Tragic Fishing Moments 



apart. The guide, seated in the bow, watched our 

 first casts closely. Then he heaved a deep sigh and 

 devoted his attention to the pages of a newspaper. 



Our take was meager. Yellow perch and a small 

 blue-eyed fish, which the guide called rock bass, were 

 all that came to our hooks, and after black bass these 

 left something to be desired. I thought that with a 

 longer line I might attract the attention of some wan- 

 dering small-mouth, so I attempted an underhand cast 

 and put some power in it. But the minnow burst on 

 the guide's jaw, which was where it shouldn't have 

 been. 



For a moment the guide rocked on his seat, as if 

 about to dive overboard. Then, half rising, he de- 

 manded to know why I had done that. I apologized 

 for the accident, explaining that if he had not raised 

 his head at the critical instant the minnow would have 

 cleared him, and advised him to think no more of it 

 and continue his reading. During my explanation he 

 watched me closely, appearing at times about to inter- 

 rupt, but the logic must have appealed to him, for 

 after a slight hesitation he said that he guessed he had 

 finished his paper. He added that we had better go 

 back to the hotel now for we were about out of bait. 

 So we trolled again, quite close to shore. 



Presently we saw a long, lithe creature, black in 

 color, which the guide declared to be a mink, busy 

 with a turtle at the water's edge, and we stayed our 



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