The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-15
THE STRANGE ENCHANTED BAIT.
Tom LoveIand Found II Under the
Mig Rock.
BY Charles Batten LOOMS.

/
Tom Loveland was going fishing. 1t was
8 o'clock at night. and he was out by the
barn, digging for worms and getting crick-
cts from beneath the stones that made
| walking so unpleasant in the barn yard.
| If his father had been anything of a farm
er he would long ago have rid the place
of its crop of stones. but that would have
made IL harder to get crickets, and, like
| Tom, Ezra Loveland dearly loved to so
a-hshing. Tom was going to start early
| next morning and drive to Clear lake,
| about six miles distant. If he had good
| luck fishing he was then going to Bashan
| Grove to sell the fish to the Methodists,
| who were holding a camp meeting there
| While he was digging, his dog Shep be-
| gan to growl
whats the matter, Sheppy?" asked
| Tom, patting him on the head and then
| drawing forth particularly fat worm
from the earth. Shops ruff was bristled
and his eyes cleaned in the light of the
lantern. Somebody was coming. Tom
peered through the gloom, but saw no one
| Just then he heard a voice that seemed
to come out of a particularly big rock in
| front of him.
do you want to know how to catch all
the fish you can carry away?' said the
| voice. Tom was startled, but he'd heard
of ventriloquists and he imagined that
someone was playing trick on him, so
he said why, sure. The more l have The
more I'll SELL Where are you, anyhow"
I'm right in front of you, but you
can't see me because you are mortal ana
I'm not. Your dog sees me, though and
| he's frightened stiff. Tell him he has moth
| ing to fear from me. He can't hear me, he
| can only see me-"
Tom quieted the dog and told him to lie
down and Shep stopped growing and
charged by mis- masters feet
II am a rock GONE" said the voice 81
and my brothers live in the rocks Most
of the farmers hereabouts wage war on
our homes and blast them, but your fa-
Their is content to get his living without
disturbing us, and we have long wished
to show that we appreciate his kindness.
You're going fishing, aren't your"
yes" answered Tom. I'm going fishing
the first thing In the morning, and ia
like to get some rock bass, only worms are
poor bait and crickets amt much better,
and there amt any helgam.tes around
here"
I'm fix all that" said the voice. when
you have dug all the worms you want and
caught all the crickets, leave them In a
heap on the big rock that stands in front
of the north barn door. The one that the
horses have to step over every time they
come In with a load OF hay. The King OF
the Gnomes lives under that and he will
instruct the worms and the crckets TO
/ catch all the fish you want-rock bass,
} black bass, pckerel. perch and anything
: else the lake affords. They win be just
J as good as any fish that were ever caught,
| but they will only last until in the even
: ing. II you can sell them before that
time they viii be as fresh as when they
were caught, but If you have them on your
hands at T. no matter whether you keep
them on ice or not, they VIII all disappear.
And this luck you may always have If you
, IIrnt he.
rocks that lie all over the place"
, II guess / can promise for father" said
Tom, laughing. 1T would take hard work
to get rid of the rocks, and father'd rather
r fish than work, any day"
"Wel dump your bait and you'n find
J It all there in the morning. Good-by."
} "Good-by," said Tom, and dumped his
bait on the big rock. Then he went I'm
and told his father of the compact that he
had made Mr.. Loveland laughed and said:
1--WE get the best of that bargain, Tom, for
: wouldn't touch those rocks for all the
world. They were there when was born
and I've had to dodge them in p.owing
ever since l could say Gee to an OK, and
they'll stay there until I'm laid away amid
the carved rocks OF the graveyard"
Tom was up betimes, and hurried out to
; the big rock There hay the worms,
moist and fresh and wrigglng, but never
Offering 10 get away, and the crickets were
! all sitting in bunch.
He put them into the boxes. Then he
| harnessed up Jess. He found that the
girth needed a visit to the harnessmak-
erss. but Judged 1t would last the day out.
! 50 he started for Clear lake. The morn
Ing was cool and the birds were singing
here and there, although most of the Choir
listers had stopped their regular singing
lessons early in the summer. The dew
upon the jewel weeds made the blossoms
look even more like jewels and the plumes
. ,Fe bright in the -
sun.
''If that old gnome knew what he was
talking about I'll have fine luck, and those
Methodists are great on fish. Why, I'll
fl this wagon full and sell them all before
u O'clock"
So thought Tom when he started OUT,
but after driving a mile or two he be-
gan TO doubt whether he hadn't been
dream3 g, and he actually got out and
caught dozen crickets and handful of
; fat grasshoppers lacking faith in the
enchanted bait. Although why IL wouldn't
have done so well as any bait, enchanted
or not Vt might have puzzled him to ex-
plain.
ride of an hour brought him TO Clear
lake 1t was well named, for there was
no part of II so deep that you could not
, see the bottom. But there did not seem
to be as many fish as usual. Here and
there Tow saw a big bass or pickerei but
for the most part the water looked like
, the business part OF great city on a Sun
= day. so few citizens were on the streets.
He baited his hook with one of the crick-
! cts he had just caught, but although he
rowed TO some of the best fishing places
on the lake and ished for good hour. he
: caught only three fish, Then he absent
{ mindedly put ON one of the enchanted
worms, and the bait was hardly in the
water when he pulled out large fat bass
{ that weighed at least four pounds It was
: the biggest fish that he had ever caught
! in his life and his delight was boy-like.
lie could have kicked himself to think of
/ the hour lost with the ordinary bait and
( he baited two hooks and cast them both
out al once and pulled in rock bass and
a big perch. Then followed such fishing as
was never enjoyed by mortal before. Some
of the fish were so large that he had hard
work hauling them in, but he didn't lose a
} | fish and by the end of an hour his boat
was so fun Of Topping fin wearers that he