The Savannah morning news., 1903-11-22
THE GOOSE AIRSHIP.
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| despite the fact that 1t was almost dead
low tide when Jim pushed into the
marsh. he managed without much diff
Guilty to get deep into the high grass.
until he was completely hidden. But
between him and the best "hy-over"
there still lay half a mile or more of
bog and mud, over which even the
sneakhoX could not go.
Jim had his hip rubber boots on,
| however, and when he reached the
| limit of possible navigation, he stepped
out and began to work his way farther
into the grass, jumping from hummock
to hummock Only a boy as light as
he, and blessed with agility and the ex
perience of a marsh dweller, could have
made any progress at all. For the bog
was almost liquid mud and would not
bear his weight for more than a few
seconds at a time.
Jim hurried to get through and reach
a hammock of which he knew, that
was a little harder than the rest,
where he could squat and wait till
dawn, when the birds would begin to
fly. He knew that he had little time to
spare, for the sky was growing lighter
already in the east.
All around him the grass stood high
er than his head, and he could see
nothing on any side except the thick
brown stalks. But he knew the gen
eral direction in which lay his chosen
spot and before long he had managed
to jump and founder to it.
He had not been squatting long in
his retreat before he heard a faint
ringing sound far away-like the note
| of a clear blowing trumpet-and he
knew that the geese were under way.
With his gun at his hip he peered
Oh Of H. Ill eli ~.
cealing grass and barely a minute aft
err the honkerng had been borne to
him down the wind he saw a great
wedge-shaped mass speeding along.
1t would have looked more like a
wreath of smoke than anything else
to city eyes, but Jim knew that it was
a phalanx of wild geese coming swifter
than the wind
Bigger and bigger grew the gray
mass, until he could see seven i'm
mense birds heading straight toward
the marsh Lower and lower they
dipped, until when they reached the
high grass they were only few feet
above the tops of the stalks, and then
-"Bang!" and Bang" spoke the old
shotgun, and two great honkers came
hurting down into the bog with
high in the air.
Jim waded to his quarry and tied
the birds together by the bills and
slung them over his shoulder. Then
he began to pick his way back toward
the place where he had left his boat.
But what was this? He had not
gone many feet before he sank into
watery mud almost up to his hips.
Only by throwing gun and geese far
ahead of him and laying himself al
most fiat on the bog could he raise
himself in time to escape its grip.
The marsh was full Of these treach
erous suck holes" but he had never
known of one in the direction In which
he thought he was bound. 1t flashed
on him that he had missed the only
safe path through the swamp.
To make things worse, the strug-
ling dawn had been obscured by
clouds and it began to snow heavily,
thus taking away his sure guide-the
sun.
He knew that the tide was on the
turn and that he must reach his boat
soon to escape being caught in the
marsh by the rising water. So he
decided promptly on the best direction
to take.
He had fioundered ahead only few
feet when he found another suck hole
in front of him, again showing him
that he was not working in the correct
course.
And this time, as he withdrew his
leg from the sticky mud. the water
that welled at once over the hole
showed him that the tide was coming
in fast-extraordinarily fast, it seemed
to him, until he realized that the gale
was driving the seas in through the
inlet and that the tides had been un-
usually early and high for three days,
since the wind had begun to blow
The knowledge almost made his
heart stop beating for a moment, for
he knew what ii meant to be caught
by a rising tide in a marsh that was,
like this one, bare for only very short
time at dead low water.
He did not need to recall the stories
Of men held fast in the sucking mud
while the water rose, slowly and re-
morselessly, till It covered them where
they fought madly unavailingly, like
animals held in traps. Instantly he
dropped his geese and started head