310 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct, 15, 1S98. 
they put on," said the patriarch, as he settled to his 
restful position again and the curling eddies untangled 
and straightened themselves into the liquid calm. 
"They don't appear to think 'at anybody can be born 
here wi' any brains in 'em," said one of the larger mem- 
bers of his audience. 
"Wal, suh, dat hoi' Dutch was feel purty plump, prob'- 
ly." an eel of Canadian birth remarked, as he squirmed 
up from the muddy bottom in a swelling cloud of sedi- 
ment, "but Ah'm's toF you f a feesh a'n't heat some feesh 
'e a'n't good feesh heese'f. Dat's de way Ah'm's do, me, 
air Ah'm's pooty good kin' if fish, me, Ah t<A' you!" . 
"You call yourself a fish?" the old pike demanded, 
glowering down at the intruder over the side of his jaw, 
"Your father was a water-snake an' your mother was a 
ling, you ill-begotten cuss, an' if you don't quit a-kickin' 
up that wet dust I'll come down there an' slap your 
jaw wi' my tail." 
At this threat the eel doubled lithely up on himself 
and retreated under cover of the roily cloud, from be- 
hind which he fired a volley of mixed epithets against 
all the generations of pike and pickerel that had lived 
since the foundation of the world. The gills of the pike 
boSed with wrath, but he restrained an impulse to dash 
after the insulter, and shouted after him, "You nasty 
snake, you! You know well enough that the' wouldn't 
no decent fish dirty his scales with ye. But for all that 
the's men 'at eats em'," he added, disgustedly. 
"An' that makes mo think it was men we was talkin' 
about when that weed-chawer come pokin' his nose 
into our conversation. Well, as I was a-sayin', I kep' 
clear o' hooks, but I swam into a net oncte that snarled 
rat gills an' would ha' been the death on me of a mush- 
rat hadn't got tangled up in it clus to nie an' cut himself 
lose an' me too. Then 1 kep' my eyes open for nets in 
my path, an' many a one I dodged 'round, an' many's 
the fish I've seen hung in 'em by their gills a-drowndin' 
or dead as smelts, an' others in a sort o' bag that you 
run into an' can't find no way out on onless by good 
luck a mushrat gets in the same trap and cuts his way 
out. 
"But one time I was a-crjiisin' 'round in the lake an' 
was a-chasin' a school o' mmnies along wi' a lot of other 
pike an' pickerel an' wall-eyes an' some perch, an r havin' 
lots o' fun, when all to oncte one of the hind ones 
shouted, 'Look out! the's a seine a-comin.' An' when 
we looked back, sure enough, there was an army o' fish 
a-comin' an' rollin' an' bilin' an' a-jumpin' an' skivin' 
an' divin', above 'em a line o' floats a-bobbin' along 
in a great half-circle an' below 'em a line o' sinkers 
a-scapis' the bottom so clust 'at they raked up the 
clams an' pitched 'em along by the bushel. On come 
the whole business, steady and sure, the floats an' lead 
an' clams a-walkin' towards the slopin' beach, calm an' 
serene, but all the fish in an awful flurry, a black swarr 1 
o' bullheads a-gougin' an' a-hemin one 'nother, a- ' 
everybody else, bass a-jumpin, perch an' wall-eyes v ,' 
their bveks up a-rakiiv everything, bald-headed pike z.n' 
pickerel makin' things mighty onpleasant, suckers down 
in the mouth an' lookin' sorry they was there, clams 
wi' their jaws sot tumblin' an' chuckin' over one 'nother 
like a scowload o' stone upsot, a sturgeon as big as a man 
a-slashin' 'round an' kickin' everybody right an' left, an' 
three, four eels a-squirmin' back an' to an' slimin' the 
whole caboodle, an' all scairt out o' their scales. 
"I was scairt enough, but me an' a walleye, with his 
eyes a-stickin' out so't you could ha' bit 'em off, we stood 
owt o' the thick on 'em, seein' now an' then a bass jump 
the float line an' git clear, but we knowed we wa'n't 
spry enough to do that, an' the rest on' 'em come surgin' 
along nigher an nigher to the beach, where we see two 
men a-haulm' on the ropes, an' grinnin' like a catfish. 
"Says the walleye to me, 'Gittin' 'round the end is our 
only chanoe.' An' wi' that he pulled fin, an' I arter him 
till we come to one end o' the seine, where the foot of 
the tommy stick was a-plowin' a groove in the sand 
straight for the shore in water so shaller 'at walleye' 
back fin was a-splittin' the top on 't an' the grave 
scratched our bellies. The man that was pullin' the 
rope there kep' a-floppin' it to scare the fish back, but 
me an' walleye didn't mind that. Up went the rope an' 
tossed him up end ways tail fust, an' down it come an' 
hit me a slap in the middle o' my back, but didn't hurt 
us none, only to scare us, an' then we was safe outside 
on't. We didn't pull up till we was rods away, an' then 
we stopped to git our breath. 
" 'Pretty clust shave!' says walleye, a-workin' his gi v 5 
for all they was wuth. 'Did ye hear that man cuss whei 
he see us come out?' He was as big a walleye as ever 
I see, 'most as big as I was then, olbs. or so, an' t o 
doubt them men felt bad to see us git away. We ven- 
tur'd up behind the seine an' see bushels 0' fish a-bein' 
dragged ashore an' that ol' sturgeon makin' the whole 
shore shake. I'd seen enough, an' I laid a straight wake 
for the crik, where there wa'n't no seine." 
There was a sympathetic shiver of the audience, fol- 
lowed by a silence, which was broken at last by a greedy 
listener, who asked, "I suppose you had some .scraps 
arter that?" 
"Not by gittin' into nets, I hain't," said trie veteran, 
looking at his questioner over the corner of his mouth. 
"But there's al'ays somethin' turnin' up if a feller moves 
'round in the world, an' maybe if he don't. A clam 
even has scrapes; for along comes a mushrat an' carries 
him ashore to die, or the waves of a big storm knock? 
him high and dry, or he gits a gravel stun in his shell 
an' it makes a pearl 'at one o' them men tears him open 
to ( git'' 
"Or some ol' woman wants his shell to sciape litf 
kettle, an' that's a pretty mean scrape!" one of the 
lighter-minded and lighter-weighted pickerel inter 
rupted. 
"You shet your h&ad till I -one," the elder said, 
petulantly, and then regaining his composure in a mo 
ment of silence continued: 
"Now that nigger bullhead a-pollywoggin' there 
a case in p'int, an' jest hear the critter 3ing." 
The bullhead was swimming leisurely past near th 
bottom, with a devil-may-care smile on his broad coun 
tenance and in his twinkling little beady eyes, and jerk- 
ing his head sidewise, with every movement of his tail 
keeping time to the words he was singing to himsell 
and chirping a creaky refrain: 
"Bar nebbe's miflin' like dec botlm.i. kaire. karee. knl'cc; 
(Torne. down lo d f . bqtloni 'long •.••id <m ■ " 
"Sarvent, boss, you seen any wums layin' 'roun' heah 
loose a-waitin' to be gathered?" 
"We hain't a-huntin' worms for niggers," the old 
pike growled. "You go 'long about vour bus'ness, will 
ye?" 
"Dat's just what I'se doin', boss. Pity you wa'n't 
'roun' when manners was passed!" 
The bullpout wagged on his way, accelerating his 
speed but little when one of the younger pike made a 
feint of dashing after him. 
"Don't you never touch him," the old pike called out, 
sharply. "Once when I was your age, an' thought I 
knew a good deal more'n I did, I thought I'd try a 
bullhead. He looked as though he'd go down easy 
tail fust, an' so he did, slick as a frog, till it came to his 
horns. They stuck in the corners of my mouth, an' 
for all I could do wouldn't go no furder, an' what was 
wus, when I got sick on't an' tried to heave him out 
they wouldn't le' go. His back horn pricked my upper 
jaw so I couldn't bite him. an' he choked me so I 
couldn't cuss, so there wa'n't no relief for my feelin's 
wi' him a-laughin' at me an' callin' of me all sorts o' 
fools. I tore 'round till I was pretty nigh tuckered, an' 
had about gin up 'at I was a gone sucker, when I 
come along where there was a man a-fishin' with a 
worm on his hook. He see me, an' dropped it just be- 
fore my nose, an' I'll be scaled if that bullhead didn't open 
his mouth an' take in worm, hook an' all. The man gin 
a twitch an' snagged him, an' begin to pull, an' I had 
to hold back with every fin I had: but he pulled me half 
my length out o' water, an' I thought he had us both, 
when the bullhead come loose an' went a-flyin over the 
man's head, an' not havin' any use for either on 'em 
any more, I come away. It's a pity a bullhead's got 
;heiu horns, for it's good sweet-tasted meat if you could 
only git it." 
"Anyhow, Uncle, you can't say but what a man done 
you one good turn," ' 
"Turned me pretty nigh wrong side out, if you call 
that a good turn," growled the old fellow. "They don't 
owe us no good will, but they hain't quite so rough on 
us as they used to be, wi' their nets an' seines sot for 
us. an' a-scoopin' of us all the year round. They've got 
laws ag'in' that an' ag'in' spearin' of us, for they don't 
want to destroy us off'n the face of the earth; but they're 
bad enough yet, an' al'ays will be, 
"One of the meanest tricks they ever served me was 
in the spring, years an' years ago. We'd all been shet 
down under the ice for five months, an' I tell you it 
looked good to see the sun a-shinin' down ag'in bright 
an' clear through the wrinkled water, an' the white 
bellies of the ducks a-swimmin' above us, an' the mush- 
rats cuttin' a clean wake from shore to shore. We could 
see the naked trees standin' up ag'in' the sky, wi' 
their buds a-swellin' an' the blackbirds strung along the 
branches a-singin' a song that sounded like the run- 
nin' of a gravelly brook, an' there was stake-drivers 
standin' 'round in the coves a-thinkin' they was a-sing- 
in', when they made a noise like an ol' pump that 
won' draw without primin'. 
"The sperit of the time o' year got into everything, us 
fish amongst the rest; an' I went up into the ma'sh to 
pick me out a half a dozen wives. I s'arched hither an' 
yon an' got up int' the woods, where the water stood 
clear an' brown three foot deeper'n last year's leaves 
that foxes an' 'coons an' mink had traveled dry-footed 
<"ver in the fall. Finally I got away up in the edge o' 
pastures where cattle feed in summer, an' mcaders where 
he stubble o' last year's mowin' bristled under a foot 
' smooth water. 
"There were hundreds o' frogs lazin' 'n under the 
shaller water, an' on the drift o' dead weeds, but they 
wa'n't nothin' to me then, for I found two as plump 
an' pretty she-pike as ever you see, an' was a-courtin' 
'em up the best I knew how, an' keepin' off other fel- 
lers a-comin' 'round. So we was a-cruisin' along to- 
gether in the clear water where the sun shone warm on 
us, an' me, an' no doubt them, calculated showin' off 
our spots to the best, when I see a man a-pokin' along 
half-way to his knees in it for all the world like an' ol' 
crane. When he see us, he up an' p'inted a long iron 
thing with a hole in the end on't right straight at us, 
but I never mistrusted he meant mischief till fust I knew 
there come a stream o' fire an' smoke a-pourin' out o' 
that holler iron with a noise like thunder, an' the water 
over us was tore an'' shattered as if a whole hailstorm 
had been emptied there all in a heap. 
"Next I knew, I didn't know nothin'; an' the next 
1 was a-layin' belly up with my feelin's comin' shiverin' 
back into my body. A little ways off lay them two 
pretty creeturs with their shinin' scales all tore an' 
blood a-tricklin' out an' stainin' the water around 'em. 
Then that mis'able man came splashin' out to 'em, an' 
reached down an' hove 'em onto the land, an' I hadn't 
no more 'n heard 'em flop onto it afore he come to me, 
an' was a-shettin' one hand on my gills. I gathered all 
the strength I had for a stroke of my fins all to oncte, 
an' I slid through his fingers like an icicle an' scooted 
~rrd away. He took a step for'a'd an' made a grab 
('or me, but his foot ketched under a root an' down 
he come lr-st a-top of me, ker slosh! like half an acre 
o' bank cavi l' in. 
"But I'd rot right side up an' shot out from under 
him easy er 011 gh, an' he had all he wanted to do to 
tend to himself, for he was a-thrashin' 'round, arms an' 
legs, wus'n one o' them sidewheel steamboats out in 
the lake, an' spoutin' water an' cuss words as much 
one as t'other. The last I seen of him he was a-stan'in' 
on the shore a-drainin' an' a-drippin' from every p'int 
like a wilier bough arter a summer shower." 
There was a general gulp of satisfaction over this 
disaster of the enemy, while the old pike added, regret- 
c ully: 
'T was turrible sorry to lose them two wives. I 
ound enough others, but none sech as them was. Arter 
matin' time was over an' the young pickerel was hatched 
out. I was a-loafin' 'round on the ma'sh one night 
a-lookin' at the stars shinin' down through the still 
*vater. when I see a bigger light that I thought 'at fust 
was the moon a-risin'. till I seen it a-flarin' an' the 
sparks a-flyin' up from it an' showerin' down like a rain 
o' fire.- Then I seen it was in a boat, an' a man a-stan'- 
in' up behind with m pole in Ids hand,, an' a-lookin inlo 
!hf water Tlier? *ras <iiioth?v {nan setrm' in t'other 'end 
a-paddlin' slow an' still, an' I begin to 'spect they was 
up to some mischief. They was comin' straight toward 
me, an' so I started off out o' their course, afore I 
thought they'd got nigh enough to do me any hurt; 
but the man wi' the pole he seen me an' let it drive right 
at me, full tilt. 
"There was a five-pronged iron thing on the end of 
it, an' one o' the prongs just grazed my back. . If it 
had hit me fair it would ha' gone clean through me, for 
the prongs went full length into the bottom, so 't the 
pole stood slantin' in the water, a-tremblin' with the 
force of the blow. All this I seen with the back o' one 
eye, for I was scairt too bad an' hurt, I didn't know 
how much, to stay 'round there lookin* at things, but 
just scooted till the light was glimmerin' so fur be- 
hind me it looked like a drowndin' lightnin' bug. 
"A lot o' my scales was raked off an' my flesh was 
tore so the blood run, but it got well arter a spell, an' 
I'd larnt another lesson about them cussed men. How 
many more I've got to l'arn afore I die, goodness 
knows, for there don't appear to be no end o' their 
wicked ways. 
"Say, is that a punkin seed or a rock bass a-comin'? 
Don't ye never be fools enough to swaller any one o' 
the hump-backed, spike-finned little scamps. I do' 
know what's the good o' fish bein' built such shape any- 
way. Why, no, that hain't a punkin seed nor a rockie — 
it is one o' them 'ere big-mouth bass 'at puts on more 
airs now-a-days 'an a wood-drake in April, jest 'cause 
they're some related to the black bass 'at them men 
makes such a fuss over, what for is more'n I know. 
"Big-mouth and small-mouth is just as comfortable 
to swaller when they're young as a punkin seed or 
rockie, an' when they git big you can't swaller 'em, yet 
the men goes wild over 'em, an' won't let one 'nother 
catch 'em only jest sech time o' year an' jest sech ways, 
whilst they go for us all times an' all ways. See that 
feller set up his back-fin, an' stick out his under jaw 
as if the same water 'at held us wa'n't quite good enough 
for him, an' him smellin' stronger 'n a mud-turkle, an' 
no more fit to swaller 'n a thorn apple bush! Glumph! 
I don't believe in no spike-backs puttim on sech airs." 
The disparaging remarks were not unheard by the 
big-mouth, but he only stuck out his under jaw a 
little more contemptuously, and set' his dorsal fin more 
stiffly as he swam silently past the group of unfriendly 
observers. 
"Hush your noise!" the old pike sharply commanded, 
though not one of the company was making the slight- 
est sound. "Do ye hear that? Well, that's a boat 
a-comin', an' of course^tbere's men in it, an' we'd better 
keep shady." 
The cautious dip of oars, the crack of rowlocks and 
the recurrent ripple of water from the bow, in response 
to the slow, regular strokes, could now be distinctly 
heard, and now the boat's bottom could be seen, and 
its shadow gliding steadily along the silty bed of the 
creek. The patriarch sculled himself backward half hip 
length with a stroke of his pectoral fins and all hte 
companions, save one pert young fellow, discreetly fol- 
lowed his example, backing into the marsh, till the 
drooping heads of wild rice, the blue spikes of tin- 
pickerel weed and the angular burs of sedges jostled 
each other and rustled as if a stray cat'spaw of wind 
was snatching at them out of the breathless air. 
"What be you afeared of? I'm going to stay where 
I can see," said young Malepert, boldly holding his 
place while an oar-blade flashed above him and launched 
from its tip a miniature whirlpool that bored so deep 
that the point of its hollow core tickled his back. 
"Mebby you'll see more 'n you want to," the elder 
admonished him, but to no purpose. 
The boat passed, and its wake spent its last slow pulse 
among the rushes before a glittering spoon appeared 
30yds. off, drawn by a line so slender that it was in- 
visible at a little distance. In spite of the sage advice 
they had so lately listened to, some of the older fish 
were attracted by r the shining lure, and made a move- 
ment toward it, but their younger relative being nearest, 
forestalled them by a swift, sudden dash and seized it. 
His jaws closed upon it savagely, but were met by 
something as hard as his sharp teeth, and that slipped 
through them till three as sharp hooks were firmly 
planted in his mouth. 
This strange thing, which was neither fish nor frog, 
yielded so readily to his first instinctive burst of flight 
that he thought for a moment he was to bear it away as 
a doubtful trophy, but then began a gradually tightening 
strain, that promptly stopped his retreat, and brought 
him so nearly to a standstill that he was fain to try 
another course. He dashed to the right, to the left, 
downward till he struck the bottom, upward till he brokn 
the surface into an upbursting shower, yet in no direc- 
tion could he find relief from the steady, wearying 
strain that never yielded enough to give an instant's 
rest, never resisted enough to make breakage possible. 
It was no better when he made all speed in the 
direction of the pull, the incessant strain continued with 
but little abatement, while he came so near the boat 
that he saw a slender rod bending toward him like a 
bullrush in a gale, and he heard the swift clatter of a 
reel that was taking in the cobweb line faster than 
he could swim, and he saw the terrible man, gray- 
bearded and calm-faced, who was managing all the 
deadly, relentless machinery. 
Setting every fin, he checked himself so suddenly 
that he was sure something must break, but the rod 
only bent a little more, and the retarded line spun out 
again still unbroken. He turned and ran straight away, 
then to right, to left, again sounded the bottom, and 
again broke the surface, but nothing availed to afford 
release nor even relief. Breath and strength were quite 
spent, and his comrades saw him hauled unresisting 
alongside the boat, then lifted into it and a moment 
later heard him thrashing the bottom in his final death 
struggle. 
"That is the last of another fool," declared the old 
pike more savagely than sadly. "It's a lot o' use givin* 
you chaps advise, hain't it?" and then added more re- 
gretfully, "It is too bad to have -a lusty young life 
wasted that way. I wish 't I'd swallered him two vear 
ago. 
So saying, ho turned ;md swam majestically away. 
Ravage P. RopiNsoN 
