108 BASS-FISHING IN SUNGAHNEETUK 



they soon disperse, and grow rapidly, and early 

 show their blood, for, long before fall, little fellows 

 an inch and a half in length may be seen chasing 

 minnows as big as themselves. When the spawning- 

 season is well over and the law oflF, the bass have 

 retm'ned to the lake; but in the few days spent by 

 them in the stream before spawning and the begin- 

 ning of the close time, the angler is given a chance 

 to take them in a perfectly legitimate manner. It 

 is of one of these days' fishing along this beautiful 

 stream, that, if not done very scientifically or with 

 costly tackle, yet was not unfairly done, that I 

 have to tell. 



Sungahneetuk winds its first slender thread 

 around the ledges of the western slope of the Green 

 Mountains, but soon gathers to it the strands of 

 brooks spun out from ponds and swamps and 

 springs, and in a little while becomes strong enough 

 for the turning of mills. Many of these of different 

 kinds are lodged beside it, grinding grist for the 

 food of men, weaving cloth for their raiment, sawing 

 boards for their cradles, shelter, and coffins. These 

 three kinds of mills are all in a huddle, along with 

 stores and shoemakers' and blacksmiths' shops, at 

 Nutting's Curse, the lowest falls now so used, as 

 if they had drifted down stream and grounded 

 there, three miles above where the widened stream 

 is woven into the broad sheet of Champlain. 



Half a mile below these mills, on a sunny morn- 



