558 
FOREST AND STREAM 
November, 1917 
Improve Your Shooting 
F ORGET September’s sultry days! Banish dull 
care! Get out in the open and get some real fun. 
Match your gunskill against the frisky clay targets 
thrown from a 
( Supoiit ) 
Hand Trap 
Improve your marksmanship. Learn how to handle 
and use a gun. Every man and every woman should 
know how to shoot and hit what they shoot at. 
Here is a Special Offer 
E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS & CO. 
Wilmington, Delaware 
For the time being the Du Pont Hand Trap and ioo clay 
pigeons (packed in a small keg) are being 
offered complete for $ 5 . 00 —a real joy pack¬ 
age. This is your opportunity to get the 
complete outfit. Go to your nearest 
dealer and get one. If he can’t supply 
you, we’ll send it to you direct on 
receipt of price. 
Order today and zvrite for book¬ 
let, The Sport Alluring No. 3 
Maine Duck 
Hunting Boot 
Lightest wading boot 
made (68 ounces). Comes 
almost to the waist and 
when rolled will go in 
the coat pocket. 
Made of very best gum 
rubber, same as used in 
our famous Maine Hunt¬ 
ing Shoe. All widths 
from A to EE. Arched 
innersoles and repair out¬ 
fit free. 
Price, Men’s, $7.85. 
Ladies, $5.85, delivered 
free on approval. Send 
for circular, guarantee 
tag and sample of rubber. 
L. L. BEAN 
Freeport Maine 
Get a Copy of 
GAME LAWS 
IN BRIEF 
Revised to January, 1917. 
A book which every sportsman should 
have. 
Price, Postpaid ... 25 Cents 
FOREST AND STREAM PUB. CO. 
9 East 40th Street, New York 
WARNINGS OF THE 
OLD MAN OF THE SEA 
(continued from page 531) 
the angler of experience will prefer to 
remain away from his favorite haunts dur¬ 
ing such periods. While it is known that 
the Striped Bass will at times take the 
hook freely during a strong easterly gale, 
still it is after such a blow, with the wind 
veering suddenly to the west breaking 
against the incoming seas, that this sport 
is at its best. Like every other subject 
given rules sometimes do not hold, but in 
all salt water fishing when the wind is in 
any of the westerly quarters success is 
more certainly assured. 
V OLUMES could easily be compiled 
from legends of seafolk, and tales 
as weird as “S-indbad” are ever rife 
among the present generation, as to how, 
when, and where the marvelous came to 
the actors on the scenes of long ago, and 
like Banquo’s ghost, they will not down. 
That there is a language of the sea I 
personally will admit; I have heard it and 
am entirely unable to account for its 
origin, but right well I learned its meaning 
many years since. I was fishing several 
miles at sea with as proficient a surfman 
as ever launched a boat. The day was all 
that could be desired, and fish were biting 
good, when quite unexpectedly my boat¬ 
man dropped his tackle and covered one 
ear with his hand while he used the other 
like a cup to the other ear. Standing in 
absolute silence for several minutes, with 
an expression on his face not exactly en¬ 
couraging, he queried, “Hear that? The 
‘old man of the sea’ is about.” I had 
heard nothing unusual and was mys¬ 
tified; as I had never judged him to be in 
the least superstitious, having roamed the 
sea with him for many years and nothing 
of that nature had ever before been heard 
by me. In answer to my question as to 
what he meant, as it was easy to see 
by his expression the matter was no joke 
so far as his idea was concerned, “Listen 
a moment,” was all he said; when, sure 
enough, from somewhere in the universe, 
from the air around about us or from the 
waters beneath, came the most gruesome, 
indefinable something—whether a moan, or 
wail, or combination of both I have never 
been able to characterize. Certain it was 
quite unlike any other sound which had 
ever greeted my ears, uncanny and chilling 
to the spirit of man to the last degree. 
“We’ll quit right now, and there’ll be 
trouble on the bar long before we can 
make the trip in,” was my mentor’s re¬ 
mark as he began taking in anchor line. 
“I have never heard the old fellow talk 
as plain as he did just now without find¬ 
ing trouble abroad for water folks.” The 
moaning, if such a term may be used, was 
now continuous, and the sea began lump¬ 
ing up; not the breaking swells, such as 
are seen from the beach, but just big lumps 
of water coming from the unseen depths, 
and rushing here and there to finally dis¬ 
solve themselves into larger ones which 
fret and torture the surface until all is one 
mess of troubled waters. 
True to his prediction, the conditions at 
the bar as we approached were appalling; 
a long line of breaking foam dashing high 
into the air was to be seen and tumult was 
t 
4 
