I know now what a "No-seeum" is. I learned up there on 

 the Brule. I became a sort of packing-house product for them. 

 I've tried to find out something about No-seeums in the books 

 since I came home. The scientists who are up on bugs say 

 that a fly is "a two-winged insect of many species;" that a 

 flea is "a small blood-sucking insect of the genus Pulex, re- 

 markable for its agility and irritating bite;" that a mosquito 

 is "an insect of the genus Culex, the females of which punc- 

 ture the skin of men and animals, causing great cutaneous ir- 

 ritation and pain;" that a gnat is "a small stinging winged 

 insect of several species, allied to the mosquito;" that a tick is 

 a "parasite that infests dogs, sheep and one species attacks 

 men." But nowhere do the books tell of the No-seeums. 

 Hence, this definition now to be given cannot be disputed au- 

 thoritatively: 



"A No-seeum is a species of guerrilla gnat having two sting- 

 ers in each' foot and nine in the head. It carries in its flight a 

 poisoned stiletto and a two-tined fork with which it attacks 

 anything that moves, doing great execution. A No-seeum is 

 carnivorous, devoid of morals, and frequently is consigned to 

 a hotter world than this by irate fishermen. But it has never 

 gone." 



That gives some idea -of what a No-seeum is. You couldn't 

 send through the mails what the fishermen think they are. 

 Such language has no place in print. I remember full well 

 that morning up on the Brule when I met up with my first one. 

 I was rigging up my new nine-dollar fishing pole when some- 

 thing kicked me just beneath the left eye. A bump came up 

 immediately. 



"Pudge!" I called, "either somebody kicked me in the face 

 or else I've been shot." 



Pudge came to my side and started to look at the wound 

 when he suddenly ducked his head and staggered backward. 



"What'd you do that for?" he asked, turning red in the face. 



"Do what?" 



"Stick me with your knife!" 



"I didn't touch you, sir. I wouldn't strike a friend, espe- 

 cially with one of my lamps going to the bad." 



"Well, look. at my forehead. I guess that bump just took 



