DUCKING OFF MACHIPONGO. 



W. J. BOGERT. 



"S' 



ay, old man, there's no use 

 waiting any longer or mak- 

 ing further excuses. Just 

 get yourself together and meet me 

 Saturday or Sunday. I shall start 

 Wednesday night, "and shall expect 

 you. 



So spoke my old friend, Doctor 

 Carman, a " tooth-plugger," I call 

 him, who has a handsome office in 

 the Mutual Reserve Building, two 

 blocks above my office. Although I 

 have seemingly spoken irreverently 

 of him, amore gentle man, in his pro- 

 fession, never touched a bicuspid 

 (I think that's his favorite name for 

 every ivory ot mine he has dallied 

 with), and you would wonder how 

 such a man could ever have the heart 

 to shoot a bird. But walk into the 

 doctor's office any day, as he is in the 

 act of pulling a tooth— when he has 

 it half out, for that matter — and say, 

 " Doctor, we have just ten minutes to 

 get to the ferry ; bring your gun; " 

 and as he reaches around behind his 

 partition for it, he will say to the pa- 

 tient, " Come next week and I'll finish 

 pulling it out and will clean all your 

 others for nothing. I must go." 



I would have gone with the doctor 

 on Wednesday, but as it was Thanks- 

 giving day and as I preferred be- 

 ing with my family, I decided to 

 join him later. I took the 8.00 p. m. 

 Pennsylvania train to Machipongo, 

 Va., where I was "put off" at the 

 unseemly hour of 5.20 the following 

 morning. I suppose you will say, 

 "Where's Machipongo?" I don't 

 wonder that you ask, for I had often 

 passed through it on my way to 

 Old Point and Norfolk, but never 

 until the doctor told me had I heard 

 of the place. It is 12 miles north 

 of Cape Charles, on the N. Y., P. and 

 N. R. R. 



Really, if you were to be suddenly 

 transported there, with your eyes 

 shut, you might imagine yourself in 

 the Island of Juan Fernandez, for 



there is hardly a habitation in sight 

 of the station. There is a little 

 country store, where you can get rub- 

 ber boots if you are willing to take 

 the size the dealer keeps, but beyond 

 these, I saw nothing I wanted. 



When I got off the train it was 

 still dark, and I concluded no one 

 had come for me, when suddenly I 



YOU HIDE YOURSELF AND YOUR BOAT IN 

 THE BLIND. 



made out a road-cart, and there was 

 "Will," holding a horse that would 

 have stood anywhere without hold- 

 ing. 



We were mutually glad at our 

 meeting, and I was soon perched on 

 the seat beside Will, pulling on my 

 pipe. " How's Doc?" was my first 

 question. 



" O! he's well. I came in yesterday 

 with a big lot of birds that he had 

 killed, and I expressed them to your 

 office. Did you get them all right? 



I explained that they could not 

 get to my office until Monday, and 

 asked, "What uck?" Will said 



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