Tragic Fishing Moments 



she's a-coming," he continued wildly, as the woman 

 broke into a loping run toward us. " We're in for 

 it!" 



His terror was contagious, and seated on thorns 

 I watched her rapid approach. To think that I had 

 made the long trip from New York only to be bawled 

 out by a wild woman for catching a tame mink! 

 Slipping and sliding on the steep places, loping on 

 the levels, nearer and nearer she came, and I sat silent, 

 dismally apprehensive. At length she stood panting 

 on the lake's brink. 



For a moment she could not speak. Then : " What 

 you got down there ? " she demanded hoarsely, one 

 long, gaunt hand pointing at the mink, the other 

 shading her snapping eyes from the noonday sun. 



There was no immediate reply. No one seemed 

 willing to take up the burden of conversation. The 

 guide, with the air of one guilty of a crime involv- 

 ing moral turpitude, stared fixedly at his feet. The 

 Madame's frightened glance turned wildly between the 

 tall female and me. Though I dreaded the terma- 

 gant's tongue, I rose to my feet, took off my hat and 

 began : 



" Madame," I said, " I would not like to say what 

 I believe it to be." (" I'll bet you wouldn't! " whis- 

 pered the guide hoarsely.) " It is evidently a savage 

 beast," I continued, with a wicked look at the guide, 

 " for it seized our bait and then attacked us. We 



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