The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-04

Chapter Out Of the Experiences sf . Reporter
Dat on long leland.

OuN ON hOhR bsIhuus
Sometimes when you want to sec a man."
said an old reporter. "all you have to do Is to
find his address in the directory, get on q car,
and get of ut the right street, and go down to
the number; and then there are times when you
have to look a man up. 1 remainder once the
city editor sending mo down to New Suffolk.
Long Island, to sec a man. 1t was quarter Of
. in the. afternoon when l got the assignment,
and l got the Q o'clock boat from James slip.
and got TO New Suffolk about 4, or half.past. 1
found thu. house OF tho man / was looking for
without the slightest difficulty, but the man
had gone to Sag Harbor that morning and
wasn't coming back till next day.
Tho fish-tail formation Of the eastern end Of
Long Island is familiar. Tho two long pro.
jecting parts arc divided by the waters of Little
Peconic and Great Peconic Bay, between which
lies Robbins Island. The railroad running down
Tho centre Of Long Island branches before it gets
TO the base OF tho great flshtail, and one branch
runs down one projecting part of the island,
the other down tho other. New Suffolk Is on
tho northerly part, on the shores of Little Pc
comic Bay (which is the c~asterly Of the two bays;
Sag Harbor Is on the southern projecting arm
Of the island and further east. 1t was at that
, timo the eastern terminus Of that branch Of the
road. 1t was not possible to get back from
New Suffolk to the junction by rail, and get the
huih VII IL sag IllTDUT DTunCn lTOm IIeT0
that day. There was no train at that hour, but
1t was possible to cross the bay and catch the
last train going east, on the southern branch.
So 1 went down to the landing place and hired
the Captain Of O fishing boat, q gooa. stable.
sloop-rigged boat, to take me across Little Pc
comic Bay. to the south side.
IT was blowing. half a gallo from the ,wcst,
single rect in the mainsail, which proved to be
Q very sensible thing to do; as 1t was we just
Robbins Island she Strengthened up q little, but
when we got out from under It she went boom.
ing again. and in a mighty short time wo had
THE Captain got his hook over. and then
put into the water a dory that he had carried
ashore. With the wind that was blowing there
was quite q little sea on, and the fishing boat
The dory would be fve or six foot below her
rail, and sometimes about on q level with 1t,
bone &c B BY this hha time It was quite ,itee dark iHo for It w was s
fall, and the days, were short. and 1t was pretty
Light was lighted as we were crossing the bay.
We had seen it shining like a great, glowing
l stood on the beach and saw tho Captain
shove on and disappear in the darkness. and
very tS soon nil ! a heard : .n him p pulling the - dorEy up
later / could SEQ his mainsaii Tor a moment as
he filed away. and then no was gone. Then 1t
the shores of Little Peconic Bay as l was with
the sidewalks along Broadway, and that it
beach whore l was standing, there was q sandy
belt back Of that, and back OF that was woods. /
had lost Shinnecock some time before we landed;
Junk II below these woods. or course, 1t was no
use to me, but, near or far, q light is always a
light here, no house, no nothing; just water and
beach and, woods and darkness, and I walked
along the beach, first In one direction and then
In the other, looking for q house or q road, and
found none. and ! didn't know but what l
would have to get up into the woods and lie
down and make myself as comfortable as l
c)uld until morning, which was not of itself
very distressing, because l had slept on the
ground often enough, but 1t was not an agreeable
all, because It would mean my not seeing the
m IN i was looking for until the next day, and
that wouldn't do. A minute later ] found the
way out of this little difficulty as easy and simple
Walking over the beach a~gain-there's moth
ing like keeping lookingy i stepped on the track
m ,de by a cartwheel in the damp sand, and Ave
fest or SO away | found the track of the other
Now 4 was necessary only TO see which way the
hoofrrints pointed and to follow them. Half q
mile further along the beach / found a road
through the woods. down which the horse and
cart had gone, and down thisr road I saw the
"Of course, the first thing I did was to got
their timetable and see about the trains, and
see how much time / had. There was plenty
Of time, and the folks were kind enough to get
up a supper for mo, and after, supper the farm.
or hooked up his wagon and drove me down to
Southampton station. 1 bought a ticket for
Sag, and walked up and down the platform
waiting for the train, and pretty soon l saw
the headlight Of the locomotive coming, and by
8 o'clock I was in the hotel.at Sag Harbor, and
I found the man I was looking for standing in
the office"