in September of
that year the crew of a schooner landed upon Gardiner's Island, and for
three days it was given up to plunder. The next we see is a British
fleet in 1775 sweeping round the arm of the island and coming to anchor
in the bay, whence, like the pirates, they sent out parties to plunder
Mr. Gardiner's house and farm. Sag Harbor was occupied by British
troops, and one evening in 1777 across Peconic Bay from Southold the
boat that carried Lieutenant-Colonel Meigs and his patriot companions
was sailing. Landing a few miles to the west of the town, they fell upon
the British garrison like a midnight thunderbolt. The commander was
seized in bed, the shipping and provisions were fired, and Meigs and his
men had finished their work and retired before the British soldiers were
fully awake. Again, in 1780-81, the British fleet anchored in the bay,
and yet again in 1813. In the latter year Commodore Hardy sent a launch
and two barges with a hundred men to plunder Sag Harbor, but the project
utterly failed. The town was roused, the guns of the fort opened upon
the intruders, and then the villagers returned to their slumbers. When
peace was restored the bay was ploughed by West Indiamen and whalers,
and then, as we have seen, they also vanished. Apart, then, from the
beauty of its situation, Sag Harbor has associations and a history that
form appreciable items in the list of its attractions; and if its future
should be less glowing than its past, it will not be for lack of a
healthy and mild climate nor of exceptional advantages of location.

[Illustration: FISHERMAN'S HOUSE NEAR HAMPTON BEACH.]

Before leaving the town in quest of Easthampton Village we find
ourselves in the township of that name. All these woods and fair fields
stretching from the Southampton limit eastward to Montauk, and
comprising upward of thirty thousand acres, were in 1648 bought for "20
coats, 24 hoes, 24 hatchets, 24 knives, 24 looking-glasses and 100
muxes." Most of the settlers in the village we are now approaching came
from Kent, and memories of their English home led them to give it the
name of Maidstone, which was afterward changed to Easthampton. It lies
in the midst of a beautiful section of country, full of pretty little
pictures of rustic life. The main street is, like that of Southampton, a
broad grass-grown avenue lined with stately trees, and as we go down in
the direction of the shore we pass a spot interesting to
English-speaking