S20 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 7, 1891. 



I walked over to my tent, ruef allv rubbing my bruises as I went, 

 and inspecting with interest a new and conspicuous phrenological 

 development on the back of my head. 



Arrived at my tent I procured a fresb pipeful of tobacco; and 

 while I was lighting it three giddy young gushers of the female 

 persuasion crowded into the one seat of a single buggy came 

 driving brislily by the camp all in a giggle: and as they passed 

 they threw three big sunflowers in among the canoes. 



"Here. Commodore!" sung out Lacy, as he picked up the biggest 

 one and tossed it at me as 1 stood profile to bim, just getting a 

 good '"draw" on my freshly lighted pipe. The danity souvenir 

 whizzed past my face, taking my pipe with it and landing it in 

 the river. With an emphatic, exclamation which I still consider 

 not unjustifiable under the circumstances. I look the stem from 

 between my teeth and threw it after the pipe, and then walked 

 over to my tent, amid the suppressed snickers of tTeorge and 

 Lacy, stepped carefully in and seated myself firmly on my camp- 

 stool, 80 as to make sure I could not fall out, closed and fastened 

 the tent flaps tightly all around, so as to make equally sure 

 that nothmg could fall in; then having taken all possible pre- 

 cautions, I produced a cigar, lighted it and succeeded in accom- 

 plishing my morniQET smoke without further mishap. 



An examination of the club larder at lunch time had developed 

 the fact that we were running short on provisions, the last of the 

 bacon and eggs having disappeared at breakfast; and as it had 

 not been deemed advisable to lay in a new stock at the end of the 

 cruise we had not replenished tl:e evening before; so George 

 rigged up his fishing tackle, putting on a couple of trout hooKs 

 baited with worms and proceeded to catch some small fry to 

 flank the eel already caught that morning for the supper and 

 breakfast still to come before we broke camp for home. Lacy 

 assured him that any other excuse would answer just as well; 

 but George protested that we were out of meat ana the excuse 

 was suflQcieni; at any rate it was not worth while to go behind it, 

 and he was soon landine perch and suckers, with an occasional 

 small bass at a most gratifying rate. 



There was a square hole or well in the middle of the platform 

 walled w^ith timoers; leading down through the stone filling of 

 the crib some 6 or 8ft. to tne river below, in which was located a 

 hydraulic ram which supplied water to several of the residents in 

 Riverton, a quarter oi a mile away; and as George caught his fish 

 he strung them on a strmaer and lowered them into this place 

 for safe keeping. He soon had a fine string lying in the shallow 

 water at tne bottom of this well, and atiou''. supper time Lacy 

 went to get them in order to clean and prepare them for the fry- 

 ing pan. 



We were startled by a yell, and looking up in alarm we beheld 

 him leaning over the hole in open-mouthed amazement, while his 

 eyes stood out like beads. 



"Great Scoit, fellows! just come here!" he exclaimed in a sup- 

 pressed yell. 



We hurried alone down the platform and joined him at the 

 well. To our amazement the hole was literally swarming with 

 snakes, which were making desperate efl"orts to swallow tne fish. 

 They twisted and lashed around and fougnt over tho fish precisely 

 like pigs over a trough. It was impossible o! course for tbem to 

 swallow the fish, as the strinser holding them all together elfec- 

 tually preveuted it, even if tlie fish htxd not been entirely too large 

 for the wonderfully elastic tliroit and neck of a snake. 



We promptly decided that we did not care for fish for sapper, 

 and Lacy took occasion to assure Getu-ge tliat it was no more than 

 he expected, and that ue could not expect any luck to attend his 

 fishing on Sunday; but we remained silently over the well for 

 some time watching their maneuvers with great interest. One 

 would take a fish in its mouth and give it a powerful jerk or shake 

 to clear it from the stringer, while another and pThaps larger 

 one would savagely slash and striae at it and drive it from its 

 prey, only to repeat the same ineffectual maneuver. Numbers of 

 them had their mouths fastened upon the fish; frequently two or 

 three were fastened upon the same one, their jaws and necks dis- 

 tended to enormous piopertioas, vainly endeavoring to swallow 

 them. 



"I wonder if they really could swallow these fish if they could 

 get at them, head first ?" said George. 



"I don't know," I replied. "I wish that they were loose so that 

 we could see." 



"Perhaps I can get them up without frightening the snakes and 

 take them off the string," he continued. 



"1 doubt it," I replied. "Snakes are very timid creatures, espe- 

 cially the harmless varieties, like th^se water snakes." 



George cautiously leaned over and reached down until he got 

 hold of the peg on the end of the stringer which was tightly 

 stuck into a crevice in the curb of the well, and gently attempted 

 to draw the fish up, bat at the flist movement there was a whiz 

 and a splash and a glitter of wet. scaly forms, and in an instant 

 every reptile had vanished from sight. 



George cut the string and let tne nsti drop back again, loose, in 

 the well; but although we watched for a long time, and returned 

 at intervals until it was too dark to see down into the hole, not a 

 snake was to be seen again. 



"This is a famous fisnmg place, isn't it?" Lacy remarked as we 

 were smoking our evt-ning pipes around our little blaze of a 

 camp-fire, while the lull moon rode m brilliant beauty overhead, 

 flooding the entire landscape of river, bluffs find trees with her 

 silver radiance, bringing out the white sides of the mill and the 

 old covered railroad oriage into such prominence that every seam 

 between the planking could he seen as though in toe bright glare 

 of the noonday sun. Her silvery image was reflected from the 

 deep, still water above the dam, bringing out the dense black 

 shadows of the trees into !-harp contract, while from the bioKen, 

 choppy rapids below, her long, silvery sheen sparKled back at us 

 in countless diamond points of light, and the quiet night was im- 

 pressive in its loveliness. A distant church hell tolled slowly, its 

 notes mellowed by the distance, while the mournful call of the 

 whip-poor-will alternated with the gentle hoo-hoo of an owl. The 

 far-ofl: howling of a dog, lugubriously baying at the moon, 

 sounded ludicrously distinct upon tne calm stillness, while the 

 chatting and laughter of a little group of idlers at the railroad 

 station a quarter oi a mile below, on the other side of the river, 

 came oistmctly to our ears. The meteor-like headlight of a train 

 came shooting along in the dense black shadows under the oppo- 

 site bluff from up tne river, 1. aving a trail of sparks and a cloud 

 of smoke floating gently away over the water into the bright 

 night, white the tram rolled up to the station a^ d stopped, m a 

 bngnt, cheerful glare of lights, ringing of bells, hissing of steam 

 ana hum of voices, and then, with a few short, sharp coughs and 

 puffs of black smoKe, went roaring away over the more distant 

 railroad bridge, upon which we presently observed the lantern of 

 the night waichman go twinkling across, alternately fl^sning out, 

 like a little taint star, and disappearing behind the bridge tim'^ers. 

 While aoove ail rose the deep, steady, suodued, dominating roar of 

 the big dam, with the marmurine wash of the rapids oelow. 



"Yes, Riverton is one of the most noted fishing places on the 

 river, or, indeed, in tne State." 1 replied to Lacy's query. 



"Why is it, I wonder?" he coniinued. 



"Well, aside from its accessibility by rail, there are two rivers 

 here for one thing," I answered. "The North Fork comes in down 

 below there half a mile, just under the lower railroad oridge, and 

 generally one stream or the other is clear. It is not oiten that 

 both are muddy at the same time, except m the regular season of 

 freshets, in the spring, and—" 



"It is just our luck, however, that both are muddy now," George 

 broke in, discontentedly. 



"Yes, you're right there, brother," said Lacy. 



"That's very true," i continued. "But it more frequently hap- 

 pens that when one is muddy the other is clear, and the bass 

 leave the muddy water and at once swarm into the clear stream; 

 and as both streams have hign dams which the fish cannot pass, 

 at about the same distance above the point of junction— say half 

 a mile— it follows that there will be a little piece ot clear water 

 between the dam and the junction in one or the other of the 

 streams, and this piece of the clear water is apt to be full of bass. 

 Some phenomenal catches are on record as having been made here 

 under such circumstances. Then again, there are no dams be- 

 tween here and the Potomac, filty odd miles below, that are of 

 any consequence; there are two or three old broken-down stone 

 dams and the usual number of fish dams, but they are all easily 

 shot by canoes descending and Dy bass ascending, and the first 

 real obstacles to their free ascent of the rivers are met with here. 

 In the shape of these big, high dams; and they, consequently, ac- 

 cumulate here in swarms at the bases of the oDstacles." 



"How do they pass the dams, I wonder?" said Lacy. "Of 

 course they get over some way, lor there are plenty of Pass in the 

 entire rivers, even up in the remote head streams— !North, Middle 

 and South rivers, in Augusta county." 



'•Tney go up tne shoots or over the dams in high water," said 

 George. 



"I declare fellows I am right sorry we are not going on through 

 to Harper's Ferry," said Lacy, as he refilled hjs pipe and asked 

 George for a match, which he struck on his boot heel and applied 

 to his pipe, wuile the alternate rising and sinking of the little 

 flame as he puffed away (the blaze of the camp-fire having long 

 since subsided into the dull red glow of a bed of coals, half ob- 

 Bcured by a white film of ashes} brought out the canoes, tents and 

 camp equipments, nestling in the dense shadow of the great elms, 

 into curious prominence at each puff— a stray paddle leaning 

 »gaiB8t ft tree-rthe striped fly wltli tlie Uawi^e }b a peliahsd 8bilB» 



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