The Minneapolis journal., 1902-07-26


And man comes forth equipped for slaugh-
.- ter.)
A frog dropped down with a gentle splash
Close to the side of submerged log;
(Oh, Gatling gun is a nerve-shaking thing,
And so is the Black knight who nails that
frog)
There's a rod bent double. line stretched
taut,
screaming reel, wild leap into air;
(oh, Growers all right in Buzzards Bay,
But Izaak himself had been badly left
there.)
''Now. steady, old man, with the landing net!
Five-pounder! I've got him! Tis game
to me!' 49,. .-@s y: e.
(oh, Rob spake truth when he rhymingly
= said:
"The best played game gangs aft aglee. y
One. last daring leap-one fierce shake Of the
head
Rod straightens, line slackens and hook
flies bare:
ooh, holy David was onto his job;
''Naught eases the bursting heart like
prayer.')
Like silas Wegg, occasionally drop
into poetry, and THE above Is mot sol
worse" as 1t might be If it was
"worser," but If 1 could reproduce the
outbreak that relieved Jack Bernie's
bursting heart about O'Clock one morn
ing this week-and get 1t printed be-
aieve it would come nearer the real thing
than any man, be he poet or proser, VINO
ever attempted description OF fishing
excursion.
We had risen with the lark, which is
the proper thing to say, and do, though
never saw a lark in this country, Of the
feathered kind, at least; of the other-but
no matter. We had beat the sun in rls-
ing this once, and were on the lake while
the morning mist was still rising from it's
calm bosom, and shredding off before a
gentle southwest breeze that was just
awakening A loon was greeting the first
hints of the suns inclination to throw
off the bedclothes and spring into view,
with his usual maniac laughter, and a
splendid buck, his horns shea thed In vel
vet, stood on the sand not forty rods
away, engaged In taking his morning eye
opener from the lake.
The deer looked up at our advent, and
for a moment stared at as one conf
dent of being under the protecting aegis
Of the law, and safe from us. But then
he bethought him that at that present
moment the law was about 200 miles
southeast of him, and vanished as II a
wolf had howled his view-Ealloo in the
go 'thout a gun in this country for Il
long while, and never need it, but when
you do need it, ETC., etc. However, we
were after bass and nothing else, and so
the deer went glimmering with but scant
attention from US. =.
Jack Gets q Strike. -.
"A few rods of padding brought us off
q point where sundry Norway treet ops
lay half in, half out of the water, afford
ing lurking place Of the kind beloved
of the largest big-mouths, and here we
anchored within good casting distance,
and set to work. For my sins was try
ing new-fangled casting bait. and 1t was
treated with silent contempt.
But Jack stuck to the time-honored lit
tie greenback, and his first cast brought
tremendous strike, so I reeled in,
grasped the landing net, and was ready to
take in his prey as soon as he could
two sides to every question. The prey
refused to come, fought with such a
hearty good will that the rod tip broke un-
der the strain, and Sir Ebony got to the
sunken branches, where he, lost no time
in tying the line into dozen different
kind of knots. The only thing to do was
to snap the line, adjust the extra tip, and
leok pleasant, all of which Jack did
while I took in a couple Of goodly ones In
the meantime. >.
But Jack made up for lost time by
hooking and landing a five FOUNDER with
the first cast of his renovated rig, and
soon made my start look like thirty cents
or something smaller .
Indeed at the rate he was going he
would soon have acquired the dignity .o1
high hook, had he not hooked the father
of the family he was depicting SO rap
idly, and thereby got into q game as dan
gerous to player as was ever big mitt tc
sucker.
- Time after time the big fellow almost
got within ine-wrapping distance Of the
tree stops and as often Jack stopped him
just in time, and headed him outward
Three times he leaped =, and frantically
tried to shake the hook from his jaw, ant
still 1t held him.. 49,. '.' l. = 81. .,
And them he began to weaken and Jack
to wax jubilant. Eheu fugaces! Chick.
ems should never be counted before out Of
the shell, as all the world, which still
goes on counting them in that form
knows full well.
Prize Is Lost. e.
I was leaning over the boat side, land
Ing net at the full stretch of my arm
Jack was towing the big fellow int
reach both pair of eyes were gloatins
over his giant proportions-and he didn'1
do thing but make one more leap, feebly
shake his head, and shake the hook out
=. After full justice had been done-as fal
as 1t could be done-to the occasion, we
both took OFF our hats to the knight1y
escapee, and wished him the length, %
days his fighting qualities so we'll entitled
him to. We di1-1't want Ito play hog any
low; we had our full share; were rather
glad than otherwise the gallant fighter
had won, etc. "And yet, and yet, we can.
not forget and never will while we re.
tain enough of life to retain interest II
sport, which is only a way Of Saying tha
We will remember, and talk about tha
bass as long as we live. |
BY this time the sun had,'risen so 1igl
as to be uncomfortably: warm, and tn,
bass ceased biting SO we hied us to {
shady bank went ashore, and prepared tt
eat a slight luncheon, smoke, sleep, ant
otherwise while away the hours till ou
prey should regain appetite, and be read,
to furnish entertainments to all corners
But it became SO very hot that we were
somewhat anxious for the we'll l-keepin,
of our fish, and incidentally for the vel
fare of Jacks wife and daughter, whom
we had sent to little lake nearby. which
swarms with fierce little bass OF from hal
pound to a pound weight; always eager
to bite, and hence an admirable plac,
for ladies and tenderfeet to frequent
The ladies had gone under the wing o
the gallant Louis Orge, and were bette
off without our company than they woult
have been with It, but OFF we set any
q how, to see how they Jared, and had th,
nJeasure after priI1inr fhro11Rh q three