Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-05-20

but l was walked. I'd hooked a sal
mon bigger'n a whale, n he'd just
dragged me off that river bank an
headed west, plumb buffaloed. I'd bin
In a good many bad places, but that
was the worst of EN- all. What'd l
do? Why, l had to fight that fish, an
| did fight him all the way down to
the Needles, most two hundred miles,
n 1T o more'n hour. l jes' reached
forward and clawed hold of the leg
end OF that there fish line and come
up on it hand over hans fast as l
could, n then it was me n the fish
shore enough. The more I clawed the
faster he went, N the spray flew up
high n the canyon rim, an some of
my clos got tore off in the big rapids.
Bout six miles, or maybe six miles
n a quarter this side O. the Needles
he sounded. Dove straight down to
the bottom, more'n a hundred feet,
an took me under with m, and kept
me under more'n ten minutes. Then |
see it was a desperate case. | didn't
want to lose that there fish after all
that perturbation n because he was
SHS AioS wv AdQ tudt udJ. DuI
l couldn't beat him stayin' under
water, so l says to myself, says I:
John Hance,' | says, you're goin' to
lose your fish, but you needn't let him
steal your fish line M so | got my
1ack-knife out O. my pants pocket n
opened it, n | clawed down on that
line until | got to the fish, n then
| cut 1t off close to his mouth and quit
i'm. | tell you l was most out of
breath when l came to the top again.
jest hated to let him keep that hook,
out l got the line, anyway.
ut took me six weeks an two days
to get back to where we started" our
sued Mr.. Hance, after a moment of re-
fection. Il most starved to death on
the trip, too. Had to live on loco
weed part o. the time.
Corral for the Salmon.
But it learned me a lesson. 7 only
bin ishin' one since then, n I didn't
tie no line to m leg that last time.
No, sir. When l wanted to rest I jist
warped the shore end to a bowlder
n got a bite plenty quick. | got that
fish down there yit, but I hain't seen
the whole o. him yet. Silver salmon
grow purity big in that stream. This
n thrashed round there 'ntil the
whole Colorado river was a mess O.
boilin' suds, nd | had to give up try
in to land i'm. I worked him down
to a shallow l knew about, n then l
made the line fast to a rock bigger n
house, and started in an built a
corral round him with stones. 1t took
me all day. You can get some idee
of the size O. that fish from the size
of that corral. It's fifty feet across.
He's there yet. Whenever I want
some fresh fish 1 go down and cut a
slab of'n him. I reckon he'll last a
year, or maybe thirteen months.
Mr.. Hance was silent for a little
while, and quietly rubbed the back of
his head.
1T was close by whar that fish bit
that l see the queerest thing" he re-
sumed, musingly. "Jes' a few days
ago. There's a patch o yella sand
down there, maybe an acre of it, with
big rocks around it. You know how
snakes come out in the spring time,
when things begin to warm up. Wal,
l was bruisin' round there bout the
first O. this month, trifin' away my
time, while my boss fed, n | see a
snake come crawlin' into the sunshine
from a crack in the cliff. He wa nine
feet long, or maybe nine feet two
inches, an thicker N my leg, and he
begins crawlin' in a circle, payin' no
! 'tention to me. He'd gone round this
circle twice before another snake bout
the same size crawls out O. the same
crack an stars to folla' him up. Then
| fha,.A ~ anAfhAn A-I he eAo n4C
over the same trail as the first two,
and then another, an they all four
solemnly crawls aroun' n e behind the
other. John Hance,' says l, you're
bein' entertained with some new kind
of snake dance N l watched 'em to
see what was comm next. Before
long the second snake lunches up an
takes the first snake by the tail in is
mouth. Then the third snake lunches
| up and gets the second snake by the
tail. an then the fourth snake gifts the
| third snake by the tail, an they all
goes round the circle three times.
Then the first snake makes a push
an gifts the fourth snake by the tail,
n they all four begin to swallow. NJ
I'm a horned toad If them four snakes
didn't keep on a-swallerin each other
tail first till Their wasn't a sign of a
snake left. They jes' nachly swallowed
each other up.
Some men can't talk about snakes n
keep anyheres near the truth" NOR
allied Mr.. Hance. The was a man
from back east-'n' a good man, too.
s'long's he kept off snakes-jes' a day
or two ago. | was tellin' i'm bout
that there snake dance, n be said no
body could ever tell what a snake
might do. 'Serpents is wise says
he. They can reason. Nm then he
went on to tell me bout a snake he
knew once that come along to where
they was a baby with a nussin' bot
the was a baby nussin'. This was
a milk snake. he said, n the min
ute it see that bottle it slid up an
took it away frorm the baby, an jes'
stuck its own tail in the baby's mouth
an kept it there until 1t had sucked