360 



RECREATION 



should be following the salmon on their 

 way up stream to spawn. For an hour 

 or more we cast and cast, neither of us 

 getting as much as a nibble from any- 

 thing but bull-heads or suckers. 



Naturally our ardor was cooling, for 

 it looked as though we were in for our 

 usual bad luck. Suddenly I felt a slight 

 tug at my line, not a rough jerk, but 

 just a dainty little nibble, and I knew 

 at once that it was no bull-head, for 

 one of these gluttons gives one tug and 

 down goes hook, bait and all ; nor was 

 it a sucker, for suckers are almost as 

 bad as bull-heads. So I slowly set my 

 line in motion and before I knew it my 

 reel was spinning around at a stunning 

 pace. Then for a few minutes I played 

 the game all fishermen love, reeled and 

 unreeled, waited and watched, till finally 

 I landed him. Though not so very 

 large, he was a beauty and to me served 

 as an elixir. 



I felt that our luck had changed, and 

 it really had. Reb landed one, then I an- 

 other, a third, a fourth, and so on till 

 we had a string of beauties that would 

 almost satisfy the heart and appetite of 

 the hungriest Siwash. I proposed going 

 home but Reb replied, "Just wait a min- 

 ute, I believe there is a whale playing 

 around my hook and I want to give him 

 a try." I proceeded to get our catch 

 and tackle together, and was so en- 

 gaged when the sharp buzzing of Reb s 

 reel attracted my attention. Looking up 

 I witnessed a fight between man and 

 fish that beggars description. 



At once I knew he had hooked a 

 monster of some kind, for no small fish 

 could make a reel sing like that. Then 

 the fun began, — down stream he went 

 like a runaway racehorse, taking out 

 fifty feet or more of line ere he could 

 be checked. Then away he went in the 

 opposite direction like a shot, at least 

 forty feet up stream. Now he darted 

 straight away, then in a circle. Some- 

 times he sulked for a few minutes. Reb 

 all the while was keeping as much strain 

 on the line as possible, for he knew his 

 only chance of bagging that fish was 

 to tire him completely out. Thus he 



fought for nearly thirty minutes, but to 

 save his life he couldn't get that trout 

 near enough to use the net. It was im- 

 possible to work either up or down 

 stream, on account of the brush. It was 

 simply a case of using tact in reeling. 

 Finally his patience was rewarded, for 

 although game till the last, Mr. Trout 

 was compelled to give in from sheer ex- 

 haustion. 



His last attempt to throw the hook 

 was magnificent, even if it did end in 

 his downfall. He had sulked for about 

 five minutes, holding the line taut all 

 the while, when suddenly the tension 

 was slacked and he darted clear out of 

 the water; that was where Reb had 

 him, for before he struck again, he was 

 reeled into the six-foot mark and was 

 landed on the bank. 



He was a beauty "Dolly Varden," 

 covered with pink spots from head to 

 tail. He tipped the scales at five pounds 

 four, and was the largest ever caught 

 in the Quil. 



Contented and happy as two robins 

 in the spring time, we gathered up our 

 catch and plodded homeward. That 

 evening we did not seek the back alleys 

 and side streets ; the main thorough- 

 fares was none too good for us. Nor 

 did we stop until that catch had been 

 displayed before the eyes of our mess- 

 mates, and we had had the pleasure of 

 hearing them admire Reb's whale and 

 admit that we could "fish a little. " 



Thus we proved the proposition, that 

 "It comes to him who waits." 



TROUBLE AND A FISH 



BY CHARLES K. YOUNG 



My first stop of any considerable 

 duration was made in Klickitat Coun- 

 ty, in the State of Washington; and I 

 had not been there long when I made 

 the acquaintance of an old man by the 

 name of Johnson, an old time frontiers- 

 man, who had started for himself in 

 the wilds of northern Wisconsin and 

 had drifted Westward with the tide 

 of emigration until he found that 



