THE KANKAKEE. 371 
draw his feet. from the sticky, muddy. bottom, the rifle was 
slowly brought to bear upon the quarry’s heart, and with 
the report the gallant animal gave a tremendous struggle, 
and pitched headlong, to rise no more. 
Excuse my wandering from my subject, but as I see in 
memory the Holland River, the little episode narrated rises 
before me. 
Another river, similar in its characteristics to the Hol- 
land River, and also a favorite haunt of pike, is the Kanka- 
kee, in the northern portion of the State of Indiana, and 
whether we fished with shiners (resembling minnows) or 
used the spoon-bait, I and my companions were equally 
fortunate. For a week we tarried here; the season was 
early autumn, and seldom at night, when we returned to 
our encampment, but that each could count from two to 
three dozen large fish that had succumbed to his skill.. Dur- 
ing that visit I hooked a monster, and although I twice 
succeeded in bringing him alongside the boat, I had to suf- 
fer the annoyance of seeing him go off with several yards 
of my tackle. From the position I was in, I was obliged 
to treat the foe very cavalierly, for the bottom is full of de- 
cayed timber, and the limbs of a fallen tree half bridged 
the water down stream, to gain which my foe made the 
most determined efforts.. 
To state the size of this pike correctly would be a diffi- 
cult matter; still, from my lengthened experience, I can 
form an approximate estimate, and do not believe I ex- 
aggerate when I say he must have exceeded forty 
pounds. 
In Southern Illinois, on the tributaries and ponds mar- 
gining the Wabash, I have killed some very large pike ; 
but here they were not generally so well fed or so strong 
as those of the North. 
In Iowa I have also been very successful in capturing 
