323 THE JERSEY COAST. 



There M'as a hum of pleasant voices — words like, 

 " Oh ! Deb, we should not have got in ;" " Why, 

 Mary, we may as well ride — it's all in our way." 

 '•' But these gentlemen are strangers, and may think 

 it wrong of us." "Oh, Lib, don't talk that way; 

 they know better." We assured them that nothing 

 could be more perfectly proper. So situated, 

 the ride appeared very short, and the next mile, 

 which was as far as our delightful freight would go, 

 was passed seemingly in about a minute and a half, 

 decidedly the fastest time on record. At the end 

 of it, on a suggestion from the driver, who lived in 

 that section and knew the country, toll was taken 

 of their rosy lips as passage-money. Jersey is a 

 glorious place. 



Passing Charley's, as he is generally called, the 

 son of the old man, who for years was famous as the 

 first hunter in that land, we turned off beyond, down 

 the beach. The bay between the mainland and the 

 sand-bar, known everywhere as " The Beach," was 

 narrow, widening slowly as we advanced, until, at 

 the end of our seven miles' journey, it was nearly 

 three miles across. There was little vegetation be- 

 side salt grass and bay-berry bushes ; but of the 

 animal kingdom the only representatives — the mos- 

 quitoes — were thicker than the mind of man can 

 conceive ; they rose in crowds, pursuing us fiercely, 

 covering the horses in an unbroken mass, settling 

 upon ourselves, flying into our eyes, crawling upon 

 our necks, stinging through our clothes, and filling 

 the air. Although small, they were hungry be- 



