Aug. 29, 1889.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



107 



chance, and there we sat. Yes. gentlemen, sat there for 

 ore hour V.y rny reputable Waterbury. The flock Jit 

 within lOft.'of me, and commenced to feed slowly away, 

 Van and I talked freely the whole time they were feed- 

 ing, but no attention whs paid by them to us, owing, no 

 doubt, to the fact that the "guards" were placed far out 

 on the open plowed fh Id. 



Some one on the prairie tired a gun, when up rose our 

 flock. Six reports rang out simultaneously; but, alas, 

 the birds were out of range. I distinctly heard my shot 

 spatter one old honker I had picked out. That was all, 

 however; it had lost power to knock him down. 



As it was getting late, we concluded to go home; the 

 horse was persuaded to meander; and in due time we 

 reached town. 



When we were talking matters over the. next day, in 

 the presence of a veteran goose hunter, he made a re- 

 rnark which I have since taken to heart and always act 

 upon. It ran to the effect, "Friendship is friendship, 

 and hunting i^ hunting, and friendship stops right short 

 in the range of a good shot when hunting geese." 



Gardner, 111. A. H. B. 



CAMPS OF THE KINGF1SHERS.-V11. 



ECHO LAKE, ONTAKIO, CANADA. 



IT came about next morning that Charley and the skip- 

 per were to fish together that day; and accordingly 

 after breakfast we wrapped a day's rations in an old 

 newspaper, and with our rods, a bucket of frogs, the 

 milk pail and a two-gallon stone jug to bring back filled 

 with water from the natural ice water spring at the foot 

 of the lake, pulled out for the farm below, just as the 

 sun looked over into the lake from the summit of the 

 hills back of upper Echo Eiver. 



Except for a faint ripple, the water was quiet, and we 

 fished and idled along down shore till it was near noon, 

 before we were below the island; but the sport was 

 rather poor, as we took but fou"or five pickerel, although 

 we passed over the same water where, the evening be- 

 fore, Dan and I had taken them till our arms were tired 

 handling the slimy sneaks. 



We were a little disappointed at not getting a bass or 

 two, but we found cnsolalion in a fragment of old Ben 

 Renshaw's philosophy : "Pickerel fi-bin' was good enough 

 for the Jonese-, for the Joneses never was used to the 

 very bestV fishin' nohow," — which had eased his mind, 

 and ours, on many a day in past years when the bass 

 were like Dick Mac 's cn-torners — "a leetle too face- 

 tious in th it tastes to appreciate good sdttels." 



The big maskinonje was again seen to break water 

 with a great swirl after we had passed his haunt a hun- 

 dred yards or so. in pure derision, as it seemed tou«, at 

 the feeble tackle we were foolish enough to think might 

 prevail against his great strength; but we did not turn 

 (Sack to risk the humiliation of a defeat, knowing the ad- 

 vantage he would have in the forest of bushweeds and 

 rushes infesting his chosen territory. Beside-, for the 

 la-t mile rr tw r o Charley had complained of a headache 

 and nausea, to which he was subject, and we wanted to 

 get to the farmhouse where he could lie down for awhile 

 and get Mother Ruttle to make a cup of strong tea,which 

 would doubtless afford at least a temporary relief. At 

 the landing we were met by the dog Jack, who had not 

 forgotten his new-made friend of the day before, and in- 

 stead of erect bristles and a growl, we were welcomed in 

 his waggish way and escorted with sundrv doggish 

 antics to the house, where on stating Charley's case the 

 good dame set about brewing a cup of tea, while he 

 strelched himself on a lounge looking really like a sick 

 man; but he said the "spells" never la-ted long, and for 

 me to take the boat and yo up the lake for a couple of 

 hours' fishing, after which he thought he would feel well 

 enough to start back to camp, where a dose of "crow 

 and ginger" would put him in good shape again. 



On aoing down to the boat, after seeing that nothing 

 more could be done for him, I found that my four-footed 

 friend had been there before me. The bottom of the 

 boat w^as strewn with torn pieces of paper, a few frag- 

 ments of egg shells, and a corner of a square cracker that 

 he had overlooked, and this was the remains of out lunch. 

 He had eaten a ge ol-nized cut of raw bacon that we had 

 intended to broil over a quick fire, four or five hard- 

 boiled eggs without taking much notice of the shells, all 

 of the crackers except the tragment lying under the 

 thwart; and the indications were that he had bolted the 

 bigger part of a Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, edi- 

 torials and all. Veiily, tne appetite of the average 

 country dog passeth the understanding of man. 



To say my temp°r was a trifle ruffled would be draw- 

 ing it mild, for 1 began to feel a caving for some of that 

 luuch myself, and a sound drubbing on sight was 

 Straightway laid by for the culprit; but on turning to go 

 back to the ho„se, there at the top of the bank stood the 

 thieving rascal, wagging his tail with half stroke and 

 with such an innocent "foolea-ve-that tinie-ole feller" 

 look on his four by nine countenance that I had to laugh 

 outright; and once more the hatchet was buried between 

 us, arjd Jack escaped the thrashing he so richly merited. 



Back at the house. Mother Buttle in the goodne- s of her 

 heart made the luuch good by two great slices of buttered 

 bread and a bowl of fresh sweet milk; and with many 

 thanks I took my way up lake in a placid state of mind, 

 with Jack following along the bank to the upper end of 

 tne wheatdeld, where he stood at the edge of the swamp 

 for awhile, looking after the boat with a wistful expres 

 sion that said as plainly as dog language eould, "When 

 you come down again don't forget your lunch." 



Three more pickerel were added to the string tied to a 

 bush at the landing as the result of the trip up the lake 

 to the island and back; and the last were turned over to 

 Mother Ruttle— enough to keep the whole family in fish 

 for a week. During my absence the good woman had 

 killed a chicken and made a savory pot of broth, which 

 seemed to be the very remedy Charley was hankering 

 after, as he bad drank it all and was feeling much better, 

 albeit he still suffered from a trifling "fullaess" in the 

 region of the stomach, which was small wonder. But the 

 skipper and 1 ttle H-nry, the bright-eyed eigbt year-old 

 "baby" of the family, got the best end of the "festival 

 soup" by eating the chicken and tossing the bones to 

 Jack, waiting at the door, whose appetite and capacity 

 for mixed victuals appeared to be boundless. 

 When the last scrap of the chicken had disappeared 



and Charley announced himself ready to start, we pulled 

 across to the spting, filled the jug and headed for camu, 

 not very well satisfied with the day's experience, but it 

 was yet several hours till dark and we decided to fish the 

 deep bay a while before going in. 



As we were pulling lazily along past the rocky point 

 across from the island, our rods winged out on either 

 side with the frogs trailing sixty or seventy feet astern, 

 a swirl in the water near the fringe of rushes and a vio- 

 lent pull at the line that made the reel handle spin 

 brought the skipper to his feet and out, of a, pleasant 

 reverie, with a jerk that jarred the little boat from stem 

 to stern and roused Charley out of a half doze with, 

 "What's the matter, Hickory, spring water goin' to yer 

 head?" at the same time reeling in his line to be out of 

 the way, knowing by the indications that a right with a 

 good fish was at hand. Slowly the line ran off the reel 

 out in the lake and as quickly as possible Charley took 

 the oars and pulled the boat some yards away from the 

 rushes to give Hickory room to work when the fray 

 opened. 



When sufficient time had been given the fish to swallow 

 the frog, a smart strike started the fun. and instantly he 

 turned and swung in toward the shore. The pull on ^e 

 rod was so heavy that we thought sure it was a big pick- 

 erel making the trouble, and the old rod was nearly 

 doubled in the effort to hold him away from the rushes 

 for which he was heading, but it was no use, and a 

 moment later a magnificent fish went high in the air 

 10ft. inside of the rush line, turned half over in a'grace- 

 ful curve, and fell back with a noisy splash in the water 

 with head pointed in the direction of the boat. It was a 

 feat an acrobat might have been proud of, but we had 

 no time to waste in applause, as he was coining out in 

 the lake again at a pace that kept the reel busy to take 

 up the slack of the line. Fortunately the line had not 

 fouled in the rushes, and we were now, barring an acci- 

 dent, on an equal footing in the struggle. 



While it was in the air we saw t hat it was a maski- 

 nonje; and forgetting his illness and his late tussle with 

 the pot of chicken broth, Charley let out a, yell— in which 

 Hickory lifted up his voice and "jined"— that started our 

 lunch thief to barking at the farm below, a nd scared into 

 silence a saucy little red squirrel chattering at us from a 

 limb of a cedar hanging over the water near the point. 



The fish went by the boat out in the lake with a steady 

 rush, and Charley, dropping the oar blades in the water, 

 pulled after him; and then we had it, around and up and 

 down the lake for nearly a half hour, before he showed 

 any sign of weakening, swimming deep the while, and 

 never showing near the surface again after the first leap 

 in the bulrushes. 



At last (as we have noted is a habit of the "masky" 

 when he has exhausted his strength and arts in an effort 

 to escape from the deadly hook) he came to the top of 

 the water, near a hundred feet away in this instance, and 

 lay there with his dorsal sticking out, resting up as it 

 looked, and studying out a new scheme to break the little 

 thread that was worrying him to his death. Charley 

 backed the boat quietly up to within four or five yards, 

 when with a great flirt of his tail, he went under water 

 apam for another brief struggle With the tough old rod. 

 The persistent strain soon brought him to the top again, 

 tired out and dazed at his failure, and this time he was 

 pulled within striking distance, when reaching cautiously 

 out Charley deftly jerked the gaff into his lower jaw— 

 this to avoid making a mortal wound— and swung him 

 into the boat with one sweep of his arm. 



We wanted to take him alive to camp, and to this end 

 working carefully to avoid his dangerous teeth, the little 

 line that had wrought his dowfall, was cut a few inches 

 above the gimp, leaving the hook somewhere out of 

 sight in his "innards." a stringer securely knotted to his 

 jaw, and the brave old fellow dropped back in the water 

 and tied near the stern, where after a few powerful 

 surges that only served to tighten the knot and yank his 

 countenance out of shape, he gave up the useless struggle 

 and towed quietly along after the boat as though accus- 

 tomed to it all his life. 



He was not a large fish for one of his tribe (weight 

 justlSlbs.), but he was the gamiest and harde-t fighter 

 the old rod had ever been called on to do battle with, and 

 it was handled thereafter with a perfect confidence in its 

 trusty qualities. 



Another hook was tied on, and we pulled in and fished 

 diligently back and forth along the rushes a distance of 

 a hundred yards two or three times in the hope of strik- 

 ing his mate, for where one is found the mate is not usu- 

 ally far away; but if in the vicinity when the other was 

 struck, it had probably taken the alarm and "hied off," as 

 old Ben would have said, into deep water. We pursued 

 our way along the shore somewhat disappointed, as 

 Charley had never taken a maskinonje, and he was ach- 

 ing in every fiber of his body to "hang" a big one just to 

 see how bis new split-bamboo rod would work on a "sure 

 enough maskylong." I was sorry the one towing astern 

 had not taken his frog instead of mine; but it was the 

 luck of angling, and it were little use to repine over it. I 

 might, too, have handed him my rod after striking the 

 fish, to give him a taste of the fighting qualities of the 

 tribe of Ehox, but there would have been small satisfac- 

 tion in this, as every angler wants to strike his fish with 

 his own rod, that he may feel the gratification of having 

 done it all himself and get the full measure of the glory 

 resulting from a well-earned victory, or bear alone the 

 twinges of a defeat- 



Talking it over in this light as we went along past a 

 point just as we turned into the bay, the skippei's reel 

 took another whirling fit that moved Charley to remark 

 as he reeled up, "Now, just look at the luck of the old 

 sardine, will ye? Must a-put honey on yer frog." 



A backward stroke of the oar ste pped the boat, and 

 snatching up the rod under a trifle oi excitement, a too 

 hasty strike that was like burying a hook in a log gave 

 promise of another and a greater contest; but a sudden 

 and violent jerk of the line that caught the skipper off 

 his guard wilted our hopes, the rod flew back, and when 

 a few appropriate remarks had been offered up befitting 

 the situation, the line was reeled in to find, the hook 

 broken off beh->w the barb, the result, no doubt, of stnk- 

 irg a bony part of the fish's mouth. It was a calamity to 

 be deplored. What a great story was spoiled for the boys 

 in camp. And then it was certainly not less than a 40- 

 pounder, for who ever heard of an honest angler losing a 

 maskinonje of a lesser weight? 



Wbile another hook was tied on, Charley made several 

 c;asts around in the vicinity where the fish wa^ struck. 



and then we pulled back over the water and back again , 

 but the prick of the broken hook had dcubtless made 

 the old fellow shy of speckled frogs; and after wastiug a 

 half hour in a vain endeavor to "hang" him again, we 

 went on around into the bay to take revenge on the first 

 sneaking Canadian pike that should dare take issue with 

 us in the matter of using United States frogs in Canadian 

 waters. 



We found so many of them eager to discuss the bait 

 question with us, and some of the "loneest-headed" ones 

 so strong in their opposition to our "real" intentions, that 

 it was nearly dark before the controversy was wound up 

 and we were ready to start for camp. 



Supper was waiting for us when we got in, but we 

 waited for no invitation, as a couple of slices of bread 

 had been rather a meager day's ration for the skipper, 

 and the chicken broth had evaporated so thoroughly that 

 Charley looked as thin as a spring bear after a hard win- 

 ter's hibernation. 



The boys had been out during the day with varying 

 success, and like us, none of them had taken a bass, but 

 unlike us none had brought in a maskinonje. the noblest 

 fish of all the northern waters with the possible exception 

 of the simon pure salmon; and we were as a consequence 

 the heroes of the day. 



We turned in early after a short se sion around the 

 camp-fire, tired and happy, and were lulled to sleep by 

 the nightly concert outside of the mosquito bars and the 

 soot hing patter of rain on the shingles overhead, which 

 before midnight had increased to a storm that awoke 

 everybody in the little warehouse except the J edge, 

 whose sonorous snore kept time in regular measure with 

 the angry dash of the surf on the sandy beach only a 

 few feet away. 



A heavy wind was blowing from the southwest and 

 the boats were beating and grinding against the dock in 

 a manner that required immediate attention if Ave ex- 

 pected to see them afloat in a shape other than splinters 

 in the morning. Lighting a lantern and donning oj^r 

 rubber coats, old Sam and I got out in the stonn and by 

 dint of some hard work and a few general remarks on 

 the state of the weather succeeded in getting them one 

 at a time around on the lee side of the dock, where they 

 were left tugging at then painters to ride out the night 

 in comparatively smooth water. Then we made atrip 

 up the hill to see how Dan and the two boys were 

 f iring in the tent; and found them awake with every- 

 thing snug and dry and the tent standing the strain of 

 the whirl without starting a stake, a condition of things 

 due to the old pelican's foresight in selecting the ground 

 on which it stood and the care exercised in putting it up. 

 Tt has aiways been an understanding in our camps that 

 when a tent is pitched to suit the critical eye of Uncle 

 Dan it is good enough to let alone, and we went back to 

 the warehouse to find the Jedge still keeping time with 

 the beat of the surf and in a few minutes we were under 

 the bar joining in the chorus. 



When we got out in the morning the wind had gone 

 down, but the rain was still falling steadily, and Louis 

 got breakfast, wrapped in Charley's rubber coat that hid 

 him from ear to heel, flitting frbm the fly to the stoves 

 and back, meantime keeping up a stream of mongrel 

 French and Chippewa profanity that no doubt would 

 have been highly amusing had we understood it all. So 

 long as he confined himself to French, Knots, who under- 

 stood and spoke it equal to a genuine peasouper, acted as 

 interpreter; but when Louis branched off into Chippewa 

 to reach a climax not attainable with the ordinary 

 Kanuck jargon, there were painful gaps in the entertain- 

 ment that Knots was unable to bridge over. However, 

 when Louis had at last exhausted his list of plain and 

 mixed cuss words and was beginning over again with 

 some variations, as Knots informed us. the breakfast 

 was ready and we gathered around the table to the music 

 of the failing rain that still ran in tiny streams from the 

 edges of the sloping fly. 



Toward 10 o'clock the rain stopped and Sam and Char- 

 ley decided to take a boat and go up Echo River to some 

 rapids Louis told them about to see if they could find a 

 few trout, while Knots and the skipper got ready for a 

 trip to the farm and a little pickerel fishing (we had about 

 given up the bass), if it came in our way going down and 

 back. 



Before we reached the point below, it began to rain 

 again; and by the time we were within half a mile of 

 the farm it came down in such torrents that even with 

 rubber coats on we pulled ashore and took to the woods 

 to get out of the wet, where each selected a good sized 

 hemlock under which we stood, and squatted for nearly 

 an hour, cramped and uncomfortable, till the water began 

 to drip through the foliage overhead even worse than the 

 downpour on the. lake. 



With grim determination we took to the boat again 

 after bailing out a bar'l o' water, and made our way 

 through the blinding rain to the farmhouse, this time 

 without seeing our four-footed friend Jack, w ho usually 

 stood at the top of the bank near the landing to wag us a 

 welcome. 



It was well along in the afternoon before the rain let 

 up and we got started back to camp to do a little fishing 

 on the way, having done nothing coming down. As we 

 pulled across to the spring to fill the jug, we noticed there 

 was a strong current in the river running up stream into 

 the lake, a condition of affairs that rather upset our no- 

 tions of gravity, as gleaned from " Com stock's Philoso- 

 phy " in our youth, but the phenomenon had been made 

 as clear as mud to Charley and the skipper (we had 

 noticed the current running the wrong way the day 

 before) by Ruttle, who explained that it was the "suc- 

 tion," " Suction" was the one solitary word that settled 

 the matter in his mind— it was just " the suction " and 

 nothing else, and we just let it " suck " and went on up 

 the lake to our fishing; but the grizzled, practical head 

 of old Knots figured it out that the up stream current 

 was doubtless due to a strong wind blowing up Lake 

 George, backing the waterupinthe bay below and forcing 

 it through the canal-like river into Echo Lake, the flow 

 changing its direction when the wind we'nt down. 



"You will notice, James Mackerel," he said, with a 

 glint of humor in his eye as he selected a frog from the 

 bucket when he neared the territory of the big maskin- 

 onje, "that there are a great many things in this world 

 that we can't understand — and there goes one of 'em, the 

 slippery cuss," as t e frog by a dexterous twist escaped 

 from his grasp and in a twiukling was a dozen feet away, 

 swimming frantically for the rushes. 



Reaching into the bucket and holding the lid caret' ully to 



