The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1902-08-08

| and SAID nOtn1n.
"'There's goin' to be some doin's
here says I. T feel it in my bones,'
1 says.
"And sure enough, it wasn't long
before the doin's begun. They start
| ed in with the old cat jabbin' one
of her paws down and snatchin'
somethin' out o. the water.
GAS she riz her paw 1 see it was
full o. somethin' that wiggled and
squirmed like all possessed, tryin'
to git away. When the cat see what
it was that she had she spread a
smile all over her face. Her paw
was full o young catfish, and if
there is one thing that creeps or
| flies or swims or runs that cat
likes better than another it's cat
| fish.
"The old cat picked out a couple
o. the fish and passed 'em back to
her kitten on the log, and gobbled
| the rest O. the handful herself.
They tickled her palate SO that she
| dabbed both paws down in the wa
| ter and brung up a mess O. young
catfish in each one, and her and the
kitten got away with them and
smacked their lips.
"Then I looked a little closer and
I seen the old catfish that had
rescued her family from the holfer
stump. She was layin' by the log,
lookin' scared, and seen that most
of her family O. young ones was
missin'.
".'That cat says I, is swoopin'
that catfish's family off the face o
the earth, so to speak, says I, 'as
sure as wasps astingin!' says I.
"The old catfish hadn't jest got on
to what was goin' on yit, but when the
yaller cat on the log reached down and
scooped out another handful of the
catfish's family and divide up with her
kitten, that old catfish actually turned
white around the gills.
"She seen it all at last, and with one
all-wollopin' slash of her tail she
jumped onto that log like britchy
cow goin' over a barnyard fence, and
Je-e-e-willikens borax! maybe she
didn't swat that yaller cat! She swept
that yaller cat off o. that log as if she
hadn't been nothin' more than a
feather.
"Then the catfish stepped back into
the water and waited to see. The yal-
Ter cat scrambled back on to the log,
and her dander was up as high as it
could git. Oh, but she was mad.
"She pranced up and down the log a
minute, and at it ag'in she went, scoop
in out young catfish and scatterin' 'em
to the winds so fast that l see there
wouldn't be one of 'em left to tell the
tale unless the old catfish got her Sec
ond wind pretty quick and done some
thin.
''And she got her second wind, and
riz up ag'in that yaller cat ag'in most
| exilaratin' for to see. Seems to me
for five minutes there wasn't nothin'
to be seen on that log but a whirlin'
streak O yaller sort O. mixed up with
a whirlin' streak O. black, and cat
cussin'. Merciful man! l jest had to
plug my fingers in my ears, I couldn' It
bear to hear it so!
"When the whirlin' and back-talk
quit, the catfish was back in the water.
There was catfish hide stretched here
and there on the log most enough to
make saddle, and enough yaller had
scattered about to stuff it with. The
yaller cat was sort O. Hckin' herself
| here and there, and the catfish was
| glarin' at her.
liz ;,,s
with her back way up, and her tail
swelled like rollin' pin, and she was
| spittin' away at that catfish fierce as
wildcats. The last one O the catfish s
| family had been swept off the face Of
| the earth.
"The catfish, seem that the old cats
kitten was still left, made up her mind
/ that she'd put an end to the cats FAM
| lily and sort O even things up, so she
sprung back on to that log, grabbed
the kitten, and swallowed it, whole
and alive, right before it's mothers
I eyes.
'Jumpin' back into the water, the
catfish turned and stuck her big head
out, close by the log, and as the old cat
was tearin' her hair, as you might say,
or leastways what little she had left,
and was mournin' and moanin' for her
| lost kitten, the fish opened her mouth
| from ear to ear, SO as the cat could
hear her kitten cryin' way down in
the catfsh's depths. Say! I could
hear that kitten cry myself, way over
on the bank where l was settin'!
"Well, that voice of her kitten was
more than the .bereaved yaller cat
could stand. She bounced square on
top of the catfish and they both went
down together.
'I didn't see nor hear nothin' more
of either of 'em for maybe three min
utes, and I made up my mind that the
cat had gone to join her kitten, when
1 see ripple on the water, and the
next minute the yaller cat come to the
top.
''She swan ashore, and she had the
catfish in tow. The catfish was dead,
and considerable clawed up.
'The yaller cat drug it out on
shore. Then she ripped it open with