May, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
247 
on the stern deck of the Blue Wing, 
smoking my pipe and idly contemplating 
the wreaths of blue smoke as they 
drifted away in the deepening twilight. 
A dreamlike quiet pervaded the scene, 
disturbed only by the leap of the mullet, 
the plaintive twitter of the coot and the 
solemn hoot of the owl. Then as the 
twilight faded out of the sky the surface 
of the little bay began to gleam and 
glimmer with a pale and lambent light, 
while the water-oaks on shore, draped 
with funereal moss, assumed a wierd and 
ghostly aspect in the gloom of the lurk- 
ing shadows. As the night grew darker 
the phosphorescent sheen became more 
luminous. The leap of the mullet produced 
coruscations of blazing jets and flashing 
drops, while the track of the redfish and 
the wake of the sea-trout, in their eager 
rushes for their prey, formed dazzling 
lines and glittering furrows radiating in 
every direction upon the lustrous water. 
The scene, which had begun with the 
film and haze of the dim, uncertain twi- 
light, now burst forth into a refulgence 
of gorgeous splendor. But soon the full 
moon “unveiled her peerless light” above 
the fringe of palms across the river, and, 
chasing the shadows from the shore, “took 
up the wondrous tale.” And now the 
piping of the frogs, and the hum of in- 
sects, and the complainings of the water- 
fowl began to “fill the night with music” 
while the fire-flies, fitting across the bay, 
seemed to have borrowed their light 
from the luminous water beneath. 
I was aroused from my reverie by the 
return of the boys, with blazing pine- 
knots and a fat 'possum, awakening the 
echoes by singing: 
’We will sing one song for my Old Kentucky 
Home, 
For my Old Kentucky Home far away!” 
The next day the 'possum was duly roast- 
ed in a Dutch oven, surrounded with 
sweet potatoes, and served with a lemon 
in its mouth. 
During the Christmas function at Eau 
Gallie I met two young men of sporting- 
proclivities, from Savanah, Georgia, who 
had a camp on Sebastian river, twelve 
miles below Turkey creek. They were 
getting out a pine log raft, the logs to 
be sawed into lum- 
ber with which to 
build their homes 
at Eau Gallie, they 
having taken up 
some government 
land. They wished 
us to camp near 
them. Accordingly, 
we left Turkey 
Creek with a fair 
wind for the San 
Sebastian river, 
where we found 
quite a bay, about 
a mile in extent, at 
the mbuth of the 
river, with three streams flowing into it. 
We camped within twenty yards of our 
quondam friends’ camp, just above the 
mouth of the North Fork, at the edge of 
the pine woods. The fishing in the bay 
was excellent; channel bass, sea- 
trout or southern weakfish, cavailli, 
snooks and black bass of enormous size. 
I T was my natural ambition and fond 
wish to capture a black bass that would 
exceed the record. One day I hooked 
and played to a finish a channel bass 
weighing more than thirty pounds, but I 
was not satisfied. Then my wish was 
gratified when I landed a colossal black 
bass that weighed twenty pounds. This 
and the channel bass were caught with 
sunfish bait on a Henshall black bass 
rod. But more was to follow. Just above 
the camp was a sand spit on which sev- 
eral alligators were wont to sleep or bask 
in the sunshine. I saw one snap at a 
passing sea-gull one day, which prompted 
what followed. I constructed an artificial 
fly, if I may so call it, by wrapping 
spirally on the shank of a shark hook the 
tail of a squirrel, and tied the head and 
wings of a sea-gull to the top of the 
hook. Then I borrowed the sprit of a 
sail from our friends’ boat for a rod. 
Screened behind some bushes on the bank 
I cast this fly over the 'gators day after 
day, until finally one of them seized it 
and plunged into the water. The hook 
was very sharp and I drove it into his 
jaw. To make a long story short I 
finally drew him ashore completely ex- 
hausted, and made the line fast to a tree. 
Then with my hunting knife I cut the 
hook from his jaw and. released him. 
While on the subject of alligators I will 
allude to another incident, and quite a 
unique one. In the midst of the pine 
woods was a large pond that had evap- 
orated to quite a small one during the 
dry winter. This pond was the resort of 
herons and ducks, as it was full of small 
fish, and I had procured some rare 
specimens with a landing net, for I car- 
ried a can of alcohol for preserving fish 
and reptiles, and a jar of arsenical soap 
for preserving bird skins. 
I took my gun one day and went to this 
pond for some ducks for dinner. Hiding 
in the scrub I soon knocked down half a 
dozen mallards, and going to pick them 
up I was surprised to see an immense al- 
ligator come out of the pond, bent on the 
same errand. Seeing me, he came toward 
me with wide open month, displaying a 
set of enormous teeth, the finest I had 
ever seen. I removed the small shot from 
my gun and inserted two cartridges of 
buckshot, and when within ten feet I dis- 
charged both barrels down his throat. He 
whirled and plunged into the pond, turned 
over a few times and sank. But I want- 
ed some of those teeth to make dog whis- 
tles. 
I then procured a long lightwood 
branch and poked about where I last 
saw him, when out he came again with 
open mouth, down which I poured two 
more charges of buckshot. He then 
crawled back and sank to the bottom, 
dead. The next morning I took the shark 
line and hook determined to fish him out. 
I was somewhat astonished to find him 
on the bank, dead. His body was nearly 
as large around as a flour barrel, and, 
what I had not noticed before, he was 
minus a tail, his principal weapon, for 
I was too much interested in his other 
end the day before. I found that his tail 
had been probably bitten off during his 
babyhood, for the scar or cicatrix was 
plainly to be seen. 
A large 'gator on land is an ugly cus- 
tomer, for a swift blow from his power- 
ful tail would break a man’s leg; but in 
water he is not so dangerous, and will 
get out of one’s way if given a chance. 
I have several times, when seining a 
cypress pond for fish specimens, poked 
them out of the way with the brail of 
the seine, or what was just as effective 
kicked them on the snout with my boot. I 
attempted to extract some of the 'gator’s 
teeth, which were unusually developed, 
owing to the loss of his tail, being three 
or four inches long and the enamel 
beautifully polished. But I could not 
budge them. Then I cut off his head, 
carried it to camp and buried it, carefully 
marking the spot, with the intention of 
digging it up on my return to Titus- 
ville, when the teeth would be loosened by 
the decay and shrinkage of the tissues. 
But to my great disappointment, when on 
my way home I did not have time to stop 
at Sebastian river. 
W E experienced a severe shock of an 
earthquake while at the camp on 
the Sebastian river. One of our 
party, Ben, was an inveterate snorer. 
When he turned in he would be asleep in 
a few minutes, and at once began a snore 
which might be likened to a combination 
of trombone and basson, and of extraordi- 
nary volume and power. After a pleas- 
ant evening at the campfire it was late 
when we turned in, and Ben was soon 
snoring like a bull alligator. Then there 
was a sound as of a 
steamer blowing off 
steam at sea. The 
night was unusual- 
ly still. Then with a 
rushing, tremulous 
sound, there was a 
violent rocking of 
the earth that 
seemed to proceed 
from the southeast 
to the northwest, 
causing some pans 
on a table outside 
to tumble to the 
ground, and one of 
the guns in the 
rack in the tent to fall. I was rolled 
out of my bed, and things were shaken 
up rather lively. Then after a few minutes 
it began again, and with more intensity. 
We all rushed to the campfire again, and 
were busily commenting on the matter 
when it suddenly subsided. One of the 
(continued on page 272 ) 
Scene on the Indian River in Florida 
