That Soul Harrerrin' Happen! n 



" There he is," sez Albert, p'intin' up the cove. 



" Well, here he comes," sez I, an' made a purty 

 cast up the cove, jest nickin' the bonnets at the fur 

 end. I was usin' a floatin' bait with my own patent 

 " jazz " on it. Nothin' happened, 'cept a little thing 

 made a swirl behin' the bait when I had it 'bout half 

 way back to the boat. The fellers behin' us had 

 stopped, an' was watchin' me with kinda funny looks 

 on their faces. Albert was watchin' my incomin' bait 

 with his jaws clamped kinda tight, too. I admit I 

 was feelin' kinda funny myself over all this, when 

 bang! Not over fifteen feet from the boat they was 

 a earthquake! The biggest bass in all the world had 

 come up from that thirty feet deep place, getherin' 

 speed all the way an* smashed at my bait, almost in 

 my face. He come almost clear o' the water in his 

 rush. The bait flew right up in the air. He had 

 missed it ! Ye know how quick thought is, I reckon ? 

 Well, I jest started to say somethin' that would come 

 nigh fittin' the occasion, when " Plop! Smash! " He 

 threw water all over me, an' he had it ! Ye see, when 

 he missed he made a lightnin' turn an' caught the 

 bait. 



What happened after this is kinda misty, fer I 

 swung my rod to my right han', thumb on the reel 

 an' let him go to'ards the center o' the lake, where 

 he was headin'. He was down as deep as he could 

 go, too. In three separate distinct rushes he took a 



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