128 ON A GLASS ROOF 



ice, for the hook and line and jack and the tor- 

 tured minnow do most of the fishing. The angler 

 only baits the hooks and sets them to fishing, while 

 he watches them and pulls out their catch. 



These jacks are two slender pieces of wood, 

 about fifteen inches long, turning on each other 

 on a pivot at the middle. When in use the ends of 

 the under piece rest upon the ice on either side of 

 the hole. The upper stick, now at right angles 

 with the under, has its heavier end also resting on 

 the ice, while the lighter end holds the ten- or 

 fifteen-foot line, a slight pull on which raises the 

 butt of the upper stick and signals the alert fisher- 

 man to it. 



Wishing my short-time friends good luck, I left 

 them racing with their fish and went my way. 

 Theirs could not be called a high order of sport, 

 but it is good fun wherewith to stir the dullness of 

 winter, for one cannot help getting excited in the 

 game if the fish are biting freely and three or four 

 jacks are up at once. It is better than toasting 

 one's shins at the fire on such a day as this. 



Presently I was out upon the broad bay of the 

 lake which the old French explorers named the "Bay 

 of the Vessels," whether for their own craft, the 

 birch boats of the Indians, or the vessels of pottery 

 found here, many fragments of which the lake 

 even now tosses ashore or exhumes from the banks. 

 If in either way it would give me one perfect sue- 



