108 
CAPE COD. 
might take hold of the other end, whether Proteins or 
another. At any rate, if you could not pull him in, why, 
you might let him go without being pulled in yourself. 
And they knew by experience that it would be a Striped 
Bass, or perhaps a Cod, for these fishes play along near 
the shore. 
From time to time we sat under the lee of a sand-hill 
on the bank, thinly covered with coarse beach-grass, and 
steadily gazed on the sea, or watched the vessels going 
south, all Blessings of the Bay of course. We could 
see a little more than half a circle of ocean, besides the 
glimpses of the Bay which w^e got behind us; the sea 
there was not wild and dreary in all respects, for there 
were frequently a hundred sail in sight at once on the 
Atlantic. You can commonly count about eighty in a 
favorable summer day, and pilots sometimes land and 
ascend the bank to look out for those which require their 
services. These had been waiting for fair weather, and 
had come out of Boston Harbor together. The same is 
the case when they have been assembled in the Vineyard 
Sound, so that you may see but few one day, and a large 
fleet the next. Schooners with many jibs and stay-sails 
crowded all the sea road; square-rigged vessels with 
their great height and breadth of canvas were ever and 
anon appearing out of the far horizon, or disappearing 
and sinking into it; here and there a pilot-boat was tow¬ 
ing its little boat astern toward some distant foreigner 
who had just fired a gun, the echo of which along the 
shore sounded like the caving of the bank. We could 
see the pilot looking through his glass toward the distant 
ship which was putting back to speak with him. He 
sails many a mile to meet her; and now she puts her 
sails aback, and communicates with him alongside,—' 
