expressed it, tumbling about on the waves as if 

 in joy of their escape ; others were foul of the 

 anchors under the frame of the battery, and the 

 rest in a cumber; while the wind blew stiffly, in 

 gusts, from the heights of the opposite shore 



