The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-19
FIGHT At A HERON DANCE
FERGUSON, THE GuInH snns
BIRD THAT WOULDN'T BE
DRIVEN
GATHERING IN THE FOREST
Jealousy Aroused the Big Heron.s
Performaics7-Battle of the One
and the IThirty-Nlne-vic-
tors'j Celebration.
F4held, Wis. Correspondence New yor,


Fifield, Wis, Correspondence New York
| Sun. s. u
At the noon hour, on the high hank a,
the south side of Round Lake. in a forest
of birches, beeehes.. sbalsam pines and
hemIocks, Fergyks theb guide. on his knees
near roaring fire, WAS bus7Iy skInning
pass. The maD7Who6 paid him 81 a day
TO talk and sometimes row boat in a
desutory way. was stretched at full
length watching him. No Wisconsin
guide ever scales a bass and cleans it IN
the legitimate manner. 1t is too much
like work. With a sharp knife in his
right hand Fergy held the fish, belly
| upward, its tail pointing from him. A
| swift draw of the blade toward him took
! off the ventral fins. The bass was turn
/ ed over and similar swipe took off its
| back fins. A slight incision was made
just below each gill and the skin was
| stripped down to the tail in two solid
| flakes. A stroke Of the knife took off the
! head, and the entrals came with it.
| There was fish, transformed into two
! slabs of white, tender flesh, ready for
/ the frying pan No guide ever broils
bass, or bakes it. That, too, is too much
like work. Fergy was able to handle
couple. of two pound bass a minute in
! this fashion without exerting himself
especially. 4sl ss.e
up at the far end of the north fork of
the Flambeau last year" he said, they
was a Frenchman name Edouard Blanc.
| and we called him Black Ed for short.
He was the fastest man with a knife in
all them parts, and was able to keep
fish in the air for a hour at time.
He got into a slashin' match with Joe
humphreys, logger firm Canady, at a
| dance what was-had at Bill Hamilton's
shack. Joe was7siowT but he was mighty
shore, and we buried Black Ed mex
day. He didn't have but two cuts on
him, but they was put in to count. Joe
was skinned in twenty places, but not
| hurted bad. TT don't pay to be too
skillful SOMETIMES, but at fixin' FISH
for pan Ed was. a shore neepul sultry."
(Ne plus ultra.) - -"
Fergy reached upward with a swift mo-
ton Of his left-hand. brought it down
with the fingers closed, inserted care
fully the thumb and forefinger Of his
right hand and brought them out, hold
ing imprisoned a mosquito. He looked
at 1t curiously and then showed it to
his companion. On the body of the In
| sect just under the wing. was a smaller
it was hardly visible to the eye. The
guide mashed the mosquito with an air
| of satisfaction, threw 1t away, and said:
THAT fixes EN-. Two weeks f'om now
they won't be skeeter within a hundred
mile O. here. Want to bet on it.
No said his employer II don't
want to bet on it. / want the fish, and
1 want it right away"
Yes" said sGergy composedly lifting
sthe frying PAN. almost red hot from the
fire, and dashing GWater into it to clean
lsit. sOne time they come Teller here
from Milwaukee, He was full o. beer
and pride, lie used to tell me tales
mile long about beer duels in Milwaukee,
and men in Milwaukee that hadn't drunk
a drop of water in5ffteen sjuss beer
/ all the time; tales bout hew he handled
l-sixty GLASSES Of bss4s- a. hour and a
half. and bout men that had their collins
made in the shape O. beer kaigs,, and
| bout men that took baths in beer every
morning, JUS like l swims in the lake.
I~told him that a man that'd drink beer
when he could get wood alcohol didn't
| have no more sense~than a string O. dead
fish, but he didn't get mad
well, besides talkin' bout beer In Mil
waukec, he was always wantin to. bet
bet you on the weight Of a fish, on the
| length of time a mu5ky'd fight after he
was hooked, or which man could make
a fly light on a lump of sugar fust, or
about two drops of water runnin' down
windeI pane in the hotel, or anythink.
I ketehed a skeeter one day and showed
him the little red bug, and said they'd
all be gore in two weeks, and he bet me
$40 right away ag,inst 1--WE days gufdin'
that they wouldn't be gone in fifteen
days. He never seen a red bug or a
skeeter before, but that was what he bet
right off'n the reel. 1t was my own
game and O course5I hadder take him
up. Ten days-or maybe eleven days
artel ward I couldn' Il find a skeeter no
where's, but he said Me seen 'em ev'ry
day. On the fourteenth day I claimed
the money but he swore he seen a bunch
O. skeeters early that mornin when he
got up. Mex day he come to me with his
hand shet and opened it and a half
dozen flew out and went away.
! II knowed in reaSongthat they 'Wouldnt
J live till night, but J. Bladder pull my arms
/ off for five days with that Teller, jes'
the same, and listengto tales bout beer
! in Milwaukee ev5ry mint o. the day.
! After he went away3I got a letter from
! him, sayin' he was sorry for a woods
/ orphin and child O. mater, but 1 knowed
; too much to be healthy and he'd ketched
! them skeeters a week before and KEEP
| 'em alive under a glass tumbler in his
room. He weighed 1872 pounds 10 ounces,
most of it beer and pretzels," said Fergy.
4 drawing a deep Dredln anu SldIlDS DIT
| his listener but wen he comes back to
| this camp I'm goin' to make him think
he don't weigh as much as a heron's
| feather. Pulled my arms off, did. and
listened to him"
That's right" said his auditor Make
him stand still and then step on his feet.
| How're the fish coming on?"
Fine" Fergy answered, putting the
| first one in the pan and looking refec-
| Foil In he.Trf
| herons, though, one night on Pickerel
| lake [ see the dadbingdest sight 1 ever
See A man come up from Chicago with
| a jacklight made to order outn alumni
mum. 1t was mighty light and burnt
! this new gas and give a shine like a
! shack aflre. 1t made his head hot TO
wear it and be give 1t to me, and 1
wanted to try it. 1 gifts in a boat
on PickereI on a thick cloudy night and
| starts to paddle along amin to shine
| deer and git meat for breakfas and
/ terbacker fer the hide. l paddle and
| paddle and 1 never see a eye. Bimeby
the clouds rolled away and then big
moon come outsI maxim ev'rything as
light as day. I'da clean forgot about it's
bein' moontime. andG co Sc the jack
| weren't no more good.
81 was at the Far eend O. the lake and
ten, or maybe .ffteens rod from me was
| q little island Off sand that stood about
two feet out O. the water and was may
| be half an acreI1 big.1n 1t didn't have no
grass on it nur bushes. jus plain sand.
/ knowed it well O eo,se-ketched many
a bass near to if-and I'd alters noticed
1t was marked up with lot tracks
mos prodijus, but E,never seen nothin'
on it. Well this night as sit in the
boat and take the jack Off n my hat and
try to put out that new gas and CANT,
hear a mos awful -Swoosh IN tn air
sounded like al tree jus way to the