SKEGEMOG POINT 189 



forces with the fisherman, and the five of them 

 finally succeeded in landing the fish. After quiet- 

 ing him with a club, they began to wonder at the 

 fight which he had put up. While he was large 

 some twenty-five inches in length his size did not 

 fully explain matters. Then one of them under- 

 took to turn the fish over with his foot, and could 

 not stir him. He used both hands and failed. 

 Then the five together tackled the job and barely 

 succeeded. Evidently, here was an extraordi- 

 narily heavy fish, and the phenomenon was ex- 

 plained only when they cut the fish open and found 

 him full of railroad frogs." 



That story brings to mind the champion story- 

 teller of northern Michigan who acted as occasional 

 oarsman for the Skegemog guests. He was gen- 

 erally known as the " Cheerful Liar," and his 

 kinship to Baron Munchausen was put beyond the 

 shadow of a doubt by the variety and character 

 of his stories. After a somewhat careful study of 

 the man, at least one of his occasional companions 

 became convinced that he did not prevaricate con- 

 sciously. His was simply a case of an over-grown 

 and exuberant imagination. Given a tiny bit of 

 fact as a starter, that imagination began to caper 

 about without let or hindrance until the most in- 

 credible story resulted. He was a great comrade, 

 always good-natured, always personally interested 

 in the fishing, a lover of the woods and the water, 

 ready at all times with an interesting story and 



