Part 8

They got their boat under way, each maintaining silence. The wind was free. John let the sheet run, and they swept out into the broad bay. The waves ran high. Their boat, as if a thing of life and spirit, would poise on the top of a wave while its crest broke with a rushing sound, and then drop gradually behind into its trough. Then the next wave would come up astern and bear them up in the same manner. And so their little boat rode each wave and swept onward. The rhythmic movement of the boat and waves had a quieting and solacing effect upon these disappointed argonauts. Half-way across, Pete spoke and said, "John, that hillock was covered with brier-bushes, you remember. That must have been a brier that pulled down the end of the rod."

John made no reply to this, but ten minutes later he broke his silence:

"Pete," he said suddenly, "hand me that stone forward with the rope tied to it. Now give me that old coat. No, hold on! You come here and steer."

He moved forward, then tied the stone tightly to the old coat. Standing up, he threw the bundle from him with all his might, saying as he did so, "There goes that cussed thing overboard. I wish to thunder I had the money I put into that darned old granny's hands six weeks ago."

Having proved his dream, John returned to his work in the mill. He worked there contentedly several years longer. He liked the place. The merry rumble, the stream always rushing underneath, turning the wheels and slipping on down the creek and spreading out into the broad bay. And the tons and tons of paper that were made and kept going off somewhere John took greater pride in than ever.

NOTES.

Page 22.

Watch Hill is a prominent hill on the Beach opposite Patchogue.

Page 41.

Quanch is a landing-place on the Beach opposite Otis's Point.

Page 46.

Between the years 1710 and 1720 as many as twenty whales were taken in a single season by the crews on the Beach.

Page 47.

Fiddleton is a mile and a half west of Quanch.

Pickety Rough is a strip of beach east of Point o' Woods, so called because of the prickly growth of bushes there.

Page 59.

"The Gore in the Hills" was a name given to a tract of land near Yaphank, over which a dispute arose in the last century. This dispute was settled by arbitration in 1753.

Page 60.

"Squasux"--the Indian name for the landing on Carman's River, at the end of the Brookhaven Neck road.

The last owner of the house here alluded to was the late Joseph Carman.

Page 62.

"The Inlet" referred to began to close up in the early part of this century. Small coasting vessels sailed out of this inlet as late as 1816. The inlet kept filling in, however, and the small channel was at last blocked by a brig which went ashore at the mouth of it. Soon after the channel filled up completely. This brig was loaded with grindstones, and on this account was popularly called the "Grindstone Brig." This spot of beach has been known ever since as "Old Inlet." It is opposite the extreme eastern end of Bellport.

Pages 63 and 64.

This incident actually occurred as here related.

Page 65.

Between the years 1780 and 1785 the persecution of Judge William Smith by certain townspeople was so great that he was compelled, in order to save his life, to give up a part of his estate to them.

His barns were burned to the ground, with a loss of thirty horses, and all his orchards were girdled. The burning of his dwelling was intended, but for some cause this intention was not carried out.

He had, moreover, a narrow escape from being shot through his bedroom window as he was going to bed. It so happened that his wife was all the time between him and the window, and the three men outside could not cover him with their muskets without covering her at the same time.

Judge William Smith lived at the Manor of St. George (Smith's Point) where the late Egbert Tangier Smith resided nearly the whole of his life.

Page 99.

The landing, now a thing of the past, was on the shore now embraced in Wood Acres--the estate of Mr. George T. Lyman at Bellport.

Page 124.

Clam Hollow is situated midway between Bellport and Brookhaven. Within the past forty years the heavy woods have been cut down, the road made somewhat straighter, the hollow raised several feet, and the western hill cut down.

Brewster's Brook, previously called Dayton's Brook, but known for the past sixty years as Osborn's Brook, is in the eastern part of Bellport at the foot of the hill.

Page 128.

The Mills was the old name for South Haven because of the grist and saw mills situated there at the foot of the pond.

Page 137.

"Near Southampton," etc., about a mile west of "St. Andrews by the Sea."

Page 139.

After the breaking up of the ship, it was the custom of certain farmers in the fall, when the neap tides would permit, to plow along the shore, and the waves cutting over the upturned furrows would wash out these Spanish coins.

Page 143.

The present residence alluded to was known for a long time as the Corse Place.

Champlin's stood where the South Side Club House now stands.

Page 149.

"Inlet near the Manor of St. George." See note to page 62.

Page 171.

"Penataquit"--an Indian word--the early post-office name of Bay Shore.

Page 173.

Long Cove is about three-quarters of a mile east of Watch Hill.

Transcriber's Notes

--Retained copyright information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

--Provided a cover and spine image based on the Title Page.

--Silently corrected a few palpable typos.

--In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.