The Princeton union., 1914-09-17
SCARED BY A FISH
Or Maybe 1t Was a New Species
of Inland Sea Monster.
A VISION IN RED EAGLE LAKE.

It Couldn't Have Been a Dream, the
Angler Admits That, Nor Bear, Nor
a Shark, Though 1t Did Look Like
Dog, but Anyhow and Luckily 1t Got
Away. ~
In camp on Red Eagle lake in the
Glacier National park, devoured by
mosquitoes as big as cultures, as fierce
as tigers and as numerous as drops Of
water in the Pacific ocean!
This is a bad beginning for fish
story. The language seems to suggest
that the narrator has already become
! unreliable. AS a matter of fact, phrases
which are strictly accurate may be
palpably misleading.
The language of hyperbole is needed
to present an adequate picture. Per-
haps the mosquitoes are not quite so
! big or fierce or numerous as stated, but
| they seem to be.
But to the fish story. And the Ian
| guage of vivid metaphor shall be laid
| aside What follows is fact t1n-
adorned, unexaggerated fact. I could
| not have dreamed it. I cannot even
now that I have begun to put pen to
paper hope to tell it in such way as
to bring the scene with realizing ear
nestness before the eye of my brother
! anglers
1t was evening. was on the lake
alone in my little canvas boat The
fishing had been good. I was return
ing to camp satisfied. The sack of fish,
my fishing kit, discarded tackle, the
net, etc., lying at the bottom of the
boat, it seemed safer to leave the rod
to poke out over the stern. the flies
trailing the waterfront of mischief, as
thought, where they could not get
tangled with any Of the truck.
So l rowed along gently, happy in
the slaughter l had accomplished and
wishing my friends had been with me
to do their share. And the rod shot
over the stern Of the boat before my
very eyes!
I had the presence of mind not to
make a forward dart and grab for it
as it disappeared. Such violent move
ment would undoubtedly have col
lapsed my collapsible boat 1 sat in
speechless amazement, too startled for
thought
And then close by a mighty splash
ing and plunging. l turned and saw
on the top of the water something
swimming. red brown head and
shoulders. I was frightened. 1t was
so huge.
l thought of a bear, of a shark, and
stories Of sea monsters flashed through
my mind. The thing was swimming
slowly What I could see Of it look
ed for all the world like the head Of a
magnificent St. Bernard dog used to
own.
Then l came to myself. realized that
this was a fish of species not known
to me and Of an incredible, unheard Of
size. He had taken my fly, had hook
ed himself on to the rod which he had
dragged overheard and was swimming
slowly because he was drawing it
along the bottom Of the lake.
l chased him. he dived, came up
again with splashing like that Of
an elephant in a pond and smashed
down again, Almost 1 could keep up
with him, so slowly did he swim and
so much time did be waste in his
frantic efforts to get free.
If I had been able to row properly.
facing in a direction opposite to the
one in which l was moving, believe
could have overtaken him. But l
needed to keep my eye on him. and
so had to backwater with the oars.
losing power at every stroke. was
thinking slowly. I was still too stun
ned to think normally. was puzzled
by the fact that such a monster did
not break my frail tackle in a mo-
ment- There was no resistance so long
as the forty yards Of line continued
to unwind or the rod to move easily
through the water.
AS often as he swung over and drop
ped down on the six foot leader it sim
ply yielded beneath him Five times
he rose, and the fifth time l was quite
near him. He seemed to be anything
from four feet to six feet long. l have
ut home muskellunge which caught
five years ago in the St. Lawrence
river. He weighed thirty-two pounds
and measures forty-seven inches. This
fellow was much bigger and more ter
rifying. And have no other means OF
guessing at his size and weight
Then with the sixth leap and dive
something gave. and the monster was
seen no more. rowed slowly back to
camp actually unnerved by the adven-
ture Literally-and he who will may
laugh at mel felt afraid to be alone
In the failing evening light, alone on a
piece of water inhabited by such crea-
lures as the one who had pursued me-
and whom had pursued
! was glad to hear the friendly hail
of my guide from the landing place of
!. logs which we had constructed, to see
the glare Of the campfire and to sniff
the smell of supper. Then I reckoned
up my loss-a rod. $50: a reel, S17.5O.
and four dollar line-nearly $50
worth nf nrnDortV at tho bOttOm OF