ted in it, an island lying just
within the shelter of either bank.

In the summer of 1774 a band of fishermen put up a reel upon the
island, on which to wind their seine. Over the reel they built a roof
to protect it from the rains. With the exception of the reel, there
was no building upon the island. A large portion of the land was
submerged at the highest tides, and in the spring freshets, and was
covered with a generous growth of salt grass, in which a small army
might readily find concealment.

The little fishing band was now sadly broken and lessened by one of
the Washingtonian demands upon Brother Jonathan. For reasons that he
did not choose to give, David Bushnell joined this band of fishermen
in the summer of 1775. Gradually he made himself, by purchase, the
owner of the larger part of the reel and seine. In a few weeks' time
he had induced his brother Ezra to become as much of a fisherman as he
himself was.

As the days went by, the brothers fairly haunted this island. They
gave it a name for their own use, and, early in the day-dawn of many a
morning, they pulled the Lady Fenwick wearily up the Pochaug, to
snatch a few winks of sleep at home, before the sun should fairly rise
and call them to their daily tasks, for David assumed to help Ezra on
the farm, even as Ezra helped him on the island.

The two brothers owned the reel and the seine before the end of the
month of August in 1775. As soon as they became the sole owners, they
procured lumber and enclosed the reel, and very seldom took down the
seine from its great round perch; they used it just often enough to
allay any suspicion as to their real object in becoming owners of the
fishing implements.

About that time a story grew into general belief that the tomb of Lady
Fenwick was haunted. Boatmen, passing in the stillness of the solemn
night hours, asserted that they heard strange noises issuing from the
hill, just where the lady slept in her lonely burial-place. The sounds
seemed to emerge from the earth, and timid men passed up the river
with every inch of sail set to catch the breeze, lest the solemn thud
should sound, that a hundred persons were willing to testify had been
heard by each and every one of them, at some hour of the night, coming
from the tomb.

One evening in late September, the two brothers started forth as
usual, nominally to "go fishing." As they stepped down the bank, Mr.
Bushnell followed them.

"Boys," said he, "it's an u