CHAPTER III
FISHING THROUGH THE ICE WITH TIP-UPS
No one moved after that save Phil himself, though Lub breathed veryhard, as if the information had given him the "heart-jump," he oftenspoke about.
Phil knew he had made no mistake when he pronounced the prowling animala bold timber wolf; though he would have had some difficulty inbelieving it if some one else had told about one of those animals daringto venture so close to a camp where a number of hunters were sittingabout a fire.
He judged that the beast must be unusually hungry, or else not in fearof mankind, from some reason or other.
"Whoo! see his green-yellow eyes, will you?" whispered Lub.
"Put the bullet square between 'em, Phil!" advised Ethan, secretlywishing it had been _his_ rifle that was within easy reach at the time.
Hardly had he spoken than there came the report. A jet of flame spurtedfrom the end of the leveled gun; there was one sharp yelp and that wasall.
"You got him, Phil!" shouted X-Ray Tyson, always the first to see thingsthat happened.
"Hold on, don't rush over there till you get your guns!" advised Phil."If the wolves are that brash up here, there may be more of the lot."
McNab had thrown some small stuff on the fire so that the flames shotup, and in this way illuminated the vicinity. They could see a duskyfigure sprawled out where the animal had been crouching and glaring atthem with his terrible wolfish eyes.
So when Ethan and X-Ray had secured their rifles, with Phil theyadvanced to the spot where the victim of the shot had fallen. Phil was atrifle concerned himself, and anxious to make certain. If after all itturned out that he had shot a cur dog belonging to that terrible poacherand one-time logger Baylay, it was going to make them a tremendousamount of trouble.
He was speedily convinced, however, that there could be no doubt; andwas also rejoiced to hear McNab declare:
"A fearsome sicht I ken, lads, and the largest wolf I ever saw in all mydays in the bush. It was a braw shot ye made, Phil; it goed closebetween the eyes, and finished the beastie for a'. I tauld ye there wasgame worth the hunting up this way; if only ye may not have themisfortune to run across yon de'il o' a Baylay and get his ill-will."
They stretched the defunct wolf out, and Lub stared at his size, as wellas his ferocious appearance, shuddering as he fancied what a time anyone would have if attacked by a pack of such monsters.
"I expect I'll let you fellows do most of the prowling while we're uphere," he remarked, with the air of one who knew when he was well off."I never did care very much for that sort, you know; and there will beplenty of things to employ my time around the camp, I guess."
"Yes," Phil told him with a smile, for he knew that Lub's heart was notthe most valiant in the world, "and the first chance we get to-morrow Imean to show you how to fish through the ice out there."
"Oh! I've often read of that, Phil, and wished I could have a whack atit," the fat chum exclaimed, rapturously; "please tell me how it's done,won't you? They have what they call tip-ups, I believe, that let themknow every time a pickerel takes a bait."
"It's all as easy as falling off a log," Phil went on to say. "You cuthalf a dozen holes in the ice some little distance apart. Then you dropyour baited hook down, and fix a little contraption across the hole,connecting the line with the same. The idea is that when you get a fishhis struggles tilts a stick, and lets you know about it. Sometimes oneman 'tends dozens of holes, running this way and that as he sees he hasa catch, to take the fish off, and rebait the hook."
"Are all the tip-ups alike, Phil?" asked the deeply interested Lub.
"Not by any means, although they have the same common idea of notifyingthe fisherman that he has made a catch," the other continued. "Some Ihave seen consist of a stick, with a cord and a red piece of cloth; whenthe fish is caught he drags on the extra cord, and this causes the flagto appear at the top of the stick set upright in the ice. That is a goodway, though it means considerable labor fixing your poles."
"Tell us the easiest way, then," said Lub, who did not care for too muchwork, because, as he often said, of course in fun, he was "dreadfullyafraid of wasting away to just skin and bone."
"The simplest tip-up," said Phil, "consists of a crotch with two shortprongs and one longer one. The line is tied to this in such a way that ajerk causes the longer prong to dip down into the hole, though thecrotch cannot be wholly drawn through, care being taken to have it toolarge for that. Of course this tells the watchful fisherman to hurry hisstumps and take his catch off."
"Show me how to cut one of those same crotches the first thing in themorning, will you, Phil?" asked Lub; "while the rest of you are buildingour shack I might as well busy myself out there on the ice gathering ina mess of pickerel and pike, for I reckon both of them live like cousinsin our lake."
Phil accordingly agreed to this, and so Lub presently crept off to liedown in his selected place. They heard his deep breathing shortlyafterwards, and knew he had passed into the land of dreams.
"I hope Lub doesn't get to hauling in big fish while he's asleep,"complained X-Ray Tyson; "I've known him to do the silliest things in hisdreams, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit to find him trying to hug mein the night, under the belief that he had hooked a monster sturgeon ormuscalonge that was trying to get away from him. If you hear me let outa yell, pull him off, boys, please."
Of course both Phil and Ethan promised faithfully that they wouldaccommodate him, though possibly they were half hoping something of thesort might occur, because it would be a ludicrous sight to see Lub withhis arms wrapped around the more slender comrade, who would be gasping,and trying to break away.
"There, it was certainly a wolf let out that wailing howl!" declaredPhil, as they were about to follow the example of the fat chum, andcrawl into their already arranged blankets.
"Ef I had a bawbee for every one o' the creatures I've heard howl I'dnae doot be fixed for life," The McNab assured them.
"Then it is a wolf, a genuine one, that howled, is it?" asked X-Ray.
"Hoot mon! it could no' be annything else."
"Would they dare attack your ponies, Mr. McNab?" continued Ethan.
"I dinna ken, laddie; but the baith of them have been accustomed totakin' care o' themselves ever sin' they were knee-high to a duck. Iwould peety the wolf that was brash eno' to tackle the heels o' myponies."
The thought appeared to amuse McNab, for he continued to chuckle forsome little time after he had snuggled into his waiting blanket.
It was a long night, yet nothing happened to disturb the campers. Philslept in what he was pleased to call "detachments"; that is, he wouldlie there for an hour or so, and then raise his head to listen,perchance to crawl noiselessly out from his snug nest so as to placemore fuel on the smoldering fire; and then under the belief that itwould keep going for another spell again seek the warmth of his covers.
At last came the peep of dawn in the east. Phil saw it first, but he didnot immediately arouse the others, for they were in no especial hurry,and his fellow campers seemed to be sleeping so soundly it was a pity todisturb them.
Indeed breakfast was well on the way when Lub came crawling out,blinking his heavy eyes, and looking as though he had only burst thebonds that fettered his senses with a great effort.
"What's this I see and smell?" he exclaimed in a voice loud enough toawaken the Seven Sleepers. "Gone and stole a march on me, hey? Gotbreakfast started, and without calling on the head chef either? Allright, go ahead; if I see you making any amateurish mistakes pardon meif I correct you. We want things done according to Soyer's Cook Book inthis camp. That's what I'm studying at home, you know. He's simplygreat. F'r instance, when he starts to tell you how to make rabbit stewhe says: 'First, get your rabbit! See how pointed his directions are?Now a lot of cook-books ignore that fundamental condition altogether.They seem to think rabbits grow on bushes, and all you have to do is toput out your hand and pull one in. First get your rabbit! That's soundcommon sense for you!
"
The others began to make their appearance and by the time breakfast wasfully prepared all of them were ready to do justice to the spread.
"Are these real eggs, Phil, or the sawdust kind?" demanded X-Ray.
"Well, that hardly needs an answer," he was told; "they may be able tocondense eggs in a small compass like dust, but no man who ever livedcould put them together again once they are broken, and the yolk runsinto the white, Didn't you learn that 'all the king's horses and all theking's men, couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again'? which meant thatit was an egg fell from the wall."
After breakfast McNab hitched up and said good-by to his boy friends.
"Depend on it, laddies," he said, after shaking each one by the hand,"if so be ye dinna arrive at my h'use in twalve days I'll be forstartin' up this way once mair till fetch ye back. That is the compact Imake ye this day. And the best o' luck be with ye, amen!"
They were sorry to see McNab go, for he was good company; but there wasplenty to engross their full attention. Ethan and X-Ray had alreadybegun to use the two camp axes, and the merry sound of their lusty blowswas as music to the ears of Phil, who soon had a picture of CampBrewster in the making, to add to his collection.
Then there was Lub who had hurried through the clearing up of thebreakfast things in order to get at that fishing through the ice. Theytook a hatchet with them so Phil could cut the first hole. After that heshowed the fat chum just what kind of a crotch to select from the scrubgrowing near the shore, and how to fashion it so that it would answerthe purpose.
"If we had live minnows I think it would be much better than this boughtbait that is said to be extra good for pickerel fishing," Phil told him;"but we couldn't very well fetch such things away up here. Wherefishermen make this ice fishing a regular business they keep a bigsupply of minnows in a spring hole that does not freeze over in winter;and each day they use a quantity until all have been put on the hooks. Idon't know much about this patent bait, but it is said to answer along-felt want."
Lub worked industriously indeed. When he had six good tip-ups made heproceeded to cut five more openings, about fifty feet away from eachother. Then he began to bait his hooks, and set the lines.
Before he had the third hook baited he was thrilled to discover thefirst tip-up trying to get into the hole; and when he saw it moving hehurried over to ascertain whether he really had caught his first fish,or if it was going to turn out a false alarm.
A vicious tug at the line assured him he had something worth while atthe other end, and hand over hand Lub pulled a wriggling captive in,finally tossing out on the ice a pickerel weighing at least sevenpounds.
No wonder he gave a shout of joy and proceeded to dance around, holdingup his glittering barred prize. The others called out to congratulatehim on his work. "Do it some more, Lub, and we'll have all the fishchowder we can eat!" Ethan told him; whereupon the delighted fishermanonce more started in to finish his line of holes through the ice,working with a will.
The fish must have been pretty hungry in that Canadian lake, or else the"bought" lure that Phil had fetched along with him had some magicalproperties about it to attract the finny denizens. Certainly they keptLub hopping from one place to another, amidst frequent bursts of joy,and also considerable puffing; for it must be remembered that the boywas excessively fat, and this action made him short of breath.
The results must have gladdened his heart. Every time he took a pleasedlook at the stack of fish he had started to build he chuckled with prideand glee. Some of the prizes were by now frozen, and remained where hehad placed them; later arrivals flopped all around on the ice; but asfast as they became numb with the cold Lub would add them to his pile.
Such splendid fishing he could not remember of ever indulging in before.After such glorious success the boys would have to crown him as the kingof tip-up fishermen. And no doubt Lub's mouth watered as he contemplatedthe feast that would come at the end of that wonderful day.
If this good luck was going to be a specimen of what was coming theirway surely the Canadian trip must be marked down with a red cross in theannals of their vacation experiences.
Lub was wholly given up to his work. So engrossed did he become in itthat even the sound of the axes, and the voices of his chums failed todraw his attention any longer. In fact, he was fascinated with the charmof hauling in those glittering striped prizes; with an occasionalmuscalonge as well, fierce fighters that struggled madly against beingdragged from their native element.
The boys ashore had apparently cut enough small trees by now to satisfytheir present wants. They no longer used the ax save to trim some end asthey started to build the shack.
Phil had put all other things aside, lending his aid to further the workand really things were commencing to look like business.
Ethan and X-Ray were bending down, and urging a stubborn tree trunk tosettle in its appointed place, while Phil waited to fasten it there,when without the least warning they heard a wild whoop.
It came with such astonishing vigor that every one of the three boysstarted up, the business in hand forgotten for the moment.
Of course they knew that it came from Lub out there on the ice. He hadbeen giving some fancy exhibitions of shouting from time to time; sothat the others had reached a point where they only grinned on hearinghis notes of delight.
But this was different.
There was no chant of joy about the howl that had just reached theirears, to thrill them through and through; on the contrary plain _fear_dominated the outburst!