188 DAYS IN THE OPEN 



that may serve as a sample, has stuck in our 

 memory : 



" Where a railroad crosses a Michigan river is 

 a deep pool under the bridge. As a fisherman was 

 casting in this pool one day, he had a mighty 

 strike followed by the fierce whizzing of his reel 

 as the fish ran out the line. Before the man 

 realized what was happening the line parted and 

 the fish was free. In the afternoon he returned 

 with a new and stronger line, only to repeat the 

 experience of the morning. Then salmon tackle 

 was called into use, which was promptly smashed 

 by the, as yet, unseen denizen of the pool. By this 

 time the fisherman had parted company with all 

 his cherished principles of sportsmanship, and 

 vowed that he would capture that fish even if he 

 had to shoot it. Abjuring the rod, he next em- 

 ployed a muskallonge line and a cod-hook, baiting 

 with a five-inch minnow. The fish responded 

 promptly, and the big line just as promptly parted 

 when this Sandow of the finny tribe had gotten 

 fully into action. As a result of deep reflection 

 the fisherman then bought a clothes-line and em- 

 ployed a neighbouring blacksmith to make him a 

 hook big enough and strong enough to hold a 

 shark. Baiting the hook with a pound of raw beef 

 and giving the line a half-hitch around a near-by 

 stump, he once more challenged his unseen foe. 

 For three hours a mighty battle raged. The 

 blacksmith, two section hands and a farmer joined 



