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CHAPTER IX.

A DAY AMONG THE LINES-- MAMMOTH FISHERIES OF
THE MAUMEE -- GO TO THE FISHERIES AND SPEAR
A STURGEON NINE FEET LONG RESDRT TO TIlE
SEINE -- A STRANGE KIND OF GAME -- APPALLING
SPECTACLE -- THE MYSTERY SOLVED.

Who has not ventured forth on a beautiful summer afternoon, with a kind, warm- hearted friend by his side, and with measured line dropped his baited hook beneath the rippling surface of the shinlug waters, and then glided smoothly along over the languid water, quite oblivious of time or space, while his fair companion beguiled the hours into minutes, and miles into narrow spaces, until there was a certain feeling of quiet satisfaction, equivalent to--don't care whether, fish bite or not ---when suddenly the silken thread of conversation is broken by a gentle twitching of the line, and the devoted listener is roused to something like a sense of the painful duty before him--painful, did I say?-- yes, painful. Painful because the poor fish's lacerated gill must be separated fi'om the cruel hook ? oh, no, not that; but painful because a mind lost to everything but the communion of a kindred spirit must thus forcibly and suddenly be brought back to the wakeful and real in life, while

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it would much rather repose in dreamlike rhapsodies under the soothing influences of quiet, sparkling waters, and still more sparkling wit. But the hook must be drawn to the surface, and there comes up with it a beautiful sunfish. Oh, how delicious that will be fried in sweet butter, and shared with a friend for supper. But the little creature makes many remonstrances against such a course. He writhes his little body into many distorted shapes, and the sympathetic friend by your side pleads so eloquently for the life of the little sufferer you begin, to feel how cruel it would be to kill it, and hook is much more tender removed than perhaps the same hook has been on former occasions, and the little fish, after being admired for a moment, is thrown again into the water, instead of the empty trough that you expected to see by this time well filled. The line is wound up, and the fishing abandoned for the afternoon, and the fisherman relapses again into before- described state of luxurious repose, while the lazy breeze idly wafts them back to the little port from whence they glided.

Now it is not such a fishing excursion as this that I am going to describe. Indeed, I do not expect it to resemble it in the smallest particular. I have only drawn this opposite sketch, thinking some might have met the former in their own experience, and when compared with some more recent experience, found the contrast pleasant.

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I am now going to make just as sudden a transition fi'om the fanciful and false, to the commonplace and true, as the young lover makes when he exchanges the golden hours and honied words of courtship for the leaden years and tart words of dull, prosaic life. I was living in Hancock Co., Ohio, when I heard of the mammoth fisheries of the Maumee. Now fishing possessed a charm for me second to nothing but hunting, and as it was not the season for hunting, I thought I would fill up the interval of time by fishing. At that age I was rather ambitious, and quite fond of leading the van whenever associated with company in any business. At this time I was quite successful in raising a crew, and started for the "big fisheries," about fifty miles distant. Among the number who accompanied me, was my brother, to whom the reader has previously been introduced. He had been to the fisheries the previous summer, and so entertained us en route, by marvelous stories of the size and number of the fish, particularly the sturgeon, until my mind was so engrossed with thoughts of sturgeon that I was ready for battle as soon as one presented itself to my sight.

We had no sooner landed than a large one came popping its head out of the water close to the place where I was standing. I caught a spear which luckily lay on the bank, and started for the fish. The owner of the valuable article saw the trick,

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and hallooed at me to bring back his spear. I told him if I broke it I was able to pay for it. He replied that he did not want the pay, he wanted the spear, which was much more valuable to him at that time and in that place than the money it cost; but I was far out in the water, and did not heed the admonition: but my brother explained the case to him, telling him there was no danger of me, I was half fish myself, and if I could not bring it to shore I would go down stream along with it. There were about fifty men on tile bank watching the exploit, and what man is not willing to make some ventures where there are others standing by to applaud his heroism? I felt at the time that I could have been a second Napoleon, had the same opportunities for daring bravery presented themselves, and the same number of anxious beholders stood by to watch the result. I fastened a loop of the cord that was attached to the spear around my left hand, and with the instrument of death firmly clenched in my right, I made a bold start toward the leviathan. Now I suppose I need not tell the,dweller in the Maumee Valley, that the sturgeon is the most powerful fish found in the fresh ,water, Though very lazy and languid in its movements, it is, when attacked, found to possess strength. The water in which, I approached was about two feet deep, and the bottom was smooth, solid rock. But a few rods further down

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the stream there was a sudden jog in the limestone rock, and the water was six or eight feet deep, and the current just above very rapid. I knew that my chances of success lay in immediate action, and accordingly I plied the spear. It penetrated the tough hide, and entered the flesh just below the gills. The moment the spear struck him, he made one powerful plunge into the water, carrying the spear quite out of my reach; and I soon discovered that he was not only carrying the spear, but by means of the cord attached to my left hand, I too was following at quite a rapid rate. This unintentional drift down stream gave me no small axietv as to the result; and after following my captor several rods, I determined to reverse tho motion. I had now the disadvantage of heavy clothing, swift current, and a powerful, refractory force, from which I could not get free if I would. But in time of danger my strength never forsook me, and at this time my efforts were equal to the task. I at length swam safely to the shore, the subjugated sturgeon following me at a rapid rate. My friends congratulated me upon having accomplished a very daring feat. We drew the fish ashore, and he measured nine feet in length.

At another time my brother and myself waded in together, and thought that between us we could surely capture a fish only ten feet long. The water was about three feet deep, and the undaunted sturgeon lay there lazily upon the surface while we

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approached and leisurely surveyed him. We made all our arrangements for capturing him--John was to catch him by the tail, and I would seize him by the gills. When I should say, Ready, we were with simultaneous movements to lift the finny monster entirely out of his liquid element, and then we would have him quite within our power. But ah, delusive thought! we did not rightly estimate the strength of our supposed captive, until found ourselves upon our backs beneath the surface of the ruffled water. Before deliberating very long upon the comparative strength of the fish, and our own inability to capture him. we turned our attention to the more practical matter of' regaining our footing. When this was accomplished, we saw the wake of the fish far in the distance. We did not follow him, but quietly sought the shore, our ambition fully satisfied with that kind of fishing.

After this we followed the more approved of fishing with the net and seine; and in twenty- four hours we had caught nine barrels, and them salted and ready to start for home. The place where the fish were caught was just below the dam, and one of the company would go close to the fall of the water, and the rest would. hold the seine just below, the one above with a long pole driving the fish into the net.

At one time my brother proposed going he sheet of water that fell from the dam, driving the fish through. He said he would go

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along until he came to where the fish were most abundant, then he would indicate the locality by running the pole through the falling water, and there we should set our seine. We did so, and several times we drew it well filled with nice, large catfish. The fourth time we had no more than set our net, when something much heavier than a fish struck it, and we thought the old cat and all was to pay. We drew it ashore, eager to discern the nature of our gain. We looked cautiously in, and there by the pale, glimmering light of the moon we saw the drenched body of a man. In spite of all of our bravery, the stoutest, heart shuddered at the appalling spectacle. Long, dripping locks, parted in heavy strands about the forehead, sinewey hands convulsively clasped, and jaws rigidly set. In that distorted visage it took me some moments to discern the likeness of my brother; but I was not equally slow in resorting to the usual restoratives, and in the course of half an hour he began to show signs of recovery, and at length the mystery was cleared up. My brother having remained quite as long as was agreeable in the dense fog and vapor, and feeling a sickening, suffocating sensation, occasioned by the dampness, thought the shortest route to fresh air led through the spray, and he would follow it. But the weight of falling water precipitated him violently to the rocky bottom beneath, and he arose just in front of the net. When entering the opening of the

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net, he thought the days of Nineveh were revived, and a mammoth fish had been prepared for his reception. While reposing in his capacious stomach, he felt annoyed by the innumerable company of little fishes that had been swallowed with him, and to prove himself the most important of the company, was what had occasioned the violent kicking and floundering that so nearly destroyed our little seine.