Song Birds and Water Fowl 



farther shore, and not having posted himself 

 for that year as to the arrangement of the ever- 

 shifting sandbars, made us reach ground be- 

 fore we got to land, so that we came to a dead 

 standstill, " docked in sand." We stuck fast 

 until the brilliant thought struck the two boys 

 to lighten the boat by jumping overboard ; but 

 they were too young to weigh much, and the 

 boat didn't budge an inch. Then they pushed 

 and pried, and threw the ballast into the bow, 

 and sent me after it, so that finally we slid off, 

 and in two minutes were gently perching on 

 another bar, whereupon all hands except my- 

 self went overboard again. My hesitation to 

 do the same was not because I was afraid of 

 water, but I had already paid my passage, and 

 proposed to go over dry-shod, if it took all 

 night. I learned a good lesson, however, in 

 submarine topography, bumping around on the 

 various sand-bars for an hour or two; but at 

 last by some accident we drifted into the chan- 

 nel, and came to shore. 



The first impression on reaching land was 

 ominous and disheartening. The mere absence 

 of civilization makes no solitude for me ; but 

 here everything was helter-skelter, half savage 

 and half civilized, neither nature nor art. A 

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