






EARN SISAL Legos ret, 
SSNS 
O me, born and reared in the 
ae Alleghanies, this first view of 
Lake Karonis was wonderful. 
To my three companions, long familiar 
with small prairie lakes of middle Min- 
nesota, the sight was not an unusual 
one. They left me to get my fill of it 
_while they passed on to the little log 
house perched on the wooded knoll just 
above the lake. With my back to the 
west, I looked down the long sheet of 
water to the low shore at the opposite 
end of the lake where Karonis ap- 
parently had both its inlet and its out- 
let. Along the southern shore there 
ran a high bluff covered on top with a 
growth of hardwood trees of medium 
size. The contour of the northern 
shore was irregular with promontories 
where the low hills came close to the 
water and with little bays where the 
shallow valleys lay between. A dozen 
tiny islands such as I had seen before 
only in pictures dotted the lake here 
and there. They were built of rocks 
and each one stood high above the 
water and was crested with a score or 
more of weather-beaten trees. All 
around the lake, there was a hard nar- 
row beach of sand and white gravel, 
and just in the edge of the water in a 
number of places there stood .tall 
rushes that rustled with every move- 
ment of the wind. 
Out on the lake an eighth of a mile 
from the shore, a big raft of wild ducks 
floated, and in the blue sky far above 
them a great bird, perhaps an eagle, 
wheeled in wide circles. In the yellow 
sunshine of that declining October day, 
the whole scene was so wild and strange 
and lonely that it made a powerful 
appeal to me. 
HE long ride across the prairie to 
reach the lake had also been full of 
interest. The narrow, unfenced road 
which we followed mile after mile, the 
solitary clumps of trees, the lonely 
homesteads with their little grass barns 
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and their big straw stacks, and the 
rolling prairie stretching away on every 
side to the distant low horizon made a 
landscape as interesting to me as it 
was strange. It'was so unlike our Al- 
leghany mountain scenery that it might 
have been a part of a different world. 
Occasionally we crossed small, slow 
streams, called there, rivers, and in the 
bottom of every hollow there was a 
small swampy place called a sloo. 
The tall grass of these sloughs fre- 
quently concealed wild ducks. As we 
neared one of these places a big flock 
of Mallards rose with much quacking 
and started off across the prairie. 
Koerner, the one experienced hunter of 
the party, jumped from the wagon, ran 
forward and took a long shot. At first 
the shot apparently had no effect. 
Then we saw a single duck drop below 
the others and in a long downward 
slant come to the earth a quarter of a 
mile away. 
T took Drop, Koerner’s old brown re- 
triever, nearly ‘twenty minutes to 
find the duck and bring it back to us. 
At short intervals, prairie chickens 
flushed wild and never stopped their 
low, rapid flight until they had put 
some distant elevation between them 
and us. By a lucky shot I managed to 
kill one that had delayed its start too 
long. I found it somewhat heavier than 
the ruffed grouse of the Alleghanies 
and of a lighter color. The long black 
tufts on each side of the neck, which 
took the place of the ruff on the other 
bird, were very curious to me. Many 
big hawks were also seen along the 
way. On every stake or commanding 
lookout one was perched. They seemed 
to be well fed and lazy and were un- 
willing to move at our approach. To 
one accustomed to the closely hunted 
areas of Pennsylvania, the great 
abundance of wild life was astonishing. 
While I had been loitering on the 
shore of the lake, my companions had 
An October 
Outing in 
Minnesota 
Hunting and Fishing 
in the Prairie Country 
By CHAS. LOSE 
been busy on top of the knoll They 
had stabled the horses comfortably in 
the low, snug structure that stood a 
few rods in the rear of the log house. 
HIS stable was built of a frame- 
work of poles and thatched top and 
sides with swamp grass that would 
shed rain. Near it stood a great pile 
of clean, new wheat straw. From this 
pile my companions had carried great 
armfuls to make, on the floor of the 
front room of the house, a wide deep 
bed. It would be soft and roomy and 
warm with many blankets. In the 
kitchen stove in the adjoining room, 
Nels, the hired man, had a bright fire 
burning and the strokes of his axe out- 
side told me that there was to be no 
lack of fuel during our stay of several 
days. Koerner and Hope had hung our 
spare clothing all around our bedroom 
on the wooden pegs that served as 
clothes hangers. They had also stowed 
away in the kitchen cupboard our sup- 
ply of food and table utensils, and 
tidied up the two rooms so that the 
place had a pleasant, homelike look. 
They were completing their tasks by 
getting guns, ammunition and fishing 
tackle ready for use. The fishing 
tackle was simple, consisting of two 
heavy trolling lines, to the end of each 
of which a big spoon and a gang of 
strong hooks were attached. The am- 
‘munition, arranged on the steps of the 
open stairs, leading to the roof room 
above, looked capable of doing much 
slaughter among the wild things in and 
around the lake. 
with us on a farm wagon all of 

i 
ROW BOAT had: been broug t 


the way from home, and after it ha | 
been placed on the lake I was nt 
to take a trolling line and catch a fis 
for supper. Drop accompanied m 
He seemed much disappointed when 
saw that I was not taking a gun. Th 
sun, a red ball of fire, was nearing t 
