Show c 1 t r e FjL tyil r r q 7 1 t Q i I THE STRANGE k ENCHANTED BAIT Il BY CIIAJILKS BATTELL LOOMIS Copyright 1809 by Charles Battell L Loomis i 1f Tom Loveland X vas soIng fishing It L was S oclock at night and he was out 1 by the barn digging for worms and Vf getting crickets from beneath the stones that made walking so unpleasant unpleas-ant in the barnyard It Tils father had been anything of a farmer he I would long ago have rid the place of its crop of stones but that would have made it harder It gt crickets and like Tom Ezra Loveland dearly loved r al5 f I CteCy vy J 9 i t r r r I I I t ti l 1 1 i I A GREAT AND ANGRY CLAUDE AROSE Tr AMONG THE BRETHREN AND SISTERS Tom was going to Start l > io go fishing < 3m early next morning and drive to Clear 11 Like about six miles distant If he 1aJ good luck fishing lie was then ll the fish i troiig to Baslian Grove to sell holding a I to the Methodists who were Y ramp 1TIe < > tmg there > 1 bile lie was disting his dog Shep 1 1 began to growl I l han a > the matter Sheppy asked the head and then I cm patting him on particularly fat worm dra IDC forth a bnst a ruff was fr 6111 the earlh Shep UM and his eyes gleamed in the light I coming > Somebody was ot the lantern l t the gloom but > > d through Tm leered I Just then he heard a ha nF one to come out of a um that seerred yarn ularlj big rack in front of him un you want to Know l how to catchall catch-all tih fish uiu can carry away said startled < but hed tJ1f12 I UK voice TOO wati k 1tH 11 1 elf ventlloQuists and he imagined r that scat cone was playing a trick on I Why sure The r blip so he said 1Chere the more 111 sell mo = e I have air you Hl1yllJw front of you but you in i Im right butyU mortal ou are a because you me cant ski and Im not Your dog sees me though L stiff Tell him he < a hes frightened bas yu41 nothing to fear frO 1n = me He cant me he can only see me hear quieted the dog and told him to Tom lie down and Sher > stopped crvnun l by his masters feet and charge < f 1 am a rock gnome said the yoke I and mi brothers live in the rocks ii age < of the farmers ler abouts Mug J but Jaf our domes mid blast them f War on his ming is content to get < I Without dlsWVWne us and we hate that we appreciate wished to show long lib Kindness Youre going fishing ° arent YOU Tes answered Tom Im going I fishing the first thing in the rooming K and Id like to get some rock bass only bail and crickets aint i worms are poor much better and there aint any helga inltss around here Til fix all that aid the voice V hpn you have dug all the worms rOUt o t want and caught all the crickets Icfeve i t them in a heap on the big rock that glands in front of the north barn door f The one that the horses hae to stopover 1 L > stop-over eerj time they come in with a load of hay The king of the gnomes Jives under that and he will Instruct Ahe norm and the crickets to catchall I ° v aIl the fiSh you xant rock bass black I t base pickerel perch and anything else > ji the lake affords They will be just as it i Food as any fish Chat were ever caught I c but they im only last until 7 in tSie evening If y ou can sell them before t that time they will be as fresh as when n i ey were caught but if you have them f on your hands at 7 no matter whether IF ion You keep them on ice or not they will r ° rUl disappear And this luck you may Sways have if you will promise never in blast or rempve th r rocks that lie allOver all-Over the place I guess I can promise for father E said Tom laughing It would toke bard work to get rid of the rocks and > ZitI ierd rather fish than work any tiuy I XTel1 dump > our bait and you 11 find It all there in the morning Goodbye Goodbye said Tom and dumped 1Is bait on the big rock Then hEW he-W ni in and told hIs father or the I iompatt that he had made 1Ir Loe We get the > and said r land laugh i t Tom for I I 1or that bargain iert 1 for all the WuJ m nt touch those rocks I when I was there tvorld = They were born ar = d Ive had to dodge them in in Mier sInce I could Say gee V10 On ploy x and the > r > 1 stay there until Im amid the carved rocks of laid i away tame xe yard and hurried betimes 1i was up I the biff rock There lay the Avnifas i1Jt moist and fresh and wriggling I i huT never offering to set away and tt1je ckct wcreailsitt ng In a bunch mtffiHsa4B Iht iter w s p1it ffiell11h1 m fh rox 1hii iktj Jr mod up Jess He found that the t = idi i riJ i < C girth needed a visit to the harntra makers but judged it would last the day out so he started for Clear lake The morning was cool and the birds were singing here and there although most of the choristers had stopped their regular singing lessons early in the SUmmer The dew upon the jewelweeds jewel-weeds made the blossoms look even more like jewels and the plumes of golden rod were bright in the morning sunIf that old gnome knew what he was talking about Ill have fine luck and those Methodists are great on fish Why Ill fill this wagon full and sell them all before 12 oclock So thought Tom when he started out but after driving a mile or two he began lo doubt whether he hadnt been dreaming and he actually got out and caught a dozen crickets and a handful of fat grasshoppers lacking faith in the enchanted bait Although why it ouldnt have done as well as any I bait enchanted or not it might have puzzled him to explain A ride of an hour brought him to Clear lake It was well named forth for-th Ie was no part pf it so deep that you could not see the bottom But there did not seem to be as many fish as usual Here and there Tom saw a big bass or a pickerel l but for the most part the water looked like the business part of a great city on a Sunday so few citizens were on the streets He baited his hook + with boo of the crickets he had just caught hut although al-though hQ rowed to some pf the best fishing places on the lane and fished for a good hour he caught only three fish Then he absent mindedly put on I I one of the enchanted worms and the bait was hardly in the water when he pulled out a large fat bass that weighed at least four pounds it wes the biggest fish that he had ever caught in his life and his delight was boylike He could have kicked himself him-self to think of the hour lost with the ordinary bait and he baited two hooks I and cast them both out at once and pulled in a rock bass and a big perch Then followed such fishing as was never enjoyed by mortal before Some of the fish were so large that he had hard work hauling them in but he didnt lose a fish and by the end of an hour his boat was so full of flopping fin wearers > that he had to stop for fear of swamping it He rowed ashore and transferred his cargo to his wagon and found that he hadever a hundred big bass half as many pickerel and more perch than he could count He judged by the sun that it was about > 10 oclock He ought to reach Bashan Grove by 12 and sell his fish in an hour and then he would reach home by 4 with the biggest pocket full of money that had ever come into the Loveland homestead He deluged the fish with a pail full of water to freshen them up and then he covered them over with a blanket and putting Jess in the shafts he started start-ed for the grove The morning was cool the breeze was delightful and Jess swung along at a lively gait As for Tom he sang at the top of his lungs or whistled or shouted for joy He would easily get 550 for the fish even at the low price at which he would sell them and that would buy a cow to take the place of the one that broke her leg on the stone in front of the stable door The neighbors I neigh-bors had said in the unpleasant way that neighbors have that if the rock hadnt been there the cow wouldnt have broken her leg and had to be shot but Ezra had said that something just as bad might have happened and it was no use crying over spilled milk After Tom had gone a couple of miles i he met a team coming from the grove The man who was driving knew Tom slightly and he pulled up to talk to him Tom gave him a peep at the fish and the man said Why boy youll have em crazy Theyre short on meat and you can sell those fish as fast as you can hand em out Just bow do you get t here asked Tom excitedly First road to your right next to your left and then straight ahead called out the man glibly as he drove off and disappeared around a turn in the road I think he said first road to my left and then two to the right and then straight ahead but Im not sure However How-ever I can ask again But he did not meet another team and at last after driving two hours with no signs of the grove he hailed a man in a cornfield and asked him how far it was to camp meeting About fifteen miles Youre goingin the wrong direction Go back haJf a mile and then take the turnpike to the right and ride until you come to Kenton Ken-ton schoolhouse Then ask some one else for zIm not sure which road it is An hour later he found himself at the schoolhouse but it was vacation time and there vas no one to ask which of the twcFroajIs lid must take He took the upper road whichled down a steep hill and half way dow n the girth broke and if Jess hadnt been a very good Jess indeed he might have had a bad accident He fixed it with a tie line as well as he could and then he decided to stop and feed her as it was long past 12 12When When he started again he found that Jess was lame She had sprained her foot when the girth broke in her efforts ef-forts U keep the wagon from running her down and he had to drive her very slowly indeed That and the fact that the upper road was the wrong one so delayed him that it was 630 oclock when he finally drove into the camp meeting grounds Half past six and in a half hour his hah wculd vanish I He uncovered his stock and found himself at once the center of an eager crowd who bought his fiSh as fast as he could sell them All might have gone well in spio of his slim margin of tinie if he hai not made a miriake in giving change to a short stocky little = lit-tle man with a long waving white beard It took him so long to rectify this mistake that the clock in the Presbyterian Pres-byterian church at Oldfield sounded < 7 while he had yet 100 big fish in his wagon In an instant every fish bought and unbought disappeared and a great and angry clamor arose among the brethren breth-ren and sisters Tom was called many names not becoming to a camp meeting i meet-ing and he would have been roughly handled if the man who had made the fuss about his change had not taken i him under his protection He jumped in the wagon alongside of Tom and seizing the reins he drove out of the grounds lashing his whip right and left to free himself from hindering hands Once away from the clamorous crowd the roadway became astonishingly familiar fa-miliar and Tom found they were not a mile away from home He turned to question his kind vompamon and he was gone In his place there was the voice of the gnome You see my boy that it was no sort of good to give you such a chance to sell fish because you didnt seize it properly In the first place you frittered frit-tered away jour time with ordinary bait then you were inattentive to the instructions of the man you met and then your harness broke through your neglect and so youre out a days time and all the nice fish are lost forever They were passing a huge rock and Tom felt a cool breeze pass hIs face and then the voice was silent He drove home silently himself until he remembered the money that he had received for the fitr Tom was an honest hon-est boy and he knew that he had no right to keep the money as the fish had not kept so he took it out of his pocket There Nerd three JIg handfuls of dollars dimes and quarters He was passing over a bridge and he flung all the money into the brook I never could return it to the owners but I wont profit by it I After that he felt happier and drove home whistling His father met him at the barnyard What luck he asked None said Torn with a smile You might have known there was no such thing as enchanted bait said Ezra with a superior air And yet if he had known what we know J |