Catching Menhaden off Montauk 



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time the Montauks were the most powerful of all 

 the tribes on Long Island, and appear to have 

 been unusually upright savages. Their country, 

 Montauk Point, was once clothed with an abun- 

 dant forest, but the clearing, which took place a 

 century and a half ago, has never been replaced 

 by a new growth, and the whole space is now a 

 wild waste of desolate grass, almost uninhabited, 

 and rarely visited except by gunners and cran- 

 berry-pickers. 



Off Culloden Point the lookout excitedly an- 

 nounced, "Fish off the port bow!" The captain 

 seized his glass and scanned the water. So did I. 



"There's a big bunch," he shouts. "Watch 

 'em flirt their tails! Good color! See how red 

 the water is?" 



" Oh, yes, to be sure," I cry. " By Jove, that's 

 a good color!" 



My vacant face must have belied my words, 

 but he didn't notice it. He was shouting: 



" Lower away the boats ! Stand by to ship the 

 nets!" furiously ringing signals to the engineer, 

 giving hasty orders to the wheelsman, ensconcing 

 himself in a pair of oilskin trousers so capacious 



