Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-06-11
a rIsH sroRY.
How Two Amateur sporisrnen
Passed "a Day at the Arkan-
0ftkbh sas Fisherfes. < ftif
A Thrilling Episode, or Fishing ON
Dry Land.
Tied Up I'm the woods 10 be scAIped.

the sunny skies of Italy, who works next
door, to 60 a-fsbing; or it may be that
the movement began sooner. This much,
however, is known, that they provided
themselves with large quantity of fne
bait yesterday morning and such other
equipments as their good taste suggested,
aud left in high spirits for the Arkansas
shore, promising to bring back dead
loads of fish. o. their way they fell in
with several parties bent on the same
business, but kept aloof from them in a
crowd to themselves. The lake opposite
the city was their destination, and at this
time Of year attracts many persons to its
banks. Its waters are clear, and said TO
abound with fine fish. This lake is not q
monotonous pond with even banks and
regular angles, but has its fringing for
ests and adjacent swamps, its little har-
bors and bayous, its cane brakes, as we'll
as its fish.
Our party-the tailor and the barber
arrived on the ground little fatigued by
the tramp, but enthusiastic and resolute.
They baited their hooks, put aside their
surplus baggage, and cast their lines with
the confidence of men who feel that they
have sure thing of it. And so they had.
The fish rather liked the bait and nibbled
at it constantly, and ever and anon the
knight of the striped pole would elevate
his fishing pole and look earnestly at the
hook. But not fish. The fnny tribe
were wiling to patronize the bait, but
wisely preferred to nibble it of by degrees
rather than swallow it whole. "The
ninth part of man was not more sue
cessful. The bait was splendid, but it
was gradually frittered away, and when
the shadows began to lengthen in the
afternoon, the fish they had both caught
would not have made them meal. They
had wandered over good deal Of ground,
torn their clothes and scratched their
faces, and were considerably sun-burned
as well as quite foot.sore.
Two hours before night they set their
disappointed faces homeward, and the
fish they had we're not as heavy as the
bait they had carried across the river.
Moody and silent they tramped through
the brushwood along the edge Of the lake,
doubtless Aectipg tina" there are as good
| f sh 10 the sea as were ever caught out,
when they came upon splendid lot OF
bass fish, evidently caught with seine
by more fortunate fishermen who were
not ready to 90 home. The temptation
to take few of these fish just to show
the boys at home what they could do as
fishers, was too great to be resisted in
fact, they never tried to resist it, but after
looking carefully around and seeing no
one near, they went carefully to work to
gil their strings. The barber is good
Judge when be can find them out of the
water, so he selected the best, and they
arranged them according to size and
color on their strings in the most artistic
manner. When their work was com.
pleted and they looked at the sleek, fat
bass, none of them less than foot long,
their eyes danced for joy and they felt
ready to meet their friends at home with
good face. But just at this critical Pc
riOd some other friends OF theirs ap.
peared upon the ground and put quite
another face upon matters generally.
A party of colored gentlemen, at least
a dozen strong, who had been fishing
around the lake all day, came in view
from the dense thicket which surrounded
the spot, and our enterprisiDg fish-string-
era had no time to escape or throw away
their fab. Their ears were greeted with :
"What ye dom dar wild dem fish ?" fol-
lowed by yell of African Indignation.
Our heroes were at once taken prisoners,
and council of war then and there held
over them in the African language, The
result was that they we're beth tied fast to
trees with strong cords in the regular H.
dian fashion. They felt that their time
had come, as it had, and waited With pain
full impotence to see what mode OF tor
ture and death would 10 adopted fog them,
for they hardly expected to be consulted
on these little points. The Africans had
no tomahawks to brsndisb in their faces,
and shook their fists, and gave the plan:
:atiou war whoop With borrid gestures
and barbaric delight. The prisoners said
all the prayers they could think OF, and,
taking valedictory look at the fine fish
they had to leave, said, farewell, vain
world.
The negro juhts put them on trial at
once, and permitted them to speak in
their own behalf, The gentleman from
Italy stated his case artfglly. He said
they knew little about iishing-which was
the first time he ever said so-and that
they supposed those fish were Of new
kind that grew on trees. The tailor said
he thought go, too; in fact, be had heard
Of Eastwood, and thought this was some
Of the fruit. The Grand Cyclops Of the
junta told him they didn't care sd-ime
What he thought, but If you spec to go
bonn tonight, you got to buy