The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1909-05-21
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A FISHERMAN'S TALE.

years ago CueTe iVeu great anu
mighty hunter, Nimrod by name, who
was the first to indulge in the excit-
ing sport of the hunt, writes Mention,
in the New York Press. This worthy
man undoubtedly chose a worthy pro-
fession, but I must confess that l am
as the art of angling, as eXpounded
by the estimable Izaak Walton, has
always appealed more strongly to me.
This may be ascribed to the fact
that / never was much of a marks
man, but the fact that, with one ex-
ception, I never shot anything larger
than a chippy, may also be RESPONSE
bic to a certain degree. However,
be that as it may, my experiences of
the one and only time I ever meddled
with a gun will give all readers a
good idea of the success that followed
my efforts in this field.
Twas several years ago that I had
occasion to take a run up to the
northern part of Westminster County
on business, and while there I
dropped into friends house for a
visit. But this happened to be his
busy day, and 1 was about to leave,
when he asked me if I would not like
to go out shooting. Certainly I
would, anything to kill time. So he
gave me his twelve guage, double
barreled shotgun, some cartridges and
full instructions for USE"
I'D IN r; rh S,.;f
ter walking what judged to be about
a mile, the first game was sighted, an
English sparrow. I drew bead on
him. Crack went the gun, and the
load of buckshot entered the trunk
of tree; the bird, however, was I'M
touched.
Exasperated by his derisive chirp-
ing, I pursued him through thorny
underbrush and vines and lodged
about among densely growing sap
lings, the overhanging branches of
which beat me about the face un-
mercifully, until finally drew up on
the bank of small stream, minus my
hat, with disheveled hair and badly
disarranged clothes, the perspiration
trickling from my scratched face in
large drops. After emptying the con-
tents of the second barrel into the
air as defiant challenge for that
sparrow to dare return, took long
draw from my ever-ready flask to
soothe my perturbed mind.
Proceeding up the stream in
more composed state of mind, I no.
ticed that the dense foliage which
lined both banks was chock-full Of
sparrows. Here was my chance.
Crawling cautiously to within ten
feet of the nearest bird, I pulled
both triggers. Click, click, went the
triggers, and with a whirr the
swarm of birds was gone. I had for
gotten to reload. Words cannot de-
scribe how sore I was at myself as
well as at the chippies. But never
theless I took my reverses philosoph-
ically, and reloaded in resignation.
Ha! there was another one of those
rascals in the branches overhanging
the water. This time I'll make sure.
The barrel of the gun could not have
been more than six feet from the
bird when the report rang out. 1
plainly heard his miserable carcass
strike the water, but when, after
breaking through the underbrush, l
wanted TO fish it out, there was moth
ing to be seen but slight ripple on
the surface.
HIM" 1 solioquized, that's
strange. I'll have to shoot them at
distance from the water" Yes,
that was more easily sid than done.
The sparrows persisted in perching
on those limbs which projected over
the water. So 1 took position from
which I could see the surface of the
stream and waited till a sparrow
came within range. Then l fired and,
strange to say, hit him, too.
He dropped, but just as he reached
the surface the elongated head of. a
pike appeared, encompassed the
bloody carcass in his mighty jaws and
disappeared as suddenly as he had
come. I stared till my eyes bulged,
so surprised was I. Who ever ex-
pected to see so large pike in this
stream? And keeping his eye on my
birds, at that! was simply dumb
founded.
So that was where the fruits of
my labor were finding a last resting
place, Ell? "I'll fix you." 1 NUT
tered in determination with a savage
glare in my eye, which I suppose the
fish didn't notice. So 1 reloaded both
barrels and waited for bird to ap-
pear in suitable place, calmly smok-
ing my pipe in the interim After a
good wait, during which nearly fell
asleep, a chippy alighted on the self
same spot where his predecessor had
found his death. After figuring out
as accurately as possible the exact
spot where he would hit the water,
l let fly at him. He dropped like a
log.
When he neared the water the pike
promptly appeared and was about to
gorge himself on this juicy morsel
also, when 1 emptied the contents of
the second barrel into his lengthy top
knot. After churning the water into
a bloody foam in his death agony he
rolled over on his side and croaked,
kicked the bucket, shuffled off to a
place far from the madding crowds
ignoble strife" You know what
mean.
Probably l was even more surprised
at the success of the shot than the
pike himself. After this all my
troubles of the day seemed to melt
away like the snow under the hot
rays of the sun. The fish was worth
it in my opinion. For, after getting
back to my friends house-and it
took me several hours, as 1 didn't
have the faintest idea where l had
wandered-he, the fish of course, was
found to tip the scales at five and
three-Quarters pounds.
If anybody would like to have this
story verified he can see my friend
about it. He will show you the very
buckshot holes in the pixies head,
which he had mounted shortly after