NANTUCKET IN APRIL 79 



black duck, grebes, dotted the surface of the pond 

 and in all the sandy shallows spawning alewives 

 splashed and played — ^thousands of them. I had 

 thought spawning a serious business with fish, 

 not to be entered upon lightly or without due con- 

 sideration. Yet these made a veritaWe romp of 

 it. And in the crystal clear air overhead, swept 

 clean of all city soot, soared a marsh hawk or 

 two and an osprey. There was more than clarity 

 to this atmosphere. It had an elusive, mirage- 

 creating quality that made the osprey look start- 

 lingly large as he soared near. It was enough 

 to make one remember the roc that Sindbad saw 

 and get under cover. But he took an alewive in- 

 stead of me. All along the island in the steep 

 of the sun the air had this magnifying quality. 

 It loomed the white headstones in the cemetery 

 on the hill back of the town till they seemed 

 bigger than the town itself, symbolic perhaps of 

 how large a proportion of its former glory lies 

 here. 



Nantucket's one boat out at this time of year 

 leaves at seven in the morning. From its deck 

 across its churning wake the most conspicuous 

 building is the old watch tower whose gikled 



