Aug. 23, 1913. 
FOREST AND STREAM 
233 
and displays attractive colors. We have known 
bass to refuse all the best baits known, and then 
take dead crickets sunk to a considerable depth. 
Where large fallfish, windfish or chubs are 
found, sport may be had by taking them on 
trout tackle and flies. They are in best con¬ 
dition in the autumn and often rise freely. We 
have killed them up to nineteen and one-half 
inches, and they grow considerably larger than 
this. I really believe that bait-fishing for carp 
is well worth attention where large fish are 
found, and when suitable tackle is used. They 
are shy, and it requires patience and experience 
to be successful, but we are thinking chiefly of 
the fight a big carp puts up if hooked upon fair 
tackle. 
It is best to set the rod in a forked stick, as 
carp seem sensitive to a slight movement of the 
line or bait. One can then sit well back from 
the water and have both hands free for the 
ground bait. A few yards of line should be 
pulled from the reel and coiled upon the ground 
so that it may run out without the slightest check 
when the carp takes the bait. The rod must 
then be taken in hand and the fish struck quite 
hard. You will be astonished by the first wild 
charge of the hooked fish. These are but a few 
suggestions. One can find sport of some kind 
almost anywhere. 
Fine Minnesota Chicken Shooting. 
Pipestone, Minn., Aug. 10 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: Prospects for prairie chicken (pin¬ 
nated grouse) shooting this season are “the best 
in years.” So runs the story every year, as re¬ 
lated by the careless passerby, and also by the 
good sportsmen who anxiously await the com¬ 
ing of the open season, to whom knowledge of 
the exact location and feeding grounds of several 
coveys of their chosen game acts as a burning 
fever which nothing but the smell of burning 
powder and much of it will allay. Joking aside, 
though, we are looking forward to splendid 
shooting in the stubbles, and later in the corn¬ 
fields after Jack Frost gains the upper hand, 
such shooting as we have not had for these last 
ten years past. Due to perfect conditions during 
a period of three years, grouse have increased 
steadily in number, and last winter found an 
abundance of breeding stock left over, which a 
dry spring allowed, like the rabbit, to “multiply 
rapidly.” Alfred Peterson. 
North Dakota Expects Good Shooting. 
Galesburg, N. D., Aug. 12. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: I take pleasure in telling you that 
the prospects out here for game are very fine. 
The nesting season last spring was very favor¬ 
able, reasonably dry and no hard storms. All 
reports indicate the prairie chicken flocks are 
large and numerous. Ducks also are fully as 
plentiful as usual. Everybody can get game 
enough to make him happy this fall, and with 
the Federal law absolutely prohibiting spring 
shooting, the head of game should increase rather 
than diminish hereafter. Good hunting, brothers. 
J. P. Whittemore. 
An organization of scientists who are en¬ 
gaged in the study of forest insects has recently 
been formed in Washington. 
An Old Sailor’s Yarn 
By HENRY 
WAS born in Bristol, England, and at twelve 
years of age was apprenticed to a country 
squire by the name of Morgan, who owned 
collieries about seven miles from Bristol, from 
which he transported the coal by a horse rail¬ 
way to Bristol, from which place it was shipped 
to other parts. 
I was at first employed as a scullion, and 
was kept busy in cleaning the cutlery, and help¬ 
ing the cook in his various duties. 
I remained in the employment of Mr. Mor¬ 
gan for several years, until becoming discon¬ 
tented I resolved to run away to sea. This idea 
was first implanted in my breast by listening to 
the tales of adventure narrated by an old pen¬ 
sioner, who was likewise in my master’s employ. 
This old pensioner had served with the Duke 
of Wellington in the wars of the peninsula and 
elsewhere, and fired the spirit of adventure with¬ 
in me until finally it became a flame of such 
fervor that I felt it could be slaked only by an 
actual participation in similar scenes. 
At this time the right lobe of my ear was 
bitten off by a vicious horse, and I felt that I 
might as well risk having my head taken off 
by going elsewhere, as to remain longer where 
I might as readily be maimed for life, and yet 
receive no pension for any mischance that might 
befall me. 
Accordingly I soon after left my master’s 
roof, under which 1 had been sheltered for three 
years, during which period I must admit that he 
had treated me with uniform kindness, and the 
other servants declared that I was my master’s 
favorite. 
O11 a certain night, which I fixed upon for 
my departure, simply because it was dark and 
gloomy, I left as the clock struck the midnight 
hour. I was accompanied by one companion, 
who equally with myself desired a change from 
the humdrum life he was living, and together we 
set forth to seek our fortunes wherever a favor¬ 
able opportunity might present itself. 
My companion, however, finding that I had 
made up my mind to ship in a man-of-war, if 
one could be found in Portsmouth, decided that 
he would not leave terra firma, and agreed to 
go back and report to my master, where I had 
gone as soon as the ship should set sail, and it 
would be impossible to overtake me. This com¬ 
panion, however, failed to report to Morgan 
where I ha<d gone, as he agreed to do, and the 
consequence was my master felt greatly con¬ 
cerned about me, thinking that I was taken ill, 
or that I had met with foul play. Accordingly, 
he set all his men who were engaged in trans¬ 
porting the coal from the collieries to make rigid 
inquiries while in Bristol, and also put the police 
on my track, but without result. 
Mr. Morgan was finally constrained to think 
me dead, and was in great grief thereat, blaming 
everyone on the place, and especially the old 
pensioner, whom he accused of having set me 
wild with his stories; and the old fellow stood 
in great danger of losing his situation in conse¬ 
quence, until the remembrance of the affair 
became obscured by other events. 
Meantime I had sailed in the old frigate 
Endymion from Portsmouth under a favorable 
D. ATWOOD 
breeze until in crossing the Bay of Biscay, a 
fearful storm arose, which we managed to 
weather successfully with no loss or damage 
except badly springing the main mast. The cap¬ 
tain, however, concluded to keep on, and we 
arrived in due time at Seymour Bay, Cape of 
Good Hope, South Africa, without experiencing 
any further accident. 
The station at the bay was fitted up by the 
British Government as a navy yard, at which 
His British Majesty s vessels could touch when 
in distress or in need of any repairs. The station 
lacked dry docks, but had plenty of outfitting, 
such as masts, spars, rigging, etc., and indeed 
almost everything in the way of ship chandlery, 
for the supply of such craft as stood in need. 
There were always more or less vessels un¬ 
dergoing some sort of repairs at the yard. Pro¬ 
ceedings were at once made to refit the ship and 
put in the new mast which was required, etc. 
I was sent with a number of others on shore 
every day, to be kept from idling by picking 
oakum, which was made up into bales of about 
one hundred pounds weight each, and kept stored 
in the great storehouses, which stood not far 
back from the landing. One of these houses was 
built of stone, and the other of wood. These 
buildings were erected in the form of a carpen¬ 
ter's square. 
I had determined to desert on the first op¬ 
portunity that offered, for I had got sick of see¬ 
ing men “seized up” and subjected, on slight 
causes, to- the harsh discipline of the cat-o’-nine¬ 
tails. I did not know how soon my turn might 
come for a dose of the same medicine, and my 
intention became deeper fixed, from a slight cir¬ 
cumstance which happened, whereby I was un¬ 
justly singled out as the offender, and received 
an admonitory punishment of a “rattaning” over 
the knuckles, which was generally administered 
to boys for slight offenses rather than the cat- 
o’-nine-tails, unless the officers were especially 
arbitrary or unreasonably drunk. 
One of the men had stolen my jacket, which 
hung in the rigging to dry after being washed. 
I could not ascertain who the thief was, nor re¬ 
cover the jacket. When the man who purloined 
it had worn the jacket until it became in urgent 
need of washing again, instead of stowing it 
away in some safe hiding place, throwing it 
overboard, or placing it where I might easily 
find it, and take it in thankfulness, asking no 
questions, he chose to throw it down beside the 
bulwarks, where the officer of the watch in pass¬ 
ing soon discovered it 
The officer at once caused an investigation 
to be made, and I was found to be the luckless 
owner of the discarded jacket. In consequence 
I was fined eight shillings and six pence of my 
“mess money,” which is the money saved in the 
purchase of provisions allowed to each mess. A 
certain sum is always allotted, and whatever 
surplus remains from this amount upon arriving 
at the first port is equally divided among the 
members of each mess, with which they are 
allowed to go and disport themselves as they 
please and enjoy the fruits of their frugality by 
a grand howl on shore. 
Tt is needless to say that the money thus 
