y deep,
Nor wave nor zephyr could vigils keep,
The oysterman lay on the deck asleep,
And even the cap'n was napping.

The smack went drifting down the tide,--
The waters gurgling along her side,--
Down where the bay glows vast and wide,--
A beautiful sheet of water;
With scarce a ripple about her prow,
The oyster-smack floated, silent and slow,
With Keyport far on her starboard bow,
And South Amboy on her quarter.

But, all at once, a grating sound
Made the cap'n awake and glance around;
"Hold hard!" cried he, "we've run aground,
As sure as all tarnation!"
The men jumped up, and grumbled and swore;
They also looked, and plainly saw
That the _Emily_ lay two miles from shore,
At the smallest calculation.

Then, gazing over the side, to see
What kind of a bottom this shoal might be,
They saw, in the shadow that lay to the lee,
A sight that filled them with horror!
The water was clear, and beneath it, there,
An oyster lay in its slimy lair,
So big, that to tell its dimensions fair
Would take from now till to-morrow.

And this it was made the grating sound;
On this the _Emily_ ran aground;
And this was the shoal the cap'n found,--
Alack! the more is the pity.
For straight an idea entered his head:
He'd drag it out of its watery bed,
And give it a resting-place, instead,
In some saloon in the city.

So, with crow, and lever, and gaff, and sling,
And tongs, and tackle, and roller, and ring,
They made a mighty effort to bring
This hermit out of his cloister.
They labored earnestly, day and night,
Working by torch and lantern light,
Till they had to acknowledge that, do what they might,
They never could budge the oyster!

The cap'n fretted, and fumed, and fussed,--
He swore he'd "have that 'yster, or bust!"
But, for all his oaths, he was quite nonplussed;
So by way of variation,
He sat him quietly down, for a while,
To cool his anger and settle his bile,
And to give himself up, in his usual style,
To a season of meditation.

Now, the cap'n was quite a wonderful man;
He could do almost anything any man can,
And a good deal more, when he once began
To act from a clear deduction.
But his wonderful power,--his greatest pride,--
The feat that shadowed all else beside,--
The talent on which he most relied,--
Was his awful power of suction!

At suction he ne