The Arizona sentinel., 1889-02-16

of the sun. There was a dull rOal
along the sands beyond the dunes
where the Atlantic waters ceaselessly
beat. As we drove rapidly, dogs came
out on the road to bark at us, and see
ing Sam in the wagon their loud barks
of disapprOval or of anger changed into
friendly, joyful barks of greeting, and
they wagged their tails as he spoke tC
them, saying: "Hello, Nedr' What:
the matter, Jim, old boy?" "Hi, Pete
what are you barking at?"
"Look at the coots!" he exclaimed
as he called my attention, with out
stretched arm, to a string of coots thai
flew over the ocean, which was heav'
ing redly in the rays of the rising sun
We watched the flying coots, and al
short intervals saw puffs of smoke
shoot out of small boats that were well
off shore, and saw coots fall into the
water. The child's eyes kindled as
with fire. His hunting instinct was
aroused, and he was 10th to go after
mummies. He suggested that we seize
a rOw-bOat and row across the half
frozen bay to the seashore, and there
watch the hunters kill coOts.
That would never do, so l set up the
fallacious argument that it was piracy
to steal row. boat, and l dangled the
figure of Captain Kidd with a rope
around his neck before Sans eyes.
But he brushed the sophistical
argument away as with a broom.
Said he: ''It is not piracy to
borrow rowboat. Somebody is eter-
nally borrowing mine and leaving it
on the other side of the pond. 1t
makes no difference which side of tn e
pond go to, the boat is always on the
other side. 1 walked as much as two
hundred miles after that boat last
summer. If l ever catch the person
or persons who take my boat am
going to be a pirate in earnest, and
make them walk the plank-if they
are not too big" and he was lost in
moody wonderment relative to the
identity of the boys who always left
his boat on the wrong side of the
pond.
We tied the horse to a post that
stood near to the bay and walked to
the drain. Arrived there, the close
meshed net was spread across, and 1
was directed to cut bush and to go
up the stream for fifty yards and to
thrash it down to frighten the num-
mics and cause them to swim into the
net, where they could be dipped out,
So 1 cut bush and with it thrashed
the stream, and as l worked l watched
the bright-faced boy dip out the
mummies with tiny scoop
net and put them in the pail. He
caught about 100, and, of course, he
was not satisfied and wanted more,
but 1 headed him off by care
lessly remarking that brOiled beef
steak and bacon and potatoes, hashed
with cream, and buckwheat-cakes and
honey were better hot than cold. In
tsantly the net was withdrawn from
the drain and we walked briskly to the
wagon and clambered in, to sit for a
few minutes to look at the glistening
ocean and the distant gunnerS in their
little boats, and then enjoy the ride
home, which was necessarily slow to
avoid spilling the mummies.
Breakfast eaten, Twas given a bundle
of sticks, to which lines and hooks
were attached, and an axe. Samuel
had similar bundle of sticks and the
pail of mummie5. We walked briskly
to Kelly's pond. Arrived there, was
set to chopping holes in the ice, while
Sam baited the hooks and set the lines.
To fish for pickerel through ice the
lines are tied to short. thin and lath-
like stick. About nine inches from
one end of the stick a hole is bored
it. A round stick about
eighteen inches long and half an
inch thick is thrust through
this hole. The round stick is laid on
the ice and the short end of the lath to
which the fish line is fastened hangs
over the hole that has been chopped in
the ice. A live mummy is fastened to
the hook and the line dropped into the
water. When a pickerel seizes the
mummy the short end of the lath de-
scends into the water and the long end
rises in the air to signal that fish has
been caught.
The pickerel soon began to bite
Here a stick jumped upright, there
one rose slowly, and yonder one rose
to fall again, then the stocks that first
rose fell, and presently others would
rise.
Samuel clamped on his skates and
Skated from hole to hole, and where
ever there was a fish he dragged it
from the water, unlocked it, threw it
on the ice, and reset the line. l
gathered the fish in a little pile on the
shore. When fishing was slack Sam
told stories of fish, ''boss fish, he
called them, that he had seen in the
pond, and he told of turtle of great
size and extreme age, whose head was
as large as a mans fist, and whose
back was moss-grOwn-a real, old,
Bourbon-and the good
tales would be interrupted by
sticks which signaled him to come. If
he caught fish, together we admired
it. If it was large, we agreed that
broiled pickerel, if well basted with
butter, were most excellent eating. If
it was small, why, then small
pickerel, if fried brown, were the best
Of frosI ,,-o4o,, ell 7 l.-.~,... =.