FROM STRIKE TO GAFF 179 



over there but he almost broke himself in two, con- 

 necting up with the bait and right there my heart 

 sank; he missed it. I" did not say much, mainly, be- 

 cause there was no one around to say it to but they 

 would hang me for writing what I thought. All this 

 cloud passed over directly the next cast had nicely 

 settled and he hit again in dead earnest. 



" Things began to happen fast, and for the next 

 few minutes he was the most disagreeable bass I 

 ever had anything to do with. He cut fancy circles 

 around the pond for fully ten minutes without re- 

 sults and then headed for a bunch of old timbers 

 over in the far corner. The tackle twisted around 

 as though it had hooked into an express train and I 

 sure would have been minus a fish if he had not sud- 

 denly changed his mind and come straight in toward 

 me. For the first time, I gained line on him a little 

 and he sulked the rest of the way in to within six 

 or eight feet of shore. About that time I got over 

 the excitement well enough to wade out and bring 

 home the bacon. Sweet odors from the spider that 

 evening told plainly what had happened down at 

 the quarries the day about 10 o'clock and in mem- 

 ory of the event there is a nice head mounted in my 



room." 



FOUR A. M. AND A SIX-POUNDER 



At the tail end of July, while the mercury was 

 hitting the high spots, George Berghammer of Mil- 



