The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1900-09-14

FERGUSON the guide, called
Fergy for short, squat. muscu-
H. lar aid brown, with small,
NJ dark eyes peering from under
~ dropping brim, sat on the
middle thwart of the boat. In
the summer sun Round lake Icy placid.
Not ripple crinkled it. Three grea,
pines and hemlocks which grew to the
waters edge, were motionless in the noon
heat Over the wide and mirror-like ex.
panse tn. quaverinE. waiting cry of the
loon sounded. A blue heron stood gaunt
upon wooded point. waiting for his
luncheon TO swim by and at the other end
OF the lake mother teal led her brown.
brood of seven by devious ways In and out
among the rushes While usually the wa
ter rippled, as If against beach, upon the
lips OF the lily-pads, on this day not
murmur came from them. Under their
shelter the huge black bass reposea, MOI
might any form of lure, live frog or min
now, phantom minnow or spoon, ny or
white salt pork, tempt him to come forth.
The other man in the boat listened while
Fergy talked. He pays Fergy Sc a day to
haul him about into secret places where
the fish are known to be. and to handle
the craft as only master can handle II
V''sS'' e''oA SAoOtbAS WOil VI NHS w SS&Shu
waters, the muskallonge. strikes the
spoon and the battle for life begins. In
addition to services as guide, he OBJ,
taired from Fergy a wealth Of romance OF
the forest and field, for this boatman is
certainly the most gifted and ornate liar
to be found between Green Bay and the
Mississippi river. When pike, pickerel,
bass and ''musky' refuse to strike, 1t Is
worth the money to hear him, in nodulat-
ed voice, drone on OF the way in which
they have bitten In the past, and doubt
less will bite again. His language is sim.
pie and direct, unadorned with the graces
OF rhetoric unmarried by the crimpings of
grammar, the unfettered, free. expressive
tongue of the wilderness, the birch bark
shack and the logging camp.
Talking about fishing" said Fergy. the
other man not having spoken for half an
hour. talking about fishing and the fun.
ny things a man sees sometimes when his
eyes amt shut, reminds me of time
VIXEN I got tired of loafing round Boyds
hotel, and wanted to do do on my own
reel. go down to Long lake and dump
myself into pirooE, and go across and
pike along into the woods. I pike for $50
yards, straight as teal flies when 1t
means business. ard run bang against q
little lake I had never seen before in my
life 1t lay there among the trees and the
alder bushes like looking glass. not
more'n an acre, and wanter say 1t was
broke from end to end with ripples made
by the small-mouthed bass.
They was two million of EN-, or maybe.
they was three million, an 1t was pretty
enough to make man keep away from
whisky and the gals forever and ever
amen. dug my hands into my pockets,
and I didn't have no more bait than
would catch starving minnow in wash
bowl I thought hard for three and a
quarter minutes, and IL ell I ont with the
tall of my red flannel shirt and tore off a
hunk big enough to wrap penkn'fe in. I
didn't need that much, but I wanted fish,
and the other guides had plenty of shirts
and we all bunked in the same cabin.
Now. little pisce of red flannel amt the
most eatful thing in the world. but say.
them fish was crazy for 1t. 1t hadn't
touched the water when twenty three OF
'em made dash for 1t. and one Of 'em
that weighed four and quarter pounds.
got 1t right in the left gill Then begin
the dadbingedest hurroosh what ever.
1.-THE line was in the air most OF the
time, going in or coming out, and many
time fish would meet the flannel two
and half feet above the water. I'd reef
1t into him the second he struck: he'd be
hooked by the time his tail touched the
lake. and I jerked that old auadruple null
tiplying so fast that he'd come in standing
on his f1ukes with maybe his hind fin
just tipping the water now and again. /,
never see such fish. Nobody never did.
~ catched s,x4y-one red-eyed bass In