to no avail, the bird kept on, redoubling 
his speed with every shot until he was 
fairly sizzling over the boys’ blind, and 
I’ll be hanged if one of those young- 
sters didn’t jump up and knock him 
cold the first crack; such is beginners’ 
luck. I pocketed the shells, but the 
youngster deserved them. The flight 
was over; it had been a good morning 
and we were soon looking forward to 
another. 
Next morning I awoke with the sound 
of rain pounding on my window. It 
finally sifted through my sleepy brain 
that Billy and I had agreed to have a 
little party on Plymouth Beach this par- 
ticular morning, and from indications, 
it promised to be a rough one. All 
night long the easterly storm had raged 
with unabated fury. All night long 
the pounding surf had roared and 
boomed its heaviest artillery. 
I had just finished a hasty lunch 
when Billy’s light knock sounded on 
the back door; probably the auto horn 
was too flooded with water to emit a 
gurgle. 
“Stand out in the hall,,” I protested, 
“or else shed that oil-skin. No need 
to drown a man out of house and home.” 
Billy seized a doughnut from the table. 
“Life saver,’ he remarked, noting the 
tiny rivulets that trickled from his long 
coat and spread out upon the floor, then 
he stepped into the hall. In a moment 
I had got into my slicker and joined 
him. Twenty minutes later we left 
the car at Manter’s Point and fought 
our way down the beach. 
It was still dark as a pocket, and an 
occasional wave washed up around our 
feet. The rain-laden wind lashed our 
faces unmercifully, sometimes almost 
stopping us in our tracks; but we could 
find no fault, it was the brand of 
weather we had been praying for. 
We finally located ourselves behind, 
and partly between four blocks of gran- 
ite that formed a portion of the break- 
water. The waves ran so high that we 
were obliged to set the decoys well in, 
scarcely ten yards away, yet as our 
shots would be mostly overhead ones, 
everything looked about right. 
Manomet Point lay to the eastward, 
and soon the sky in that direction be- 
gan to show signs of light. The rain 
slackened considerably but the wind 
held. Brown’s Island shoals with their 
wave-lashed rocks became visible. 
The first call came from behind us. 
We turned slowly and perceived four 
yellow-legs fighting their way steadily 
against the wind. When they were 
comfortably near they proved almost 
stationary targets, so slow was their 
progress, and at our first barrels all 
four collapsed. Down they came, their 
necks jerking one way and legs the 
other, while the wind carried them fif- 
teen yards to leaward. Two of our 
decoys washed ashore and Billy got wet 
Page 561 


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