VII 

 AMONG THE NORTHERN PINES 



E reached the lake in the evening, 

 and started out bright and early 

 the next morning to call upon 

 some of the old inhabitants who 

 wear fins and have a reputation 

 for being scaly. A new and fasci- 

 nating Dowagiac minnow caught the eye of a big 

 bass before we had gone forty rods, and connec- 

 tions were promptly established. As he was being 

 kindly but firmly persuaded to approach the boat 

 he flung himself into the air, gave a twist and a 

 wiggle and a shake and thus succeeded in appropri- 

 ating that Dowagiac to his own uses. He has not 

 been heard from since that brief interview, but it 

 is safe to say that he is putting on airs as he 

 dangles that rainbow-coloured minnow before the 

 eyes of his admiring relatives. We have some- 

 times doubted the truth of the old saw that it is 



87 



