35° 



The Amcricau A)ii^lcr. 



Mr. Neasmith, on his way home, and 

 climbinii' in his rig rode back. 



Mr. Neasmith started the conversa- 

 tional ball rolling- by asking Charley if 

 he had his pocket full of those little 

 fuzzy toy bugs. 



"I certainly have, Fred," said 

 Charley, "and yon will find before 

 night that they will do business." 



' ' All right, Charles, hope they will ; 

 but 1 shall take a good supply of 

 worms along, and when they have eaten 

 all your butterflies we'll fall back on 

 them." 



"I think it will be you that will fall 

 back on worms, for I guarantee that I 

 shall not toiich one to-day." 



After dinner we assisted Mr. Nea- 

 smith in digging the worms he felt 

 bound to take along, and as he has a 

 private corral of those slimy wrigglers 

 we were not so very long at it. After 

 about a quart had been dug and care- 

 fully inspected by Mr. Neasmith to 

 see that they were all vigorous fighters 

 and up to a certain standard that he 

 carries in his mind, he announced 

 himself satisfied, and with twenty feet 

 of bamboo rod in his hand declared 

 himself about ready. 



Our tackle was stowed in the buck- 

 board, the horse hitched on, and 

 climbing on board we started. Among 

 the things placed aboard was an axe, 

 and I felt curious enough to ask Mr. 

 Neasmith what that axe was for. He 

 stated that the stream that ran into the 

 lake flowed through his land ; that 

 several parties kept boats on the 

 stream and that as they had had the 

 free iise of his land for a long time 

 upon which to keep them and make a 

 landing, he proposed, if his bunch of 

 keys failed him, to unlock one by the 

 strength of his strong right arm and 

 the axe. It struck me that we were 



sure of a boat. However, the use of 

 the axe was unnecessary, as a key- 

 fitted, and we were soon afloat. 



Upon entering the lake, Mr. Neasmith 

 steered for a place where several days 

 before he and another gentleman had 

 good luck. This place was in shoal 

 water about four feet deep and among 

 bullrushes that stood c|uite thick. Here 

 anchor was cast and Mr. Neasmith, 

 baiting up with a particularly nice 

 worm and adjusting the cork on his 

 line to the proper depth, cast in. To 

 me these conditions were entirely new 

 for fly casting, and I hardly thought it 

 would work. It seemed to me that the 

 continual flourishing of the rod that 

 is necessary in casting a fly would 

 frighten away the fish in short order. 

 For five or ten minutes I thought my 

 supposition was correct and that 

 Charley and I would get but few fish. 

 Every little while Mr. Neasmith would 

 land a nice plump blue-gill, while 

 Charley and I were still withovit any. 

 I could see a little twinkle working in 

 his eye and a sarcastic smile curving 

 around his mouth. Every minute I 

 expected to hear him commence on 

 Charley, but soon we got the fish 

 started and from that time things 

 came pretty much our way. 



The bullrushes interfered greatly 

 with our casting — Charley and I were 

 taking turns at the same rod — every 

 little while hooking into the rushes, 

 this being rendered the more unavoid- 

 able, on account of the high wind that 

 was blowing. It took considerable 

 skill to lead the fish around these 

 obstructions after hooking them. After 

 breaking a light single gut leader in 

 trying to pull loose, I changed to a 

 strong doubled and twisted one and 

 after that we could slit the rushes, 

 when fouled, and pull free. For a 



