Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-07-09
TWO FEET OF TROUT.
The Remarkable Narrative of q Truthful
Man Who Went F'ia1ling.

School Director James A. Blancnard,
of Williamsport, has been up here
gathering in trout. The other day he
cane in with Il peculiar, far-away look
in his eyes. He sat down without re-
moving his basket from his shoulder
or taking off his gum boots. He didn't
say a word to anybody, but seemed to
be trying to solve some point that puz-
zlcd him by gazing into vacancy.
"Hallo! Blanch, exclaimed a friend,
slapping him on the back. "What
luck to-day?"
The school director withdrew his in
curing gaze from vacancy and looked
up at his friend.
"Luck?" said he. "Singular luck.
I'm here, amt 1; and this is 7ouP"
He was assured he was rigbs on both
points.
"Then it amt a dream" Said he,
land it amt the jim-but no matter.
III tell you how it was. | f1shed an
hour and killed one trout. Fac; of the
matter is, whatever the fish hat been
feeding on, it wasn't yeast. They
didn't rise worth a cent. But [ killed
one in an hour. 1t was in good condi-
ton, and [ haven't the least doubt that
it was all of six inches long. Well, l
got tired and lay down by the side of
the creek in the shade and went to
sleep. slept half an hour or so, L
guess, and woke up in a better humor.
"'I'll give 'em another chance said
L. If they don't take in this gang of
flies like crazy bait, said 1, then these
| nanffc oraaE frnrf Oipt< fhn frp,t T
think they are
$50 l tickled the gliding ripples
some more with my cunningly devised
feathers, and tossed them deity here
and there upon creamy foam hecks,
but my single trout was tossed from
side to side in the lonely depths of my
creel for sorne time before | got a COM
panion for him. In fact, l was so long
in getting him a comradc that [
imagined that he had come to life again.
and was Hopping with Indignation and
disgust in the basket. BY and by,
though, Handed another one. He was.
may be, a little short of being a half
FOUNDER, but he was as plump as a
gosling. l showed him down through
the opening in the creel-lid and tished
on. Well, not to weary you with a
long recital, l managed to get three
more in another hour or SO, and they
YER all good ones. Then l couldn't
get another rise and l gave up in dis
gust. l sat down on a moss-growE
rock.
"'Wcll L said, as I wiped my brow
and held it up to the cool breeze that
came tremblingly by and coyly kissed
it, WELL said 1, I've fished more
than two hours, and l guess I've got
more than two feet of trout. Two feet
of trout l unused.
"Then, presently, 1 thought I'd take
a look at 'em. unfastened the lid of
the basket, opened it, and looked In.
That gaze was not IL second in dura-
ton. If the lid to that basket had beer;
pulled down by a ten horse power
spring it couldn't have gone shut quick
er than Ishut it, and if l had been sit.
ting on q ten-ton dynamite cartridge
and it had exploded, [ don't think re
have got up from that rock much soon
er than l did. Why? Because l was
surprised. There wasn't one of those
trout to be seen in the basket-not one.
But they were there, and instead of
there being twofeet of them there were
four feet and ahalf of them, good meas
ure. L fear l am wearying YOU said
the school director to his friend, and
he rose to go.
Ono, no!' said the friend, restrain
ing the angler, and looking at him
anxiously. There We're no trout to be
seen, you say?" continued the friend.
"No trout to be seen. but still they
were there, and instead of aggregating
two feet in length had a total Of four
feet and a half! Blanch, old man,
said the friend, you're worn out. Let's
go tamper with something" .
"No,' said the school director. .'Tm
all right. Those trout were there, but
they were nowhere to be seen. After
awhile recovered from my.surprise,
and then opened the lid of the basket,
turned the trout out on the ground, and
never offered to prevent them as they
made their way to the brook and sprang
in. They swan away and l saw them
no more. L go home tomorrow"
There was silence for five minutes,
during which the expression on the
school directors friends face was pain
full to see. At last the tired angler
said. musingly:
1HeIc IS no QOuDJ out what he got
in while l was sleeping in the shade at
the brookside. No doubt at all. He
just crawled in the hole in that basket
lid while | slept, and gobbled that lone
some six-inch trout of mine without q
murmur. Then he laid low while I
tempted the four other denizens of the
pool from their pelucid haunts, and
Just moved them away one by one, as
l passed them in to him. with all their
dewy glitter and matchlcss SAVIOR on
them. But if any one had told me that
even a four-foot-and-a-half water snake
had such blissful command of impu-
dence, or such a persistent and elastic
appetite, I'd have set him down as
| g.
The school directors friend led him
gently away, and the current rumor is
that they went in and tempered with
something.-Dent's Greek (Pa.) Cor. N.
Y. San.
There is danger in some of the
patent hair-dyes, and hence the Sci
ent!tc american offers what is known
40 AlN- .-1-- 4