Nov. 24, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



343 



lin' graound in the hull erik 'an the is atwixt the tew 

 Slangs," he said, and as they neared the mouth of the 

 South Slang, Joseph returned jerk for jerk on the trail- 

 ing Hue with a grunt thrown in. "What be I a-goin' t' 

 du naow?" he asked in dire perplexity, though he set his 

 teeth and held to the bending pole with a will, "I can't 

 get him 'thin twenty foot on us wi' this duin'd little short 

 pole?" 



"Gini me a holt on 't I" said Uncle Tyler, dropping his 

 oars and rising to the occasion. Laying hold of the pole he 

 drew the tip far behind, hini, and grasping the line hauled 

 it in hand over hand with deliberate celerity, till the 

 wide-mouthed pickerel came gaping alongside and was 

 lifted on board by the hook, forgetting to resent his 

 injuries till he dropped on the bottom of the scow, which 

 lie then belabored with strokes of his tail, while he 

 snapped his ugly jaws. He was a slab-sided fellow, whose 

 six pounds of "weight were spanned by two feet and a half 

 of length, but he was admired as a beautiful monster by 

 Solon and Joseph, and almost as much by Sam and An- 

 toine, who came alongside to look at him. 



"Good gosh a' mighty?" cried Uncle Tyler in wondering 

 pity," "it does beat all naturhao</ you folks does vally 

 these 'ere goo'-for-nothin' pickeril ! I'd a gre' deal druther 

 have a am\. Wait till ye git aholt of a fo' fi' paound 

 pike, an' then vou have a fish 'at's wuth a-havin' ! Pick- 

 ril ! ' Good gosh a'migbty !" Uncle Tyler emphasized the 

 "good" as if 'upon occasion a bad "gosh" might be invoked. 



The trolling line was let out again as they went for- 

 ward, and to keep it clear of the weeds Joseph now ven- 

 tured to direct their course with commands, or rather 

 friendly advice, which would have puzzled a strictly 

 nautical man to obey or follow. " 'F I was you I'd gee a 

 lee-tle mite. Naow haw more 'n ye gee. Now oar the 

 hardest wi' yer north oar. Guess ye'd better oar most 

 wi' the saouth one naow— guess it's the saouth one— do' 

 know but what it's the west one, lem me see," taking a 

 look at the sun and the eastern hills— "yes, oar the west 

 one." 



"Oh ! go 'long wi' your tarnal geein' an' hawim, an' your 

 northin' an' saouthin' I" Uncle Tyler droned loudly. His 

 father had migrated to Vermont from the seacoast, and 

 something of his salty flavor had been imparted to his 

 son. "This 'ere haint a nox cart, it's a bwut, an' this side 

 on her is sfcarb'd and that's larb'd er port. When you're 

 a wantin' on me tu pull this oar, holler 'starb'd !' an when 

 you're a wantin' on me tu pull t'other, holler 'port!' But 

 I guess you'd better shet yer head altogether. Anyways, 

 quit yer dum'd geein' and ha win', I haint a yoke o' oxen!" 



Now came a heavy, dead pull on the line, and Joseph, 

 -following the recent example of Uncle Tyler, laid the tip 

 of the pole forward, and snatching wildly at the line, 

 caught it at last and hauled it in with such haste and ex- 

 cite xent that it was snarled in an almost inextricable 

 tangle about his feet and legs when the hook came along- 

 side with a great burden of lily stems and pads and water 

 weed. His look of disappointment when he saw his 

 worthless catch was not dispelled when he contemplated 

 the tangled confusion of the line, and he was not com- 

 forted by Uncle Tyler's assurance, "YouVe got a job 'at 

 '11 last ye till ye git t' the lake, a onravhn' that 'ere line! 

 If you'd a had it aout a passin' the Saouth Slang, you'd 

 a got onel The' 's alius a good one a layin' there." 



J\'o\\ they were on the last reach of the channel, bend- 

 ing here in a long curve through the "wide ma'sh," as 

 Uncle Tyler informed them this portion of the stream was 

 called. Through the willowy gateway of the creek's 

 mouth they could see the lake, the "Bay of the Vessels," 

 with Garden Island, green and white with leaves and 

 blossoms, set bike a uosegay on its shining bosom, 

 clasped in the rocky arm of Thompson's Point. They 

 soon passed the "Slab Hole," a great drift of flood wood 

 lying along the western shore, and presently landed among 

 the willows at the place the miller had told them of. 

 They found the shelter of rocks under the bluff, but 

 decided to pitch their tent, for the overhanging ledge 

 looked like a pokerish roof to sleep under. 



The pickerel was dressed and fried for dinner, and even 

 Uncle Tyler, despite his unfavorable opinion of pickerel, 

 made way with a generous portion of it. The old man 

 was paid for his services and made preparations for his 

 homeward voyage. He pushed his craft afloat and em- 

 barked, but presently came ashore again, and they re- 

 turned to the landing to see what he had forgotten. 



"I wish 't some on ye 'Id gim me a pipeful er tew o' 

 terbacker. I'm a goin' tu send right up t' the store an' 

 git me some jest as soon as I git hum. I meant tu yis- 

 te'd'y, but I forgot it." For some minutes after he left 

 them they could hear the smacking of his Hps as he pulled 

 at Joseph's pipe, and for half an. hour longer the squeak 

 and clank and surge of h's laborious progress, while they 

 busied themselves with the arrangement of the camp. 



They had not finished pitching the tent b :f ore they were 

 assailed by swarms of hungry mosquitoes, the constant 

 warfare with which left them little time for peaceable 

 labor, and soon made it apparent that there was no com- 

 fort nor rest for them in this place. Sam and Antoine 

 made their way to the top of the rocky bluff, and finding 

 their persecutors much less numerous, the tent and camp 

 equipments were carried thither, and their temporary 

 home established among the cedars. Northerly winds 

 from the lake and southerly winds from the cleared fields 

 landward swept then winged enemies away and filled the 

 ah* with balsamic fragrance that reminded them of Dan- 

 vis woods, and through the green clots of cedar boughs 

 and meshes of trunks and branches, they caught glimpses 

 of the blue lake crinkled with gold and silver waves. The 

 thin soil and the rocks«were spread with a soft carpet and 

 cushions of fallen cedar leaves and moss set in various pat- 

 terns of russet and green, and about the bases of the 

 rocks were springing the young shoots of mountain fringe, 

 ready to overrun them with a graceful invasion of vine 

 and flower. 



"Ah'll toT you, boy!" cried Antoine, looking with ad- 

 miration on the carpeting of the tent floor, just finished 

 with his last armful of cedar twigs, " 'f he ant mek you 

 felt sleepy for jes' look at dat beds! Oh, bah gosh! 'F 

 we ant took comfor' here! An' don't dat neat fireplaces 

 you'll bud' dar?" inspecting the result of the other's 

 labors, a broad fireplace built of flat ledge stones. "J es' as 

 handle as stofe was; yas seh, more handle, 'cause you'll 

 don't got for hopen no door for put hwood, an' you'll 

 don't got for took off no gribble for brile you pot of it! 

 Bah gosh, dat mek it all de hwomans in Danvit cry 'f 

 he'll see it! Naow 'f we can honly jes' git some bullpawt, 

 dey ant nothing more in dis worl' we'll as' for itl But Ah'll 

 fred, me, we'll ant ketch it much dat kan', 'cause de she 



one he'll settin' on hees aegg naow, Ah b'iieve, an' de he 

 one, he'll watch of it. But Ah'll goin' try it. Ant you go 

 'long to me, some of it?" 



Solon expressed a desire to test his "fishcatorial skill," 

 and the two went down the bluff and launching the dug- 

 out paddled out to a convenient stake set in the further 

 edge of the channel. More than once as the narrow craft 

 lurched along its course and Solon grasped tba gunwales, 

 he wished the broad and stable bottom of Uncle Tyler's 

 scow was beneath him, but he felt safer when the canoe 

 was made fast to the stake and the green weeds of the 

 marsh were within reach, though under them were 6ft. 

 of water and unfathomable mud. 



"I tell ye what, Antwine," he said, diuwing the first 

 full breath since leaving shore, "If I'm agoin' tu perse- 

 cute fishin', I'm a goin' tu du it in suthin' diff'ent f'm 

 these 'ere lawg and birch bark c'ntraptions. They haint 

 got no stubility. I'm a goin tu hev me a boat suthin' 

 arter'the partem o' the one 'at that ol' gentleman fetched 

 me an Jozeff an' t'other things daown dere in, in factotum 

 a femaline or she hoat, 'at is capacious o' kerryin' suthin' 

 right end up wjtliaout oncessant discumbobberation." 



"Bah gosh! Solem, 'f you can fan' dat kan' o' boats 

 Ah'll willin' you'll go in it! Ah'll 'fred all a tarn every 

 minutes you'll speel hose of it. Seet steel! Dis can-noe 

 don't fret 'f you'll ant jump an' weegly every tarn he'll 

 top over leetly mites!" And Antoine swung his full 

 baited hook abroad and dropped it gently into the water. 

 Solon's splashing cast, made with an awkward motion, 

 set the canoe to rocking and his companion to swearing 

 and re-awakened his own fears. When quiet was re- 

 stored he got a bite, and after several ineffectual twitches 

 hooked and pulled up a broad sunfish, and as he swung 

 it back and forth, making futile snatches at it as it quiv- 

 ered past and circled about him, always just out of reach, 

 the danger of capsize became imminent, till the fish, by a 

 twist, as lucky for them as for it, unhooked itself and 

 dropped into the edge of the weeds. 



Antoine rejoiced aloud, while Solon gazed with a rue- 

 ful countenance upon the spot where the fish had disap- 

 peared. "Ah'll tor you Solem, you'll ant goin' feesh some 

 more "less Ah'll go 'shore. Bah gosh! Ah'll ant want no 

 fun for be top over here, me!" Solon agreed to content 

 himself with being only a looker on, while Antoine fished. 

 But the Canadian's skill and patience faithfully exercised 

 an hour longer, were rewarded by nothing better than a 

 dozen perch and sunfish, which though he cursed, he 

 saved for supper. "Yas seh," as he drew out his hook 

 and cleaned the fragments of worms off it, tossing them 

 begrudgingly far away, and widely scattered. "Ah'll tol' 

 you so, de she bullpawt was all settin', an' he ant goin' 

 stop for heat notings. Wal, le's we'll go." And after 

 winding up his line, he untied the canoe and paddled into 

 the black shadows that had now fallen along the western 

 shore. His labors faintly dlumined by the last glimmers 

 of departing daylight straggling through the willows, he 

 scaled and cleaned the fish while Solon squatted near, as- 

 sisting little but in the free offering of sage advice. Then 

 they climbed the bluff, bearing the slender catch to camp, 

 where reinforced by generous slices of pork, it furnished 

 a bountiful supper. Smoking and chat filled the short 

 hour between supper and early bedtime, when they fell 

 into the sound sleep which blesses honest campers. 



Rowland E. Robinson. 



SAILING THROUGH THE AIR. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



A few days ago in common with several others, I was 

 witness of a singular proceeding. I was walking along a 

 j street of Abilene, when my friend, the county surveyor, 

 cried out to me from the opposite side, asking me if I saw 

 that balloon passing over us? He was gazing into the 

 j clear heavens and pointing upward as he spoke. Instantly 

 a large crowd gathered around to get a look at the 

 j wandering aeronaut. It was a few moments before I 

 1 saw anything, but presently the balloon, or whatever it 

 ' was, so turned in its movements that it caught and 

 reflected the sunlight, and then it became distinctly and 

 beautifully visible. It seemed very far up and was as 

 white as snow. It was moving to the southesast. For a 

 moment or two it would cease to be visible, and then 

 again it would reflect its pure white light upon us. It 

 seemed a balloon beyond doubt, and all the crowd fell to 

 wondering where the bold navigator came from and 

 what was his destination. As for me, my admiration of 

 his boldness was much mixed with fear for his personal 

 safety, and I thought also of how much he must suffer 

 from the intense cold of that dizzy height. I felt no 

 desire to be a companion of his. 



While we were thus gazing and wondering, suddenly 

 we beheld three more balloons following not far behind 

 the first, and a moment later more than a dozen others 

 burst upon the view, all so radiantly white and trooping 

 along so majestically. Their motion was poetry and the 

 sight of them was lovely. One of my friends said, "It 

 j may be a troop of angels ch-cumnavigating the globe, for 

 I what else could be so beautiful ?" 



I rushed away for my strong field glass, determined to 

 penetrate tnis mystery if I could. I was confused, and if 

 | they were angels I wanted to see their lineaments and 

 I wings. I imagined that I might also hear then- song as 

 t they swept gloriously by. Soon my powerful glass was 

 t upon them, and lo and behold, what did these things 

 \ prove to be? They were nothing but cobwebs, and they 

 \ were not so high up either as they looked to be. There 

 they were, all before me perfectly distinct, wending their 

 i way to the southeast before a. favoring breeze. Every 

 cobweb had a number of long streamers hanging far 

 | down, which glittered like threads of silver. They were 

 ' balloons in fact, but the aeronauts were those ugly beasts 

 ' called spiders. No doubt they felt a prescience of the 

 ' approach of whiter and were traveling to the far south, 

 ' perhaps to the islands of the Gulf or far beyond. Perhaps 

 they had come hundreds and hundreds of miles. 



But if the aeronauts were indeed mere spiders, we can- 

 not help but be lost in admiration of their perfect skill in 

 | aerial navigation, which man has not attained yet and 

 probably never will. What were those long streamers, 

 pending far down from their balloons, thrown out f or ? 

 \ It was undoubtedly a sort of ballast to keep then craft 

 from upsetting and thus spilling out the occupants, or at 

 least making their position uncomfortable. Also doubtless 

 they were used as rudders to guide their crafts on the 



right way. Thus they have shown us what man must do 

 when he comes to build his ships of the air. He must 

 have long ropes hanging down, with weights attached, to 

 keep his ship from turning over when struck by a strong 

 wind. Thus all the sense in this world is not held by 

 man. Even the little ugly spider far excels us in some 

 things. I strained my eyes to get a glimpse of these wise 

 little sailors as they moved above me in their ships, but it 

 was in vain. Perhaps they were all snugly wrapped up 

 under their silken coverlets, to keep warm in the chilly 

 upper spaces. N, A. T. 



AbitjBnb, Tex., Nov. 16. 



RATTLESNAKES IN TREES. 



BALTIMORE, Md., Nov. 15.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: That rattlesnakes do occasionally climb 

 trees is, I think, verified by the following story, related 

 to me while a guest at his hospitable home last December, 

 by my friend, Mr. Elliott G. Solomons, a cotton planter, 

 residing near Lawtonville, Hampton county, S. C: 



While Mi-. Solomons— who is a keen sportsman, living 

 in a perfect x^aradise (from a sportsman s point of view) 

 of deer, turkey, quail and woodcock — was out coon hunt- 

 ing one night with two darkies, the dogs treed a coon, 

 and one of the boys climbed the tree to shake the coon 

 out. in order to let the dogs shake him a little. Just as 

 the boy reached the coon and began to shake the limb on 

 which it had taken refuge, the terrifying warning of the 

 deadly rattler was heard a little below the climber. With, 

 an agonizing yell the scared darky called out. "Mus' I 

 fall out, Mars' Elliott? Oh, Mars' Elliott, mus' I fall?" 

 "No, you idiot, keep still. If you fall you will dislodge 

 the snake, and it will strike you as soon as you touch the 

 ground. Stay where you are, and stop that infernal 

 noise, I tell you, and I will soon locate the snake Avith 

 this torch and shoot it." "Oh, no, Mars' Elliott," pleaded 

 the poor fellow, "please doan' shoot, fo' you wdl shorely 

 kill dis po' niggah." After circling around the tree 

 several tunes, during which Sambo's eyes stuck out like 

 pump handles and glowed like a panther's, the snake— a 

 huge fellow — was located and shot. This is the only in- 

 stance that I have known of, but I can vouch for its 

 reliability. Noah Palmer. 



A Piscatorial Rat.— On the Flatbush avenue side of 

 Prospect Park, Brooklyn, is a lake which forms the home 

 for numerous swans, Egyptian ducks and goldfish. On 

 the Park side is a summer-house, perched high up on the 

 bank, with seats and parti-colored awnings. At the time 

 of this occurrence there was a plank, resting with its 

 outer edge in the water, at an angle of thirty degrees. 

 The children and nursemaids on the platform were toss- 

 ing bits of cake into the water for the benefit of the 

 hungry swans and goldfish. The fish fairly teemed, as if 

 all those in the lake were collected in a seething mass in 

 that one spot. A two-third grown rat was on the plank, 

 without rod, line, hook or even bait beyond that furnished 

 by the children overhead. He watched his opportunity and 

 seized by the back a fish about lOin. long. The fish being 

 fully aware that he was "endowed with certain inalien- 

 able rights, viz., life, liberty and the pursuit of happi- 

 ness," made a desperate attempt for liberty. "Hard, 

 hard indeed, was the contest for freedom and the struggle 

 for independence!" But the gray rascal, by superior 

 knowledge, strength and skill, held his wriggling victim 

 and carried him to his hole. The fish, probably, consti- 

 tuted his Friday's meal, though whether the rat was 

 High Church or Romanistic in his views we are not in- 

 formed. How a comparatively young rat, with only the 

 leverage of his hind reet resting on the sloping plank, 

 could seize and land a fish weighing at least half a pound, 

 is a difficult problem to solve. It was, too, the act of an 

 instant, but it is true nevertheless. — J. S. L. 



Domesticating Wildfowl. — Cold Spring Harbor, N. 

 Y., Nov. 19.— The wood ducks raised this year were in 

 full plumage by November. The young drakes could be 

 distinguished by the red on the bill early in September. 

 The old birds were earlier in getting their fall coat. I 

 have received a female widgeon (Marecaamericana) from 

 Mr. Francis Endicott, which he wing-tipped on Barnegat 

 Bay. This bird wdl be mated with an Europeon widgeon 

 (M. penelo;>e). The latter is quite different in plumage 

 from our native bird, the prevailing color being a reddish 

 brown instead of gray. Mr. John R. Tracy presented a 

 black duck (Anas obseura), sex unknown, which he 

 wounded in Connecticut. None of the young Chinese 

 mandarin ducks lived this year, rats and awkward liens 

 interfered. The old ones are healthy, as are the teal. 

 The pintails were lost, and no mate has been obtained for 

 the widowed g.een-winged teal.— Fred Mather. 



How Din the Fish GET THERE ?— We were conversing with 

 a gentleman from Sierra Valley a few days ago. He is a 

 gentleman of truth and veracity and we vouch for the truth 

 of the following, which he told us: There are a large num- 

 ber of artesian wells in that valley and, curious to state, 

 many of them flow large quantities of hot water. Last 

 August a well was bored on the ranch of J. B. Hathaway, 

 near Beckwith, the result of which was a flow of about 150 

 gallons of water a minute, with a temperature of about 

 l(50deg. It is nearly boiling hot, so hot in fact that eggs can 

 be cooked in it in seven minutes. During the past few 

 months the waste water from tbis well has flowed into a de- 

 pression in the ground nearby, and the result is that a small 

 pond has been formed. This pond has no connection with 

 any other stream or body of water and the ground had been 

 absolutely dry for several months previous. Lately it has 

 been noticed that it was full of small fishes from lin. to Sin. 

 long. Upon examination it was found that these fish were 

 different from any found in the streams of the neighbor- 

 hood. It has been generally supposed that fish spawn will 

 spoil in a short time if exposed to the sun and weather. — 

 Truckee (Gal.) Republican. 



How the Crow Became Black.— The Indians of the ex- 

 treme Northwest have some very remarkable, legends about 

 the creation, in which the crow takes the leading part; bring- 

 ing order out of chaos. Perhaps the most curious is that 

 which accounted for the raven coat of the crow. One night, 

 while making a tour through his dominions, he stopped at 

 the house of Can-nook, a chief, and begged for a lodging and 

 a drink of water. Can-nook offered him a bed, but, on ac- 

 count of the scarcity of water, he refused to give him any- 

 thing to drink. When all the rest were asleep the crow got. 

 up to look for water, but was heard by Can-nook's wife, who 

 aroused her husband. He, thinking that the crow was about 

 to escape, piled logs of gum wood upon the fire. The crow 

 made desperate efforts to fly through the hole in the roof 

 where the smoke escaped, but the Can-nook caused the smoke 

 to be denser and denser, and when the crow finally regained 

 the outer air he had black plumage. It was previously 

 white.— San Fra ncisco Monitor. 



