170 MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 



water, so that no fire drops into the boat. One man pad- 

 dles and the other stands in the bow, and when he sees a 

 fish he gigs it." 



The jack was a cresset made of strap iron a twelve- 

 inch ring to which half a dozen strips were riveted to 

 form the bowl, which was fastened to an iron staff long 

 enough to bring the bowl above a man's eyes as he stood 

 in the boat. Charley had gathered a lot of bark from 

 the shell-bark hickory, which he said made the best of all 

 lights, and we got a ride to the landing with our traps. 

 The "gig" was a spear of some six or eight prongs, with 

 a wooden handle about eight feet long, to which a small 

 cord was attached to the upper end to recover it by. 



As soon as it was dark enough we lighted the jack 

 and started. The boat was a light-bottomed scow and 

 I used the paddle. Guyon stood in the bow and gave 

 orders; he did not use nautical terms, but said "right" 

 or "left" as he required the boat to go. Soon he said, 

 "Steady, left, hold up," and then after a pause, "Go on 

 slow; there's a big pike about here, but he was shy and 

 I couldn't get a crack at him. Hold on, right a little," 

 and he poised his gig and sent it buzzing into the water. 

 "A clean miss. I didn't strike low enough. Go toward 

 that tree top up there; there may be some buffalo 

 near it." 



Surely I must have misunderstood ; he could not mean 

 that buffalo might be grazing in that tree top, but I was 

 in a strange land, and my new friend might be having a 

 little fun at my expense, so I kept still. Soon the orders 

 came, and as the spear left his hand it struck and gave a 

 little tremble, and my companion yelled out: "I got 

 him!" and taking hold of the string, which was tied 

 to the gunwale, he pulled the gig staff to him, and 

 then landed in the boat a huge fish of about twenty 



