Omaha daily bee., 1902-07-06

best efforts of eleven days to offer as a
days catch"
20, cheer up said Tom Brennan, who
was standing by. "You ought to be mighty
glad to have had such good sport. You
we're fortunate TO have the opportunity Of
catching so many fine FISH. When you
hear my troubles you'll feel ashamed that
you mentioned yours. have been to
She'll lake, away up in Wisconsin more
than 500 miles. Now, let me say to you
that after days and days Of persistent fish
ing / have COM back from that place that
is touted so big as a fishing field with just
four fish and only one of those is mine.
What do you think Of that? Ride all
night and all day on the train to reach
real prize fishing grounds and make that
kind Of a haul. But that wasn't the worst
Of 1t. l had insult added to injury. AS
l was on my disconsolate way back a party
Joined the train from Lake Washington,
not half as far away, and one man in It
had 100 fine fish. And he was bringing
that string to Omaha. l felt large and
important with my little four fish,"
II cannot remember a fish story proper"
said Harry Homan when approached, but
l remember a little Incident which oc-
Cured on one OF our fishing trips which
was far more interesting to me than many
fishing episodes, both from a scientific and
q personal standpoint. The value OF the
occurrence is chiefly in the fact that II
goes to show SO plainly how strongly we
are affected by the mere thought that GER
tain things are so, or how easily the mind
can deceive itself.
This was some years ago and we had a
party Of women with us. The men were
sleeping on the ground In the open air, on
blankets. The women had a tent. 1t was
in a southern state and reptiles abounded.
The women soon found this out. and when
1t came time to go to bed they became
frantic with fear, refusing to lie down or
even sit down for fear Of snakes, ~tarantulas
an centipedes. We were at a loss as to
what to do with them. till the guide for
the party came to the rescue with a happy
thought.
ut is we'll known that no varmint will
cross a lariat rope of twisted hair. 1t is
rough and prickly and they refuse to slide
over II. Cowboys always make use of
this fact and ring their hair lariats around
them when they sleep in the open air.
This guide explained this to the women
and said he would run his, lariat around the
tent. They were contsnted, but insisted
on seeing 1t done.
Here came the rub. There was not a
hair lariat In the camp. We had, however,
a short hair rope on the halter. and the
guide played a good blum with this. He
gave me one end at the front corner of the
tent and he walked past the entrance with
the other end. II just reached around the
other corner, and he dropped 1t there out
of sight OF the women, who were watching
through the flap, but he kept right on
walking round. Finally he reached me on
the other side and told me to tie the ends.
The result was that the women went to
sleep and rested soundly, safe In their own
minds and so in reality. There were a
few masculine members Of that party, how
ever who lay awake nearly all night, so as
to be sure and get that rope away before
the women had a chance to discover the
hoax In the morning, as we all knew II
wasn't safe for US to play on their credulity
and let them find 1t out"