escape, my line meanwhile humming a very lively reel. When in the air 

 it would utter a weird and mournful sound that could be heard for miles. 

 I am not naturally superstitious, but this caused nervous chills to ci'eep 

 over me, as the legends of Spirit Lake were of such a character that I 

 imagined I might have caught the ghost of some departed lake monster. 

 Finally, after about fifteen minutes, the creature was secured, and I dis- 

 covered it to be a large loon, while the attendant excitement nearly made 

 me a lunatic. 



FUN. WITH FLYING FISH. 



<^, " 



Mr. Lyman D. Morse, of the Bates & Morse Agency, considered the 

 the most unassuming member of the club, told the following modest tale : 

 For the benefit of my health I took an ocean voyage, a few years ago, 

 and to fully enjoy my trip I carried a complete outfit for fishing and shoot- 

 ing. Our ship was a sailing vessel, and we lay becalmed for a week on 

 the line of the equator, with the midsummer sun fairly boiling the sur- 

 face of the ocean, so that it seemed like an immense seething cauldron. 

 This condition of affairs was very monotonous to everyone except the 

 cook, who made the best of it by doing a little deep-sea fishing every day, 

 and cooking his fish in the ocean brine as he held them at the top of the 

 water for a moment. 



dng fish were too sharp to be caught by still fishing, and too 

 s^itt/ to 'be lingering around near the boiling point, which was only 

 ^lybut^rffoot in-depth. Large schools of these fish could be seen in 

 /sfagioys directions, dar':ing up through the hot surface water, and cooling 



their fins and bodies by a long flight in the 

 shadow of our sails. The fish became quite soci- 

 able, and evidently had a larger degree of intelli- 

 gence than most members of the finny tribe. 



To while away the time it occurred to me 

 that we might have some amusement by attaching 

 small flags to the fish which we caught, and in a 

 short time we produced a combination which gave 

 a surprising effect by starting a dozen different 

 fish fi'om the boat at one time, with the emblems 

 of twelve different nations. The fish evidently 

 enjoN'ed the sport, and would return voluntarily 

 to be placed in line and take a new flight, with 

 waving banners in the air. 



65 



