JtJNE 12, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
463 
THE GIANT OF THE RAINBOW. 
The love of forests and streams in the heart of man is 
the benediction of our common mother — the sweet and 
blessed sympathetic touch with primeval innocence that 
escapes the sordid, galling bonds laid on by civilization's 
heavy hand. Most happy he who when the spring comes 
on like music can heed the whisperings of the pine trees 
and the babbling of the brooks, and can steal away to 
shimmering glades and brambled ways. 
With the sunny days of May how this longing came 
upon me! How it baffled me at business, how it troubled 
me in di'eams, would gain nothing in the telling, as each 
heart has felt its tugging, has resisted, or in yielding known 
the blessing sure to follow those who hearken to its plead- 
ings and renew their strength for battle by the streams and 
in the forests. 
"Where to go?" is often a formidable question, even to 
the most experienced, after they have decided upon an 
outing. There is an unending charm in change, and it 
always seems that the most pleasure can be derived from 
fields hitherto untried. In this quandary I turned, as 
always, to my unfailing friend, the files of Fokest and 
StbeaM; and no sooner did I read that pleasing letter from 
the graceful pen of Alex. Starbuck, detailing the record for 
monster small-mouth black bass taken in the Cumberland 
Eiver, than I determined to cast a minnow in these, to me, 
virgin waters, that I, perchance, might feel the rapture of 
raatrhing skdl with some "bull-dog fighter of the rocky 
reef." 
From the handbook of the beautiful Queen- & Crescent 
I learned that there was a good hotel at Cumberland 
Falls, where the sportsman might be comfortably bestowed 
and content his soul with angling galore. This was infor- 
mation sufficient, and that night I boarded a train that 
deposited me at Chattanooga for early breakfast, and 
two hours later, seated in one of the luxurious coaches of 
the Queen & Crescent vestibuled, I was gliding along 
toward my destination over one of the smoothest roadbeds 
in the world. The scenery along this route is beautiful 
beyond description, and so excited interest and so filled 
the sight with grandeur and majesty, that the six hours 
required to reach my destination were but little heeded so 
quickly had they passed. 
At the station I was forced to confront a rebufl" that 
would have staggered all but a sportsman that loves the 
woods and the wilds as much for themselves as for the 
prizes they can yield — the Cumberland River was at the 
flood from recent rains in the mountains, and the sta,ge to 
the falls for two days had been unable to make the trip. 
Mr. Higgins, the courteous agent, however, kindly threw 
himself into the breach, assuring me that a hail from the 
shore would bring a skiff from the hotel to convey me over 
the river, and furnishing me a mule upon which to cover 
the thirteen miles across the mountains to the spot where 
the hail would assure me a welcome. 
It was not far from noon when I intrepidly climbed to 
the deck of that mule, a most uncertain craft for the tyro, 
and steered for the haven where I hoped I would rest me 
that night. The day was so pleasant, the au- was so brac- 
ing, and the breezes that came from the South so laden 
with fragrance of dogwood and honeysuckle and violets, 
white, yellow and blue, that, together with wood anemone, 
wild rockets, "green thought in green shade," and the 
trailing arbutus, transformed every thicket and yawning 
ravine into bowers of beauty and oceans of bloom, that, 
forgetful of dibtance, I abandoned myself to the wild 
charms about me. Every rod of the way was a journey 
through wonderland. The road, for the most, has been 
graded along the comb of the ridge, and not even the 
Rockies nor the song-famed Sierras have more to reveal 
of the grand and the possible in scenic efiects than nature 
here spreads to uplift and delight the fortunate passer. 
So often I paused at wondrous gaze, my soul at obeisance 
within me, that twilight was fast coming down when the 
ferry was reached. I saw at a glance that the flood was so 
great and so angry of rush and of roar that it would be im- 
possible for my shouts to he heard at the hotel, although 
in plain view and not far away. The evening chill of the 
mountains was already keen on the air, so I at once cast 
about for a shelter that night. Haifa mile back I had 
noticed that a small field had been cleared for the plow on 
the side of so steep a ravine that I marveled how a horse 
could find footing; and that from deep in the hollow a 
thin line of smoke was ascending — unmistakable signs of 
a habitat there. Retracing my steps, I threw down the 
fence, and, leading my mule, followed a path to the cabin 
of a true mountaineer — the one man in the world that 
always welcomes the stranger. 
There was but one room to the house, the children were 
many and of hands not a few; and besides, there was a 
guest in the gates more deserving of honor than any 
chance passer, for he had tramped many a mile since the 
noonday over rough mountain pasturings just to sit by the 
hearthstone that evening and exchange snatches of talk 
with the old folks, while their fair, blushing daughter, be- 
loved of his soul, sat in her corner silentof tongue, but with 
poems of song in her eyes. Slumber to me was a phantom 
for long after all but myself had been blessed . For hours I 
gazed at the stars through the unchinked walls and regret- 
full.y pondered that unselfish kindness and innocent trust 
are "withered and seared; that humanity falls into ashes 
when man is refined in the crucibles of education and 
wealth. Not long after daylight I was invited to break- 
fast, and then my host ferried me over the river and 
conducted me to the hotel, where I was warmly welcomed 
by the proprietor, Col. St. John, and his charming wife, 
who, during my stay, treated me as an honored guest of 
the family more than anything else, and left nothing un- 
done that could in any way add to my comfort and pleas- 
ure. 
For the first three days the river was too high for fish- 
ing, but the charm of the mountains and my lovely sur- 
roundings was upon me, and I delightfully put in the time 
shooting squirrels — of which there were hundreds — boat- 
ing, and studying the curious types that came out of the 
hills with chickens and eggs or game to exchange, or to 
labor for an hour or day for most modest sums of coin of 
the realm. One man came ten or twelve miles with a fox 
cub that he "low'd" would make a fine pet, and he "reck- 
in'd er quarter" would pay for his time and his trouble, es- 
pecially as he had no "eend er fun ketchin' him." He really 
appeared relieved and surprised that no effort was made to 
induce him to moderate his demands. And another, his 
neighbor, learning what exhorbitant sums live "varmints" 
■would fetch at the hotel, came down the next day with a 
pair of black skunks— "er he an' er she" — confidently 
demanding 35 cents for the two. An emphatic refiisal to 
"dicker," coupled vnth an earnest request to remove his 
menagerie beyond the inclosures, aroused his resentment 
to such an extent that, having complied in so far as the 
animals were concerned, he deliberately returned to the 
veranda and for half of the day persistently remained be- 
twixt the wind and our nobility. As evening came on, 
hoping to hasten his departure, I cautiously approached 
within hailing distance from the leeward and asked him 
how far he was from home. 
"Er right good bit." 
"How long will it take you to walk there. Two or three 
hours?" 
"Several." 
"Time you were starting, isn't it?" 
"Yes; but I wanter sell them skunks." 
"Don't you like skunks?" 
"I likes 'ern, but I can't wear 'em; I wants some cloth," 
I noticed his shirt was in tatters, and his trousers frayed 
off to the knees, to say nothing of rents and thread-bare 
j)laces_, l interviewed the guests, and found them chari- 
tably inclined; so the necessary fund was subscribed and 
paid, upon the honorable condition that it would be ex- 
pended for "cloth" at the earliest possible moment, and 
that he should at once start for home, carrying his "var- 
mints" with him, and should carefully care for them until 
such time as the purchasers should demand their property. 
Fifteen minutes later, lounging comfortably in the rockers 
upon the veranda, we beheld him, with the bagged skunks 
on his shoulder, swing round the point of a cHff some dis- 
tance away, and hundreds of feet above us. There was 
joy in the footsteps that hurried homeward with "fun" 
gotten gain, and joy in our hearts from the hope that be- 
tween us the mountains would tower forever. 
One day while roaming the woods looking for squirrels, 
I ran across a typical clearing along the sides of a widen- 
ing ravine, A native as seamed and as gray as the boul- 
ders around him, and withal so weazened and old that he 
might well have come forth from the same primeval up- 
heaval, was painfully plowing his rough, stony field that 
was tilted so many degrees that both master and beast 
seemed in danger of falling as from over a cliff. I induced 
the old man to sit down in the shade, and, having thawed 
out his reserve with tobacco and much kindly question, to 
tell me of his life in these mountains when he and the 
century were young. His adventures had been varied and 
many, but mostly with ''bar" or with deer, for he had 
killed in his time "several" of both, which I found in the 
cautious speech of this country really meant a great 
many. While we talked the noon hour came, and noth- 
ing would do but that I needs must go down to his 
cabin for a dinner of good corn pone and bacon and 
the coldest of milk from the spring house. Then he took 
down his rifle from the stag horns over the cavernous fire- 
place, and told me with the pride of a child that there 
never had been in the State of Kentucky just another such 
"gun" for turkey and deer, and above all "for shootin' at 
marks," a great sport in this region, though seldom in- 
dulged unless there is something to gain by skill at the 
shooting. It was taller than he, and stocked to the muz- 
zle; and it was battered and shaken and worn, but a good 
weapon still in hands that were steady, and when sighted 
by an eye that was true, as two or three deer and about 
thirty turkeys had attested the past winter when they 
died at its crack. When I started back to the hotel, my 
host went with me a mile to show me a tree Daniel Boon 
once climbed to a cliff and to safety when pursued by In- 
dians. I submitted with grace because the old man had 
been kind, and because one cannot escape, and there is 
danger in doubting, a yarn of Tim Marshall or Boon any- 
where in Kentucky. 
While wating for the river to fall, I found so many de- 
lights "to entertain those fair, well-spoken days," that I 
came dangerously near losing sight of the fishing I had 
come so far to enjoy. Had the pleasant hotel, the moun- 
tains, the river all been mine, as the sole guest to claim 
them, I fear I should have abandoned myself to their 
charm, and in idling and rest have concluded my stay 
without once wetting a line. About the fifth day, how- 
ever, the river had emptied its flood, the waters had 
cleared, and the conditions for angling were declared 
by the wise to be all at their besti«- In consideration of 
one cent each a native secured for my use a bucket of fine 
minnows, and with a first-class boatman to propel me I 
started out to try the ripples for bass. 
The first day my success was nOt great; I captured but 
six, and the largest pulled the scales at scarcely 2lb8.; but 
for the rest of my stay there was glorious sport, for my 
catch was limited only in number to what I could use 
without spoiling. The average was good— not far 
from 21bs. 
In the course of my fishing my boatman had so many 
wild stories to tell me of a monster of some kind that lived 
in the pool formed by the falls, that at length, when I had 
surfeited with the ordinary catch, I was consumed with 
desire for a try at this "big one," frequently hooked, that 
had always escaped. For about two seasons, it seems, this 
fighter terrific, which no one could name, had been known 
to be in the pool, and many anglers of note having heard 
of his prowess, time after time had come from afar hoping 
to bring him to creel, only to find that their skill or their 
tackle were no match for his craft. It was even averred 
that in more than one instance the fish had not only 
escaped, but had captured the rod and the reel so cunningly 
rigged to destroy him. It seems that he had always been 
easy to lure, and that his home was just under the spot 
where the end of the rainbow formed through the spray 
touches the water — at least, that is the spot at which always 
his rises were made. To be sure of a strike from this 
giant, so the tradition ran, one must cast when the sun fii-st 
smiled over the mountains, and then for an hour, as there- 
after, he was sure to retire to some unfathomed deep for 
the day. I wasted three mornings and most of the fom-th 
in vain effort to bring this champion of his tribe to com- 
bat, and had well-nigh concluded that the tale was a myth 
and I the credulous victim of a countryside jest, when my 
minnow, a "shiner" about 4in, long, frantically came to the 
surface, a rushing shadow behind it, that seemed to spring 
like a tiger from ambush. So fierce was the rush and so 
cruel the seizing of prey, I could almost have shrieked for 
the agonized victim, but the song of the reel that now fell 
on my ear was swelling to cadences sweeter than I ever 
had heard, and wasias vital to pity as the song of Sirens to 
fear. The battle was on; the instinct of combat enthralled 
me; every nerve, every thought must be bent upon win- 
ning. 
My weapons of war were superb — a Chubb rod, a 
Natchaug silk line and a Milam reel— but time after time 
during the fight I trembled for fear that an unsuspected 
defect somewhere in the tackle might cause me to suffer 
defeat. Once, after a sulk of fully a minute, there came a 
rush BO terrific that it carried my prize almost under the 
falls and left scarcely 10ft. of line on the reel. What T felt 
at that instant preceding the turn only an angler can know 
who has staked his skill on the capture and lost by a few 
feet of thread. It was about fifteen minutes from the time 
the fish was hooked until I reeled him toward the ledge 
upon which I was standing, confident that the prize was 
mine. Even then a new danger beset me — I could not 
reach him, and saw from the way he was hooked I could 
not lift him out by the line. In this emergency I called 
loudly for help, and was finally heard by Mr. iPorch, the 
accommodating manager of the hotel, who came to my 
assistance. The monster ba«s tipped the scales at a little 
under 61bs. Not the largest by several that has been 
caught in these waters, but he broke my record on fishing, 
and I was delighted. 
Whether or not he is the famed giant of the rainbow I 
am unable to say, but until some lucky sportsman shall 
produce from that pool his master in gameness and 
weight, he will be such to me, and so I have named 
him. 
This was a glorious ending for a glorious trip, so I decided 
that my vacation was over. I have had many an outing 
in many a wild, but for kind treatment good fare, moderate 
rates and superb sport, commend me to this. H. 
MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 
XLIV.-The Grand Duke Alexis, of Russia. 
It was in November, 1876, and the newly-opsned 
Aquarium was not well stocked wilh fishes. The regular 
collector, Mr. Roberts, was down at the islands in Marthas 
yineyard and Mr. Coup said: "How would you like to go 
down to Currituck Sound and get some fish? There was a 
man in here yesterday who said that we could get any quan- 
tity there. Will you go?" 
The case was very different from that told in the last 
sketch, where any man with experience in ice-fishing would 
know that there was no chance for success, and I went, 
under protest. Here was a chance to see the famous duck- 
ing grounds, of which I had read, and to return with live 
fish for the tanks. 
"Mr. Coup," said I, "I'd as soon collect for the Aquarium 
as do any other work, hut you engaged me as Superintendent 
of Fishculture, and have advertised that the breeding of 
fishes is to be one of the features of the Aquarium, and on 
your colored lithographs you have advertised me as in charge 
of that department. Now I have a professional pride in the 
work and dislike to abandon it for collecting. The Cali- 
fornia salmon eggs have just come and trout eggs may ar- 
rive most any time. Can't you send some other man?"' 
He thought a moment. The fact was that with the ex- 
ception of the General Superintendent, Butler, Roberts and 
myself, all the other employees, from the box olfice to the 
tank cleaners, were old chcus men, pensioners on Coup, 
whether he employed them or not, for he had a heart bigger 
than a bullock's. He had been Barnum's business manager 
for years, and. poor Mr. Penny, who had a useless leg and a. 
crippled arm from a fall from a trapeze, was a sample of his 
employees. I was the only available man who was an angler 
or who knew one fish from another. After thinking this 
over he said: "I want you to go. If harm comes to the 
salmon eggs I'll take all "the blame, but the Aquarium must 
have some fish, and you're the only man that I can spare who 
knows enough to go for them; don't stick on our terms of 
agreement, but help me out of this hole." 
"Do you know that Currituck Sound is now all fresh 
water since the inlet on the north was closed by the sea some 
years ago?" 
"I don't care what it is if vou can get fish of any kind. 
Will you go?" 
"Yes, send the tanks to the Old Dominion line, and I'll 
leave by first steamer for Norfolk." 
Presenting my credentials at the office of the little steamer 
Cygnet, which ran from Norfolk down through the Dismal 
Swamp canal to Currituck Sound, and asking for terms of 
transportation for myself and six 30 gallon tanks, the agent 
asked : 
"Is this WiUiam C. Coup, of the Aquarium, the same that 
was Barnum's manager?" 
"He is the same man. He quarreled with Barnum, and 
started the Aquarium." 
"In that case you can't pay a cent to this company for 
passage, meals nor freight; the only condition I will impose 
is that you take a letter back to my old friend Bill Coup." 
The passage down the canal on the Cygnet was unevent- 
ful, but as we went through tho Sound the wealth of ducks, 
geese and swans kept calling for attention from one side to 
the other until Van Slyke's Landing was reached about sun- 
down on Saturday evening. 
1 was the only guest at the hotel, and there was a prospect 
of a lonesome Sunday, yet there was much of interest. Mrs. 
Van Slyke was a widow of strong frame and stronger mind. 
She was postmistress, hotel keeper, store-keeper as well as 
farmer, and a character well worth studying. Originally 
from the rock-ribbed hills of Vermont or New Hampshire, 
where energy is required to wrest a living from the soil or 
anything else, she had no patience with the slow, thriftless 
ways of the men she had to employ. In a chat after dinner, 
she replied to a question by saying : 
"Get along wilh ' em? That's not the thing. The ques- 
tion should be how do they get along without me? Aiter 
my husband died I had to lick half a dozen of 'em, white 
and black. Lordy, I'd take a club or a horsewhip to 'em, 
and if these were not handy I'd knock 'em down with my 
fist, an' they soon found out that I would have no foolin'." 
Nearly 6ft. and muscular, she carried her 2001bs. lightly; 
and a look at her face would convince any shiftless beach- 
comber, black or white, that she certainly would have "no 
foolin'." 
On Monday it rained, and I engaged a boatman and spent 
the day trying to learn about the fishing spots in the sound, 
kinds of fish, baits used, etc, In the evening the Cygnet 
