166 Union Bay 



simulates the even step of a light foot walking on autumn 

 leaves. There is no person behind me, and I do not know 

 what the cause can be until I turn around and find that the 

 projecting canoe paddle is being struck by the regular sway- 

 ing of a wind-blown cattail leaf which is just dry enough to 

 make the sound. 



The cove is a comfortable place. The mixture of various 

 sounds becomes quite soothing.. I pull my old tan hat closely 

 down and fail to regard the scene with the attention required 

 for first-class observation. My thoughts turn to Billy, the 

 older of the two dogs belonging to the canoehouse manager. 

 When I took out the canoe the dog had just- been brought 

 back from a veterinary who had removed a head of foxtail 

 grass which had worked into the animal's ear. The dog had 

 been given gas and he looked thoroughly done in. I had al- 

 ways considered the relationship between this man and his 

 two dogs an ideal one. There was never any monkey business 

 or domination or sentimentality. It was an actual working 

 partnership with mutual obligation and respect. Today they 

 had sat on the bench together. The man said nothing but 

 petted the dog occasionally as it nuzzled close to him. I 

 thought it was a most agreeable sight. 



A boat whistling for the bridge awakes me, or possibly 

 it is the noise of the bees which pass within a foot of my 

 head. I watch them take nectar. My drowsiness vanishes. 

 Each bee goes methodically up or down the long spike, 

 working on all sides of it, and then, as if satisfied that its 

 possibilities are exhausted, moves on to another head. I con- 

 sider this apparent draining of the flowers on each head quite 

 efficient, until I notice that when one bee leaves another soon 

 takes its place. Whether the first one fails to extract all the 

 nectar from the flower or whether the new bee visits only 

 the flowers overlooked by the first is more than I am pre- 

 pared to say, but I observe that the procedure is followed 

 time after time. 



