The Weakfish 125 



fool to listen to you. Why, this is the very 

 worst sort of thing a man in my state of 

 health should do come out to a rough- 

 and-tumble place like this. I wish I had 

 gone back with the captain; that old 

 numbskull, too, should have known bet- 

 ter. Where are the decent things you said 

 you had out here the soft, clean beds, 

 the fine stove, and all the other things? " 



"Oh, don't fret so, Doctor. Every- 

 thing will come in its order/' I say to 

 him. "Drink some sherry it '11 calm 

 you. Here 's your clams ; now for a nice 

 sea bass." 



The shanty is not so bad as my visitor 

 paints it. It has given me firm shelter 

 for years, and some of the happiest days 

 of my life have been spent within sight of 

 its homely portal. Its island lies abreast 

 of Bellmore, six miles distant on the 

 mainland. The little house faces the 

 ocean, whose breakers can be seen and 

 heard rolling in on the wild beach a quar- 

 ter of a mile to the south. 



