274 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS. 



fast ! ' shouts S ; but it was too late. In an instant 



we were overwhelmed the punt bottom upwards, myself 

 struggling to get out from underneath her. Being a mile 

 from the main shore, it was a case of hold on, or drown. 

 Never have I seen such a fearful sight as those masses of 

 seething waters. The wind roared like an express train 

 bearing down on one in a subterranean tunnel, scooping up 

 the water and flinging it in our faces. So terrific was its 

 force in these wide and unprotected slakes, that it was impos- 

 sible to stand or to make our voices heard to each other. 

 As we were carried along in the driving foam, we simply 

 clung to the coamings of the punt, and twice did the wind 

 pick her off the water and literally hurl her over me, who 

 happened to have the leeward berth, S. hanging on to wind- 

 ward. Fortunately, we managed to hit off a ' gut,' or stream, 

 leading up to the mainland. The depth varied here from two to 

 four feet, and in places the wind fairly scooped the water out 

 of its channel, dashing it bodily upon the black ooze which 

 formed its sides. This ooze was, if possible, more treach- 

 erous than the water, affording no foothold, and, on the 

 contrary, tending to anchor one in its slimy depths. In the 

 midst of the hurricane, I well remember seeing close at hand 

 a belated Oyster-catcher thrown down on the mud, and how 

 quickly the poor bird instantly headed to windward. Gulls, 

 too, and the smaller waders seemed equally incapable of flight, 

 as frequently they were dashed down on the muddy ooze, 

 and, crouching low, tried to seek shelter there from the over- 

 whelming elements. 



" For three hours and a half we struggled thus with the 

 storm, fighting foot by foot to gain the mainland, which lay 

 on our beam, as we faced the gale. Eventually we reached 

 the shore near an old barn. To this we crept on all fours, 

 and while lying, half-unconscious, behind its gable, the 

 slates were lifted high in the air and carried away. During 

 these three and a half hours, some hundred and seventy fisher- 

 men were drowned within a few miles of us, and twice we 

 observed the glare of the rockets as they conveyed the life- 

 saving apparatus to the crews of two stranded steamers a 

 couple of miles to seaward of us. That night I spent at the 



