Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/423

 LEGENDS OF THE 1>ISCATAQIA. 3.S5

was solved when I found one hundred cords of wood piled on the point, ready to be sent off by gundalows to the brick yards on the Cochecho. My bayherr;- bushes and sweet ferns had been ruthlessly crushed; and I did not want to see the rubbish lying there, after the wood was taken away. Every thing was so sweet and clean when I was there before.

Just below this point a bridge has recently been built across the river. Earth and stones were carted out and dumped upon the tlats for rods on each side of the river, then piles were driven, and a draw made in the middle of the bridge. Men interested in gundalow business looked on askant while the draw was being built. The current runs through diagonally, and the skii)pers of the freighting crafts have to use great judgment to get their boats through without bumping against the piles. New Hampshire and Maine are wedded way up and down the river by such bonds as these bridges form.

One autumn, many years ago, a man who freighted up and down the river came up as far as High point on one tide, and anchored in the channel. He concluded to stav on board the craft over night. The rest of the crew went ashore. In the night a stiff south-east wind sprung up, and it was as dark as Erebus. The man was awakened by a quivering motion of the boat. He hastened out of the " cuddy," and found his boat was sinking. He sprang overboard, and swam for the shore in the darkness. After much wandering, he succeeded in finding the road, and reached his home about daybreak. The gundalow was loaded deep with muscle mud. The wind made such a sea that the boat shipped water and sunk.

On the Maine side, a little north of the bridge, many years ago, lived an old man by the name of Hodge. He was wont to go to the village, and come home in a pot-valiant condition, and spend his valor on his defenceless family. The young men of the neighborhood, remembering how a ladder-riding calmed the domestic waters of a citizen living in the northern part of the town, decided to administer some punishment to Hodge. Wishing to be original in their mode of chastisement, they hunted the thickets fringing the river, and suc- ceeded in finding a large hornet's nest built in a bush. They marked the spot, and waited for coming events. Not long after this, Hodge made a journey to the vil'age, and came home in an uproarious state. The signal was given. The nest with its lively occupants was captured, and one reformer glided through the low bedroom window, and carefully placed the nest in Hodge's bed. After the old fellow had freed his mind, and frightened his timid wife almost to death, he concluded to retire. Eagerly the young men waited for the result of his retiring. Soon with one agonized yell, he burst through the window, surrounded by a cloud of enraged hornets. He sped like one mad over the banks for the river. The tide was out, and the channel is well over on the New Hampshire side. He plunged ankle deep tlirough the soft mud on the flats, and finally disappeared into the water. Tradition says it was a fine piece of acting, and that the elocution was wonderful, that the orotund quality was good, the action of the diaphragm perfect, and the gestures energetic. I do not know whether this lesson improved his disposition or not, but it sobered him quicker than usual.

Once, several years ago. a party of six, all cousins, went down by the river one summer afternoon. While walking up " under shore," we discovered a forlorn-looking boat fastened by a rope to a rock. At once Sam proposed that we have a sail. John, who was no sailor, demurred, but the majority ruled. The girls voted to " go." and we went up to release the solemn craft. The mast was a stake fastened into the bottom with many kinds of nails driven across, up and down, crooked and straight, but the mast seemed firm. The sail was about as big as a hay cap, and had the appearance of one that had l)een used over a

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