206 DUCK-SHOOTING. 



The boat-keepers began to fear the worst; the 

 absentees had either lost their way on the wide 

 desert of sand, and were now wandering about 

 hopelessly in darkness, or they had perished in one 

 of the many quicksands which abounded on the 

 shoal. Still they hung upon their anchor, and waited 

 till, at its appointed hour, the tide had covered the 

 whole bank, and not a doubt could remain as to the 

 fate of their friends. They then returned to reveal 

 the sad tidings to their relatives on shore, and at early 

 dawn repaired once more to the bank, now dry as 

 when they first landed. One body alone was found, 

 and he, like the Duck-shooter, had resorted to the 

 same last and forlorn hope. He had firmly fixed a 

 boat-hook on the highest ridge of sand, and having 

 lashed himself to it with his handkerchief, had 

 determined there to await the rising of the last tide 

 he was ever destined to behold. The bodies of his 

 companions were never seen again, and had pro- 

 bably found a resting-place in the deep channels of 

 the surrounding sea. 



Not far from the scene of this sad story, on the 

 Cheshire side of the mouth of the river Dee, runs 

 a ridge of three small rocky islands, called Great 

 Helbree, Little Helbree, and at the southern ex- 

 tremity, at a somewhat greater distance, forming 

 the termination of the ridge, the Little Eye. At 

 low water, the passage between these rocks and the 

 main land is entirely dry. At this time, therefore, 

 those who were inclined to take the chance of one 

 single shot, for a second loading was out of the 

 question, bent their way to the Little Eye, and took 

 possession of a sort of excavated hovel, where, under 



