480 



FOREST AND STREAM 



[Nov. .84, 1802, 



hirsty deer flies, and this moved u=i to try it aKain our- 

 selves, that I migjht get even with Kelpie by holding the 

 boat while he tished and ''fit flies"— T would have to do 

 the cueain' tor him — but we at last abandoned the notion 

 of going, as we had only two days left, Saturday and 

 Sunday, before breaking up time. 



These two days we could use up in loafing and enjoying 

 the "PerfesBor's" daily grind of ancient jokes and in pack- 

 ing up odds and ends before the final catastrophe came, 

 wishing the while that there were no realities of life for 

 us to go back to. Facing the realities was the hardest 

 part of it all, for we had been po free of care or worry, 

 and had become so attached to Robin's Nest Camp— the 

 best of them all— that it was like breaking a heart string 

 to leave it. 



The "Perfeesor" and Johnny were, however, going to 

 stay three or four weeks longer. 



They had thought of boarding with the Gerings or going 

 up to Uncle Jimmy Nolan's, but country people are not 

 always prepared to accommodate boarders, and it was at 

 last arranged to leave them a teut— the big fly— a camp, 

 kettle, coft'ee pot and enough other necessaries from the I 

 outfit to get along with comfortable, and they could bring 

 them home when they got ready. 



On Saturday we fished a little, sat around and smoked 

 and cogitated a good deal and debated what to do next; 

 packed a few things just to make it look like we were in 

 earnest about breaking up, and then we smoked and 

 loafed some more, and felt tired because packing up was 

 not the sort of work that agreed with our notions of the 

 fitness of things. 



Along toward sundown Kelpie and 1 pulled across the 

 lake to get the minnow trap — we might as well have left 

 it hang for all the good it had done us— and to fish a little 

 from force of habit, but we didn't catch anything worth 

 bragging about, and we didn't care much, for the wind 

 up was so near that we were more concerned about that 

 than the number of fish we could take back to camp. 



When darkness fell we kindled the camp-fire and sat 

 around it and smoked and talked a little about breaking 

 up, and meditated undisturbed— the "Perfessor" had for- 

 gotten to wind himself up— for there was little else to do. 

 At last Kelpiebroke a long spell of silence with "Hickory, 

 it's a pity you didn't skin that bea.r the other day and 

 bring in the lude to take home with you as a reminder of 

 Robin's Nest Camp." 



This was not a very mirth-provoking s abject to the 

 Colonel, Johnny and me, as it reminded us of the last 

 'episode" in which we three had taken a prominent and 

 rather ludicrous part. Kelpie and the "Perfessor" not 

 being in camp at the time. 



One afternoon a few days before, little Emma Laidlaw 

 rame running down to camp out of breath to say excitedly 

 there was "an awful big black bear swimming along 

 down the lake only a little ways out just above their 

 house, and for us to come up quick and kill him," Then 

 there was mounting in hot baste, or words to that effpct, 

 for the Colonel and I had been "jest a achin' fur a b'ar 

 fight" for lo, these many years. Johnny seized a hatchet, 

 I grabbed up the axe. and the Colonel went for his gun— 

 the big revolver— and a handful of cartridges, and jump- 

 ing into the big white skifl: away we went up the lake, 

 Johnny and T at the oars pulling as though our lives were 

 at stake, while the Colonel pat grimly in the stern filling 

 the chamber of his big pistol with cartridges to be ready 

 for the fray. 



A strong wind blowing down the lake and a heavy sea 

 made our progress aggravatingly hIuw, but the prospect 

 of a real, genuine bear fight ahead onlv made us redouble 

 our efforts at the oars till the sweat rolled off us in great 

 drops— except the Colonel, who sat in the stern calmly 

 di'anning the water ahead with his "eagle eye" for a sight 

 ot the bear. Little Em. being a lighter craft and not 

 being handicapped by a heavy head sea, as we were, 

 shinned it up the road and stood on the bank wait- 

 ing for us as we rounded the i^oint at the lower end of the 

 grove below the house, pointing to a dark object rising 

 and falling on the wqter a hundred yards or more out 

 from shore. 



We were too far away to see our intended prize very 

 distmctly, but our plan of attack was soon formed. We 

 would pull in between the bear and the shore to "head 

 'im off," and when within close pistol range the Colonel 

 would open on him with his battery, and if he only 

 wounded him and he attempted to climb in the boat— 

 which bears sometimes take a notion to do— Johnny and 

 I would "do him up" with the hatchet and axe while the 

 Colonel "filled him chuck full o' perforated holes" at 

 arm's length range. 



Johnny and I put on a little more steam, heading a 

 pomt or two mshore, and we were soon near enough to 

 get a good sight of the bear, when, there, slowly drifting 

 with the wind and waves was- not a bear, but what had 

 looked Burpnsinglv like one doubtless to the vivid imag- 

 ination of httle Em— a curiously shaped charred and 

 blackened old stump that had somehow got adrift in the 

 lake and was rolling and bobbing along in the seas in a 

 manner that had led the child to take it for a "really 



j^Lu i^^^^y I suddenly shut off steam, as it were 

 and the boat lost headway, onlv pitching up and down 

 m the seas, and then we looked at each other in a foolish 

 sortof way and then at the Colonel, whose face was a 

 study, and the Colonel looked at us in a foolish sort of 

 S.'/ "lu Ji^i^lied: laughed till our sides 



fi ^9^* drifted near shore, where we told 



the little maid her bear was only an old black stump. 

 4.1, *f ?"Sht It was a bear," she said so naively that we 

 thoughtless wretches that we were, laughed again till 

 overwhelmed with confusion at the joke unwittinelv 

 played on us, she started for the house shame-faced and 

 wmfi^Jlf^r^*'''^'*^^?*^^' ^ balm for her 



3 In 7^°,"^ in childhood 



Ss ^--^ comfort, a mother's 



Johnny and I laid on our oars awhile, only pulliuff a 

 l""-?^ intervals to keep the boat head on to the 

 ff^oW^l^i,'^^ rested and cooled off, and then we headed 

 f«S„ ° *J uK^T' ""'^^^y bear hunters we, crest- 



b' gosh," to be laughed at and 

 •chaffed' till life was a burden to us for the next dav or 

 two; even the keeper o' the f ryin'-pans had a grin on his 



invthttlf^^'.^ tl°°^ t« other^^henever 



anything reminded him of the "bear hunt," as he called 



J^^Z'y^''^' "^Tb^^ ^^^^"^ a<= foot of the grove 

 where we passed him on our way back to cmo and f 

 doubt not laid there the rest of the season to reSSd Uttte 



Em, as she passed on occasional trips to the village, of 

 the commotion she created in the Camp of the King- 

 fishers, and if sight of the old black stump moved her to 

 laugh a little to herself at remembrance of our discom- 

 fiture we will not lay it up against her, for we enjoyed 

 the "episode" more than she, and it was a source of much 

 fun in the camp— at least to the "Perfessor," Kelpie, and 

 the keeper o' the fryin'-pans, if not to the three who took 

 so active a part in the "fight." 



It may be noted that the Colonel and I are not "jest a 

 achin' fur a b'ar fight" as badly as we used to be; we are 

 satisfied with our record. 



Sunday forenoon we packed up our personal "calami- 

 ties" and some other things of the outfit except the tents, 

 carried up the ironclad, let it dry out and packed it, and 

 in the afternoon entertained a lot of visitors and friends 

 who made a neighborly call and to say good-bye, among 

 the rest Uncle Jimmy Nolan and his boys and the owner 

 of the big white skiff that had served the Colonel and me 

 such a good turn when we were shipwrecked on the 

 wrong side of the lake. 



After supper Kelpie and I took a boat and pulled down 

 and anchored off the birch point to have a last "fish" to- 

 gether, but the bass were not in a good humor, and we 

 got only one; and it was so dark when I struck him that 

 I could barely see the line at the tip of the rod. 



He was a small-moiith of exactly Silbs., and made such 

 a valiant fight for his life that we had a notion to return 

 him to the water, but concluded that as h« might be the 

 last bass we would ever get out of Carp Lake we would 

 have him for breakfast as a fitting windup to our last 

 morning in camp. 



The Colonel surpassed himself that night in building 

 the most rousing of his famous camp-fires, but it didn't 

 burn as brightly nor look as cheerful as usual somehow, 

 because maybe it was our last night, and we might never 

 gather around another one; certainly not for another 

 year. 



We sat around it till well into the night, thoughtful 

 and quiet, for nobody seemed much inclined to talk, even 

 the "Perfessor" had taken a "double reef in his jawin' 

 tackle'"— an amazing and unaccountable "episode"— and 

 failed to grind out the usual grist of smartness and old 

 "chestnuts," for which we felt profoundly thankful. 



The others of us went off to bed at last, leaving the 

 Colonel to sit out his last camp-fire and poke the chunks 

 together for their last dying flicker, going back, mayhap 

 in his dreaming to the old camps as he gazed with half- 

 closed eyes into the waning fire and sucked comfort and 

 reminders from his old brown pipe. Oh! the old o imps! 

 Would we could go back into the years when life was in 

 the silk and tassel and make them ail over again. But I 

 am drifting into a reminiscent mood; old memories and 

 breaking camp don't go well together. 



Next morning by 9 o'clock everything was packed and 

 ready except the tents. They were left standing till the 

 sun got above the hill and warmed the night dews out of 

 them, when they were packed in one of the big canvas 

 bags, and last came "old glory," leaving old Sam's "dandy 

 flag- pole" desolate looking and bare escept for a wi^p of 

 withering leaves fluttering at the top. 



The wagons were soon loaded— neighbor Gering's and 

 another one— and we said good-bye and good luck to tbf 

 "Perfessor" and Johndy ("the two .lohns") and left them 

 to laugh and gi-ow fat, or fight it out o\ er each other 'm 

 pithless puns and witless wit, for Jolmny was a chip off' 

 the old block and c<rald give his "govwnor," as he called 

 him, as good as he senl. {A letter was received from the 

 "Perfessor ' a week or more after > and he could not f(n-e- 

 bear inclosing one of his old decayed "chestnuts,'' to wit: 

 "Johnny caught a Gibs, bass yesterday, but when we took 

 it down lo Bingham end put it on the store scale the 

 darned thing weighed only Slbs.") 



When in the wagon we drove by under the oak for a 

 partinjc look at our little pets in the nest overhead, and 

 left "Kobin's Nest Camp" behind us with genuine re- 

 grets, for it was a camp the like of which we may never 

 find again. True, we did not catch a great number of 

 bass, but we got more than enough for our needs, which 

 was, probably, more than some of us deserved,' and a 

 perfect camp and fist enough is better than a poor camp 

 and "heap much fish," which being boiled down resolves 



itself into that truism of a lamented brother of the rod— 

 and I may be pardoned for again quoting it— "It is not 

 all of fishing to fish." 



At Traverse City there were more regrets in store for 

 the Colonel and me; Kelpie was to leave us there for his 

 home on Central Lake, and he had so endeared himself 

 to us by his gentle ways and sterling qualities as a 

 sportsman that it was like saying good-bye to a well- 

 beloved brother, but the parting was made easier by a 

 promise from him that he would "jine" us wherever we 

 made the next camp, if we made it anywhere this side 

 of the North Pole. 



(I like to write good things about my old comrades of 

 the camp and the pleasant people whom we meet, and if 

 it please them to read it as much as it does me to write 

 It I'm sure it will be to our mutual pleasement. Pleasant 

 neighbors, if you have any at all, go a good ways in 

 making the camp enjoyable, and a good cook, one that 

 can adapt himself to the different humors of a party, is a 

 rare jewel, and Barney, the keeper o' the fryin' pans, is 

 one of 'em, to which the Kingfishers will take their 

 "affidavy.") 



The Colonel and I arrived at home brown and rugeed 

 a,nd filled with pleasant recollections of "Eobin's Nest 

 Camp, but before a week we were examining maps and 

 casting around for a new place to pitch the tents next 

 time, whpre old Sam would find "more fish and fewer 

 episodes. 



We found it, and if these letters have not already ex- 

 hausted the patience of the readers of Forest and Stream 

 I may take a notion, if I find time, to make a few "am- 

 phibious remarks" about it some time in the future 



And now, to bring these chronicles to a close, I crave 

 the indulgence of the brethren for any shortcomings 

 they may have found in them; I have tried to write to 

 please you all more especially my old comrades of the 

 camp, and if I have failed it is the fault of the "old head" 

 and not or the heart, 



Errors there are in them, I know, typographical and 

 grammatical; the first may be charged to the printer, the 

 others— well, the critical reader maybe reminded that 

 m the past 35 or 38 years I have looked into a "minuS 

 bucket oftener than in a grammar, and, besides, "The 

 Joneses never icus used to the very best o' grammar, no- 



A GAR'S VULNERABLE POINT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have been a reader of the Forest and Stream for 

 the past ten vears: «nd since reading your articles in re- 

 gard to the OaronHolet alligator gar, I take the liberty of 

 handing you herewith some scales from one captured in 

 eastern Arkansas last spring. It was taken from Dead 

 Timber Lake, in Crittenden county in a seine, and was 

 killed with the butt of an oar by striking it in the fore- 

 head. It measured 9ft. and weighed 1761bg. It was 

 given to me. I had it skinned and preserved 2,000 scales. 

 To separate the scales from the flesh had to boil them 

 from seven to eight hours. When I tell you 1 was three 

 days cleaning my 2,000 scales you can imagine the work 

 connected with it. I do not believe this fish could be gigged 

 aa I have known men who have shot them with Winches- 

 ters and failed to do more than make them lash the water 

 furiously for a few moments. This gar was a female, 

 and her eggs were large and well formed, evidently they 

 were about ready to deposit. 



The horseshoe-shaped scales run down the back, the 

 others lying obliquely on the sides. I send three scales 

 from each side of the fish. The only vulnerable point 

 about this fish seems to be the forehead, just between 

 the eyes, which can be crushed with a hard blow. 



J. H. Beardsley, 



Kansas Citt, Mo. 



[Dr. Goode quoted the following curious stories about 

 the bony gars in the "Fishing Industries:" 



Champlain wrote in 1609 of a fish in Lake Champlain 

 which was undoubtedly the gar pike, that "if it wants to 

 catch any bird it goes among the rushes or reeds border- 

 ing the lake in many places, keeping the beak out of the 

 water without budging, so that Avhen the birds perch on 

 the beak, imagining it to be the limb of a tree, it is so 

 subtle that closing the jaws, which it keeps half-open, it 

 draws the birds under water by the feet. The Indians 

 gave me a head of it, which they prize highly, saying 

 that when they have a headache they let blood with the 

 teeth of this fish at the seat of pain, which immediately 

 goRs away." 



In July, 1879, Mr. James F. Simmons, of Redhone 

 District, Georgia, "had a narrow and pecu'liar escape. 

 He was fishing on Flint River, and had attempted to 

 swim across to get a batteau from the opposite side. 

 About half-way over the stream he stopped on a root or 

 tree to rest. After remaining there a short time, he 

 plunged off for the other shore. Just as he made a 

 plunge a tremendous fish known as the gar struck him, 

 catching his thigh in its mouth, and leaving an ugly and 

 painful wound, A regular battle then took place be- 

 tween the man and the fish, and lasted for some minutes, 

 until finally Mr. S. eot back on his resting place and his 

 enemy departed. During the fight Mr. S. threw the fish 

 pome fret above the water, but it continued the attack. 

 Mr. S. "^^s thoroughly frightened and called lustily for 

 help. He has several ugly and jiainful wounds given 

 him by the fish, yet none serious. This is the first time 

 we f ver heard of a gar attacking a man, yet they say it 

 frf quenfly does so." 



Tbp Fpf-cies referred to in the latter account was sup- 

 pot^ed tn have been the alligator gar. 



In 1880 the writer had a number of arrow-head-like 

 scales of the gar which he carried in a voyage to Arctic 

 Alaska, believing that the Esquimaux would prize them 

 highly for use in their weapons of the chase. The scales 

 v^ere frequently offered in trade to the natives, but ex- 

 cited no attention from any of them. A few were given 

 as presents and may some day appear in a collection and 

 cause some speculation as to the source from which the 

 Esquimaux obtained them.] 



WITH A FLY-ROD. 



Kingfisher. 



Ii will not be many weeks before the season will come 

 for the appearance in our advertising pages of announce- 

 ments by our fishing tackle friends of this tenor; "Trout 

 and bass rods make excellent Christmas presents." And 

 it is just as certain that many a fortunate fisherman, his 

 father or mother, or wife or daughter, or son or cousin, 

 or angling friend, having noted the suggestion in the 

 Forest and Stream, will be given a flv-rod for Christ- 

 mas, and with it a presentation note of affection and well- 

 wishing. 



Now, if you were going to give such a holiday gift 

 yourself, what would be your note to go with it? 



A sentiment to accompany a fly-rod, what should it be? 



The Forest and Stream believes that suggestions in 

 this line would prove timely and acceptable, and that a 

 column in its angling pages made up of such notes 

 would be capital reading. They are invited.— jPoj-es^ and 

 Stream, Oct. 13. 



I. 



My Friend— The trees are always sympathetic, the 

 bu-ds never fail to welcome their lover, the landscape be- 

 longs to him who can see it, the story of creation, the 

 purpose of being, the destiny of man are written on the 

 face of the earth. May this little gift induce you to be 

 oftener out of doors, away from yourself and the ever- 

 disappointing world of men. 



Sincerely yours, C. T. Mc. 



Ann Arbor, Mich. 



IL 



The essence of good angling is not to catch ton many. 



jaiLLARD, 



Ariosa, Wyo. 



A Fishculture Lecture. 



In the Gleus Falls (N. Y.j Lyceum lecture course Mr. A. 

 N. Cheney, of that town, will lecture Dec. 27 on the "Pro- 

 gress of Fishculture." 



Desired Information. 



We desire to impress upon the minds of the public the superl- 

 ority of the service offered hy the Wisconsin Central Lines be- 

 tween Chicago and Milwaukee and St. Pan], Minneapolis, Duluth 

 and all points in the Northwest. Two fast trains leave Chic^eo 

 daily for St. Paul, Mineapolis and Duluth with Pullman vesti- 

 huled drawing room sleepers and coaches of latest desiga. Its 

 dining car service is unsurpassed. This the public is invited to 



, , . , . „ change. Pamph- 

 lets giving valuable mlormatiou can he obtained free upon appti- 

 cation to your nearest ticket agent, or to Jaa. C. Pond, General 

 Passenger and Ticket Agent. Chicago, Ul.—Adv. 



