464 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 1, 1886. 



the east and north was the distinct xound of the ocean, its 

 clearly-defined limit traced against the hlue sky. 



It was almost too nice a place to fish, almost too much of 

 a jar upon human sensibilities to come suddenly from a view 

 of land and water quite unsurpassed in all the world, from 

 the si^ht of a sub tropical paradise on the tip of a mountain 

 down in the sea, from a rare display of the grand and beau- 

 tiful in nature and art to — the consideration of clams for 

 bait, and the best place to put out hooks and lines. 



The fishes are graceful in form, and very pretty in colors 

 and tints, the iridescent hues being wonderfully' brilliant, 

 while cloudings and sharp tracings of yellow and orange, 

 and delicate transverse lines make live pictures that must 

 be studied to be fully appreciated. Seen in schools in the 

 deep, sky-clear water along shore, the effect is charming be- 

 yond description, the sheen of the agitated surface coming 

 and disappearing and coming again, and the direct light of 

 the sun seeming 



"To blend in beauteous tint the colored mass." 



We used coarse hand lines, with a heavy sinker and one 

 hook to each, and fished in twenty or thirty feet of water, 

 the tide carrying the lines some distance astern. The fishes 

 take hold daintily, and one must be on the alert or his clam 

 will be gone iu a twinkling. I missed a half dozen times, 

 and then got something prodigious, or at least that was the 

 impression. It pulled and hauled, and held on stubbornly, 

 and made it necessary to skirmish about lively on the un- 

 steady deck, holding to the naked mast, kneeling down 

 among the halliards, venturing out on the jibboom, and 

 finally 1 brought up a great branch of lattice-like coral, 

 which swayed about in the waves like a thing alive. Don't 

 say that any one could tell whether he had on something 

 alive or a fossil curio, for you know when one is in a strange 

 place, isn't acquainted mucb, so to speak, he may be taken 

 unawares, when under wonted circumstances he would be 

 equal to any emergency. It is well, therefore, to avoid 

 hypercriticism, and pay deferential attention to the gist of 

 the story. 



This difficuliy occurred several times, and then I learned 

 that I had to see by the sense of touch, and while keeping 

 the sinker at a good depth not let it catch in the vast thicket 

 of coral at the bottom. One after another we took a dozen 

 yellowtails and sheepshead, weighing from three to five 

 pounds each, and some smaller fishes that went for the bait 

 as soon as it touched the water. 



It was not great sport. It was more of a test of patience 

 and muscle, standing in the narrow cockpit, balancing to 

 the motion of the rocking boat, casting with diificulty, and 

 now and then pulling in a fish hand over hand. Still it 

 would do. The fishes flopped about pleasantly in the bottom 

 of the boat, among two or three empty cans down there, and 

 the great expectations of getting hooked to something that 

 would serve as a tug, or of bringing some wonderful piece 

 of coral structure to light, kept anticipation at par till lunch 

 time, when there was needed relaxation. 



At 1 o'clock I noticed that the wind was increasing, and 

 saw several cat's paws chasing each other over the surfaces 

 that were comparatively smooth in consequence of the deep 

 water between the nearly exposed l eef s about us ; also that 

 the sky in the northeast was rapidly thickening. Johnnie 

 remarked with the sangfroid, of an old salt that there would 

 likely be enough of that to belly the canvas, and I came to 

 the poetical conclusion that 



"The rising gale, and brealring foam, 

 And shrieking seabirds warned us home." 



"Come, -Johnnie, we've got to get out of this." 



"Ay, ay, sir; and I think your little cedar Bride of the 

 Southern Sieas is going to have a lively walk up to the Sound." 



Id a very few minutes, and none too soon, the sails were 

 hoisted, and we were skimming over ihe rapidly rising waves 

 at great speed. It required consummate skill to avoid the 

 reels, keep in the tortuous lines of clear water, and at the 

 same time give due attention to the breaking swells that 

 rolled shoreward with immense power. But the boy's prac- 

 ticed eye saw by th.e differing waves and constantly varying 

 huep, green and dark green, where the water was shallow 

 and where it was perhaps a hundred fathoms down, just 

 where to go. The sea quickly became very rough, clouds of 

 mist and three-minute showers swept by, sometimes almost 

 hiding us for the time, and the boom of the surf came like 

 .signal guns over the sea. In spite of every care in bounding 

 over the crested waves, sheets of salty spray washed the 

 deck, competing us to close the hatchway, excepting space 

 to stand in, and take frequent dashes with such equanimity 

 as we could command. 



The unexpected is always happening, and so it came about 

 this time. The mast was not well placed, and there was 

 room between it and the deck to admft considerable water 

 whenever a big wave broke over the bow, which was taking 

 place with considerable regularity. Already it was begin- 

 ning to show in disagreeable quantity inside, where there 

 was a large and sufficient quantity of iron balla.st. The 

 wind increased to a gale and the boat attained immense 

 speed, while perhaps one-third of the little deck was at 

 limes submerged as we plowed the turbulent brine. It was 

 impracticable under the circumstances to attempt to reef or 

 bail; there was nothing to do but to trim the boat as best we 

 could by our own weight and let her go. And go she did, 

 keeping her head well up, in spite of 'the weight and plung- 

 ing motion of the surging water now in the hold. 



Two miles from the shore of Great Sound, the nearest 

 land, we passed a British steamship at anchor, an oflnicer of 

 which seized a trumpet and called out: 



"Ho! bo— log— oh! Come abo'!" or something equally 

 intelligible. 



"Jonnnie, shall we climb up here and let the Bride of the 

 Sea rest a little?" 



"It's only two miles, sir. She'll not fall short." 



"All right, but I'll take this hatch cover and you can have 

 that board floating around down there if the Bride gets dis- 

 couraged and goes under." 



Even two miles is a long distance under some conditions, 

 dismal to contemplate and cause of impatience. The water 

 is merciless always, the winds never care for consequences, 

 and there is a total depravity of inanimate things that excites 

 exasperated comment, if the solemnity of the occasion does 

 not forbid. The situation was rather hazardous to be re- 

 garded in the light of adventure. The island scenery was 

 beautiful, the sea was imperiously grand, and there was 

 much to engage the attention of those who love to wrestle 

 with excitement; but these points were mostly ignored at 

 this time; tbey did not engross thought to the exclusion of 

 the still-distant shore and a cranky boat. 



Conversation had now died out; there was no necessity 

 for questioning; we had reached the buoy-marked channel in 



which the steamers come and go, and had plenty of room. 

 But here the sea was still more violent, the boat plunged bad- 

 ly, like a fox-hunter in a bog, and then it settled down until 

 it was a good deal like a dihipidated catamaran. 



The boy was cool, and attended to his duty without a 

 quailing eye or a trembling muscle. It seemed as if the little 

 craft would have to go down ; the jib was splashed to the top 

 and half the mainsail, while the crazy boom knocked white- 

 caps into smithereens. It was a problem of distance and 

 quantity— for instance: wiU this dumpy boat take in three 

 more barrels of water, and disappear before it goes a mile 

 and a half? and if so what will be the remainder? 



In spite of the big cargo of salt water, our speed was kept 

 up, the jib-boom did not go under, and the boy stood on the 

 slippery deck with the resolution of a hero. In a tremen- 

 dous surf along a coral point the little ship seemed to have 

 lost its brave demeanor; it trembled and wavered on a huge 

 crest, hesitated, careened, then settled down to one more de- 

 termined effort. Johnnie took advantage of the moment of 

 life, ported his helm skilfully, and the Bride of the Sea with 

 a sigh at the mast head and a groan at the keel, gave up the 

 ghost, and the crew sprang to land ! 



The boat was barely submerged, and it did not take long 

 to work her up to a friendly ridge of coral, into a position 

 that enabled us to bail out most of the water, which we did 

 by disrobing and careening the boat, and using a tin bread- 

 box. 



"She didn't want to go down," said Johnnie; " you don't 

 know, sir, how one of these boats hates to give in. It's the 

 first time ever one got out from under me, and I've almost 

 hved in 'em." 



Then we had a comfortable sail, winding about among the 

 pretty islands of Great Sound, over into Puget's Port and 

 finally to the mirror-like sheet of water at the tranquil little 

 town of Hamilton Jekoite Burnett. 



CAMP FLOTSAM. 



XVIH. — IN THE WAKE OF THE NETTER. 



THE first week was nearly gone and we had tried the 

 fishing but once. Into that brief period enough of 

 tragedy had been thrust for a summer, and our thoughts had 

 been little turned toward sport. Besides, the days had been 

 of alternate storm and camp building with the first predomin- 

 ating in the ratio of three to one. From a drouth of six 

 weeks duration in the vicinity of New York, with no signs 

 of the end, we had come, to find in the gieat lake basin, an 

 era of almost daily rain. There is, however, nothing un- 

 pleasant about a camp in the rainy season — at least there 

 should be no discomfort in a well appointed one — and the 

 fishing goes on about as usual. This enjoyed to satiety, we 

 prefer the warmth of a camp and the drawing of a book, 

 though it be in the presence of mountains, to rushing Lear- 

 like through the forest aisles, defying the storm and coming 

 in forlorn and bedraggled. 



In the early forenoon of the day after the arrival of the 

 Colonel and Captain, we were caught iu a sharp rain, in the 

 open lake, on our return from a visit to their camp. Every- 

 thing looked propitious for sport, so dropping in at our 

 landing for a rubber coat and blanket and securing a rod, we 

 headed down along the island. Not twenty rods from our 

 camp a small-mouth took the Canada just as it struck the 

 water, and went off with a grand rush. We had just brought 

 it to when another took the Professor, and there was a 

 circus on the starboard for a minute when the gut snapped 

 and the Professor and fish were lost together. The Canada 

 held its own and soon, with much splashing and leaping, the 

 landing net was holding a two-pounder.' As if in salutation 

 of the event the rain broke out once more with a double 

 header, and, not wishing to open a fly-book in such a deluge, 

 we tried the Canada alone. Another strike greeted it as it 

 dropped, the old battle was fought over and a mate to the 

 first with a severed vertebra was quivering in the boat. 

 Another cast, another rush and strike, a sudden feeling of 

 goneness on the Mitchell rod and the Canada fly had followed 

 the other, perhaps to grace with it some hall of the Microp- 

 terus, in the depths below, where the trophies of escaped 

 bass are preserved, mementoes of the cunning and vigor of 

 the heroes of their race. Then, in spite of the rain, we tried 

 a new cast, this time a great king and scarlet ibis, for not a 

 light fly could we find about us, all having been left in camp. 

 With these we kept on our course, following the edge of the 

 great weed bed where last year we took many a lusty beauty. 

 It was soon evident that the light flies were the kiUing ones 

 for the morning, but, by the time we had made a circuit of 

 the island, we had added eight to our stock, taken two big 

 pike without injuring a snell, besides throwing back half a 

 dozen small-mouths of a pound apiece. A little after noon 

 the sun came out and it grew clear and warm, so we started 

 for camp. As we turned into the bay toward the landing, 

 we caught sight of Sabattis working along the point below. 

 In answer to our hail the old man pulled up to the camp and 

 was refreshed with something from the Madame's medicine 

 bos, which he appeared to relish greatly, after which he 

 entertained us with the account of his winter's trapping, and 

 promised his hostess a dozen mink skins from his next 

 winter's catch. Dinner over we sat through the afternoon 

 watching the sunlight shift on the treetops along the southern 

 hills, and the waters turning to gold under its setting. That 

 night we missed the fragrant smudge, for the song of the 

 mosquito was hushed ; the camp fire burned brightly and all 

 the glamor and poetry that comes from the wilderness and 

 the lake gathered around us and, more than once, we found 

 ourselves wishing that it might last forever. Our sleep that 

 night was haunted by a miserable dream, a nightmare, which 

 for years has mingled itself with our slumbers in camp, a 

 dream of finding ourselves at home with our outing suddenly 

 and mysteriously at an end. It is happiness to awake and be 

 assured by the sound of the water upon the beach, by the 

 rustling of the night wind among the trees and by the cry of 

 the loon, that the treadmill of life is wearying other souls 

 and its Juggernaut rolling over other bodies than your own. 

 You are free, the soft flicker of the patch of moonlight on 

 the cmvas tells you so, you turn toward the dying camp-fire, 

 close your eyes, and an adamantine wall rises between your- 

 self and care. 



In the morning a heavy wind was blowing from the south- 

 west, beating up the whitecaps in front, and the waves were 

 running high up on the sand beaches and dashing against 

 the rocks. The signs were not promising. Nevertheless, we 

 started out to cast over the ground where, on the first day, 

 we had broken the rod. A few small-mouths took the fly 

 from sheltered stretches of water, but it was hard work to 

 lay a fly anywhere, so we soon gave it up and headed over 

 toward Sabattis's for a visit. The great head of the house 

 had seen us approaching and was waiting at the landing to 

 receive us, and while the Madame proceeded to the cabin to 



pay her respects, we were initialed into the mysteries of 

 birch bark canoe building and given an exhibition of how a 

 canoe could be handled in rough water. We served an 

 apprenticeship of an hour or so and then sounded the signal 

 for the Madame, who made her appearance, followed by^ the 

 niece of the old Long Lake guide, Mitchell Sabattis, and her 

 daughters. At the boat one of the latter presented the 

 Madame with a cru*iosity in the shape of a loon's egg, which 

 hangs in the den among our Canadian souvenirs, an inspira- 

 tion like that of the great roc's egg in the palace of the Genii. 

 Before we left, the old man set us agog with a story that 

 seven salmon {S. ncmiaymsh) had been taken above the 

 bridge, about ten miles away, within a week, and we thought 

 with a thrill of joy of the two trolling gangs which we had 

 brought with us, the generous gift of "A. N. C," that we 

 might be properly prepared for the sport of which he is a 

 master. 



There was_ yet one thing wanting to make up our camp. 

 A flock of chickens had not yet been secured, although many 

 fruitless inquiries had been made. But from Sabattis we 

 learned that in the spring he had seen some fowls in passing 

 the house of a dweller on the lake, about four miles from 

 camp, and it might be, he said, that we could procure a few 

 from him. There was too heavy a sea on to undertake the 

 voyage that day, so it was postponed to the morrow. In the 

 morning the sky was without a cloud and it w.as like a mel- 

 low October day. The air was fragrant with the breath 

 from the pines, and the faint, delicious odor from the 

 Colonel's fire was wafted to us across the water. Slowly we 

 pulled down the lake on our quest, keeping close to the 

 eastern shore and halting now and then to cast over a sus- 

 picious looking place. But nothing rose to our flies, and 

 after 'a couple of miles we crossed the main water to the 

 north shore. Here, among the islands, the bass rose eagerly 

 to the Lord Baltimore and Professor, and twice we took two 

 at a cast, but the run was small and we threw them all back, 

 for we were really after chickens and not bass. Two miles 

 further on we found the alleged poultry dealer, or rather his 

 wife, but no chickens. "The spring," she said, "was late, 

 and it would be two weeks before any would be large enough 

 for the table." Promising to call at the end of that time, we 

 put off for a log house a mile further up, but here nothing 

 could be found, so we dawdled away a couple of hours iii 

 casting and taking in small bass and returning them again 

 to the water. We followed the ins and outs of the north 

 shore through a long strait which was separated from the 

 main water by a chain of islands on our left, with here and 

 there a spring brook tumbling over the rocks. Keeping in 

 the shade of the trees on the islands, we kept slowly on, 

 indulging in an occasional cast, which was certain to come 

 home^'weightless. The rocky shore, with its wealth of fallen 

 trees and coating of ferns, with slender cardinals looking 

 down upon congregations of white-robed lilies, brought 

 back the memories of many a day on the Ramapo and among 

 the beauties of the upper Delaware. Mingled with these 

 came the memory of escapades from the teacher's rule when 

 in the old scow' on the mill pond, we sat under the big oak 

 and tempted the sunnys through the long afternoon, with 

 never a thought of the bitter accounting in store for us at 

 eve. 



At a point of rocks off the upper end of the last island of 

 the chain, and where the strait opened into the lake, we had 

 a short, sharp contest with a two-pound small-mouth, which 

 terminated greatly to the disadvantage of the latter. A 

 boat-length further a big-mouth, wrapped iu admiration of 

 the Professor, involved himself in a difficulty from which 

 we extricated him in the boat. Before we reached the deep 

 water three small-mouths and another big-mouth had joined 

 their brethren at our feet, and we felt that, after all, chick- 

 ens were not the all-in-all to a camper. 



It was well toward evening before we were back in camp, 

 and night was settling over lake and forest by the time din- 

 ner was over. The Colonel and Captain were sooq on hand, 

 and we reviewed the career of Forest and Stream and 

 sat in judgment on many a correspondent, from the self- 

 willed "Nessmuk" to the gentle angler who made his exit 

 with the storm at Carp Lake. The Canadian netter and fish 

 hog was discussed in various lights, together with the future 

 of fishing over the border. One thing is certain: unless 

 more active measures are taken to enforce the laws and pro- 

 tect the bass by further legislation, the day of good fishing 

 in every inland lake within reach of market will soon be 

 over. Lake after lake has been skinned of bass by means of 

 hoopnets, set pretendedly for catfish under a hcense, but in 

 reality for anything that can be taken. The wonder is — 

 and the wish is its father— that some Indian or settler in tbc 

 backwoods does not dispose of the netting difficulty by a, 

 charge of buckshot applied at the proper time. The netting- 

 in Rice Lake, though under a license, was quickly broken 

 up by the Indians, and it requires only a little backbone on 

 the part of residents along the lakes to put an end to the 

 calUng of the netter. Why the few residents on the back- 

 woods lakes of Canada, who themselves only take enough 

 fish for their immediate wants, should be expected to stand 

 quietly by and see a stranger net their waters for his own 

 gain, whether with or without a license, whether the netter 

 be "from the island" or elsewhere, is a question which we 

 think they will soon answer for themselves/and, probably, 

 with something harder than protests or petitions. 



With us, in the tliinly settled localities, the solution must 

 needs be more heroic; kill off the game, net the laiSt fish and 

 put the pot-hunter and netter at rest by depriving him of 

 his means of Uvelihood. It is useless;for decent law-abiding 

 sportsmen to attempt the protection of fish and game by 

 legislation or to stock waters. The effect of the lav/ is, to 

 prohibit them from enioying the fruit of their own labors, 

 while every hoodlum and gutter-snipe reaps where they 

 have sown.' No, clean out the game and fish, and let the 

 pot-hunter and netter philosophize over the cause and effect 

 of the silent woods and barren streams upon his vocation, 

 and let the sportsman, since he must pay, seek his preserves 

 or the backwoods, and the pot-hunter and netter, deprived 

 of his victims, will soon drift into some other occupation, 

 equally fitted to his nature and tastes, but for which the laws 

 of men and civilization have provided the penitentiary, and 

 thus he wifl have his reward. 



With dissertations such as these we sat the week out 

 — for it was Saturday night— the Colonel beside us on the 

 low bunk with the "ki"-dog between, the Captain in front 

 grave and meditative over his pipe, and the Madame perched 

 upon her high couch opposite, while on the right the rein- 

 nan ts of the well-discussed banquet "did coldly gleam" in 

 the shape of canned shrimp, sardines, and cheese. When at last 

 they took their leave we could hear their voices in conver- 

 sation dming the whole of their homeward trip, and after 

 they had reached their camp, a full half mUe away, the 

 tones of their voices came plainly to us still. 



