Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1902-05-08
"Di4 you land him?'' asked Farme.

Leon.}d.
HE Twas landed, all right" replied
Badly, the landlord, 'but lost him.
FARMER Leonard acted as if he was
going to ask some kind of question,
but Badly waved him down and said:
Yankee pond, up in Sullivan county,
used to have the reputation of harbor.
ing the biggest and savagest pickerel
anybody ever heard Of. 1 don't know
whether it has got over it or not, but
that was the reputation Yankee pond
had when lived in Sullivan county,
some years ago.
"Folks never seemed to care to fish
much in Yankee pond until the ice was
good and thick on it, and I've heard 'em
up there say that even then they have
seen pickerel glaring up at 'em
through the ice. and trying to knock
a hole through it so they could spring
out and snatch 'em.
Z "Well, any how, I was fishing one day
through the ice on Yankee pond, when
one Of my tip-ups, a good ways from
where was standing, went down with
rattle and hum. The hole was only
rod or so from the shore.
II started on run o yank the pick
erel out, but before I got anywhere
near it out of the brush on the shore
trotted a snorting big bear, and made
straight for that tip-up. 7 didn't go
much nearer. and the bear hauled up
that line with the picllerel at the end
re - 7 4o,,11 !,
it myself.
"And what whopper that pickerel
was. And sassy! He pitched into that
bear the minute he got his eyes on
him, and it wasn't till the bear had
given him couple swats that would
have tumbled an OK that the pickerel
give up.
1.-THE bear took the pickerel off the
hook, shouldered the pickerel. and
went off into the woods with it, pay
ing no more attention to me than if
hadn't been there. The pickerel only
lacked four ounces of weighing ten
pounds, and never saw it again.
"And, come to think of it," said
Badly, the landlord. smiling blandly
on Farmer Leonard, II don't really
suppose that would ever have known
just how much that pickerel did weigh
if I hadn't been passing by little
clearing on my way home, maybe an
hour later, and saw number of men
standing looking at something. 1
stopped to take look, too. 1t was
big dead bear they were looking at.
l recognized the bear at once as the
one that had caught and walked of
with my pickerel. One of the men
had shot it somewhere in the woods.
ben Winner happened to be there.
Ben Winner was so sure guesser on
the weight of hog or bear or a
critter of any kind, that all Sullivan
county barred him out on guessing
matches.
eff Ben Winner guessed that hog
or n bear or critter weighed SO much,
that was as good as if the scales had
recorded it, and it went. So Ben he
guessed on the weight of that dead
bear, as the man who had killed it
wanted to know it.
1.-THE bear weighs $40 pounds, just,
said Ben, and everybody was satisfied
but one man, who didn't seem to be-
long around there, and he bet dollar
the bear weighed more than $40 pounds.
The bet was made and they weighed
the bear.
1.-The steelyards showed the weight
at 349A pounds, to an ounce. You
never saw such a surprised lot of peo-
pie in all your life. Winner couldn't
believe his eyes.
"'Your pesky steelyards amt right
he said. Whoever heard o. me guess
in nigh to ten pounds out O the way
on bear? Your pesky steelyards
amt plumb
"But the owner of the steelyards,
| amazed as he was at Ben Winner being
off OH guess, stood ready to bet his
farm that they were right to the frac-
ton Of an ounce, and the excitement
was high, when l happened to mention
that the bear had stolen pickerel of
mine an hour or so before. Then every.
| thing was clear.
"'Your steelyards is all right!' hol-
Tered Ben Winner. L was guessin' on
bear, not on fish! The bear weighs
just $40 pounds! The rest is pickcrel!'
''But guess I never'd a known it,
though, if hadn't gone around that
way home," said Badly, the landlord,
smiling on Farmer Leonard.
I'm afraid not" said Farmer Leon
ard, and the cash register cheerfully
jingled.-N. Y. Sun.