170 



RECREATION 



backed by strong naval friends of rank 

 this was done. 



Making a visit in the summer, I 

 found the buildings were built of brick, 

 solid and substantia^ the tower large 

 and commodious. I was much pleased 

 with the spot especially as it was al- 

 most inaccessible, for gunners could 

 not get within miles of it. 



I returned to the city and formed a 

 club of enthusiastic sportsmen, who 

 anticipated royal sport in the coming 

 winter. 



Never was a party so completely 

 fooled. Four of us opened the cam- 

 paign as soon as the cold weather set 

 in, by starting off with enough ammu- 

 nition and supplies to run a garrison. 



We had to leave Norfolk in the 

 Newberne steamer and travel 150 miles 

 through the canals and sounds. It was 

 a most tiresome journey. The novelty 

 soon wore off. The boat proceeded at 

 a snail's pace, often getting aground 

 in the canals, and frequently waited 

 hours for the long rafts of cypress and 

 pine logs, pulled by the sputtering 

 tug, to get by without fouling the 

 wheels. 



It took all day and night, and then 

 the steamer hove to within several 

 miles of the spot, and we were rowed 

 ashore. We came near being swamped 

 a dozen times. 



The next day was spent in getting 

 our traps ready and stringing our de- 

 coys, and before day the next morn- 

 ing, we were off. 



About 9 o'clock that night we 

 reached the lighthouse, tired, mad, 

 broken down, and as utterly disgusted 

 a set of men as 'twere possible to find. 

 A dozen ducks constituted our spoils, 

 and each told the same story : No 

 canvas-back, redhead, mallard, spoon- 

 bill, nor anything except a few brant 

 and a straggling black duck. 



We had a plain talk with the keeper 

 and learned the reason. 



Right across the Sound somefffteen 

 or twenty miles was a great inlet, called 

 Orinoke, where twice every twenty- 

 four hours the ocean billows swept in 



and salted the water brought into the 

 Sound by the Pamlico river, so that it 

 was alternately brackish and saline. 

 Not a mild mixture, but decidedly 

 strong. As there were no flats nor 

 banks, of course the brant did not 

 congregate there, and there was noth-. 

 ing for other varieties of wild fowl to 

 feed upon. 



Another day in the blinds brought 

 forth no better results, and two of our 

 party determined to start for home, 

 and not wait for the steamer Manteo, 

 which passed, outgoing, once a week. 



The only way to strike civilization 

 again was to get the keeper to take 

 them in a sail boat to Newberne, some 

 sixty miles distant, from whence they 

 could take the cars for the North. 



It was a long and uncertain trip, and 

 if the wind should change, or a nor'- 

 easter set in, there was no telling when 

 they would arrive ; but go, they would, 

 and for a $20 bill the keeper said he 

 would try it. 



My comrade, Geo. Randall, after 

 consultation, determined to_ remain 

 with 'me; a conclusion we both bitterly 

 regretted when too late. 



The following morning dawned 

 clear and fair, with a most favorable 

 breeze, and they started, leaving at the 

 lighthouse, Randall, myself, the keep- 

 er's wife, a boy about twelve, and 

 Nancy, a buxom damsel from the 

 mainland, who had come over to cook 

 and wait upon us, and run the house. 



The nearest settlement to the light- 

 house was Goose Creek Island, some 

 ten miles away ; a swampy, piney place 

 that boasted of several hundred na- 

 tives, who lived almost as isolated from 

 the world as the inhabitants of the lone 

 isles scattered about the Pacific ocean. 



They are a sociable set, as we found 

 to our cost, and with about as much 

 delicacy as a Piute Indian. We had 

 come well prepared for the trip. One 

 large box held the ammunition, which 

 we had fondly hoped to use knocking 

 over the wild fowl that imagination 

 pictured in immense flocks. Another 

 hamper contained provisions : meats, 



