A PILGRIMAGE TO THE "WHITE" 341 



which he did, brother number one in the meantime 

 going through his printed blanks in his search. 

 Brother number two finally returned without the 

 notes and gave it as his opinion that I had never 

 given him any notes. This was awkward on number 

 one, because he had related very minutely just how he 

 had presented them to the debtor. 



So it was, as an Irishman said, " like bein' in the 

 cinther of a hobble," and with a look of despair they 

 gave up the hunt and acknowledged they would have 

 to give the debtor a bond to keep him harmless from 

 the notes if they ever turned up. Their only apology 

 for their carelessness was that " notes in "West Vir- 

 ginia ain't much account, no how, when they'd got to 

 be sued for," and so they didn't " set much store by 

 them." 



At the lumbering town of Ronceverte, W. Ya., 

 eleven miles below on the Greenbrier River, a great 

 boom and a gigantic saw mill had for years impeded 

 the passage of black bass, trout and other fish up the 

 river which in olden times was always a noted stream 

 for the bass. The fish used to be of immense size, 

 and, of course, as gamey as black bass can be in cold, 

 mountain streams. Early one spring the ice and 

 winter floods caused a break in the big dam which 

 took considerable time in repairing, and behold, the 

 following summer found the river full of the fighting 

 beauties voraciously hungry to take fly, minnow, or 



