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  CHAPTER XVII

  "TIP-UPS" FOR PICKEREL

  Tom Betts came up from the frozen creek.

  "I don't believe that little snow ought to keep us from trying thescheme we laid out between us, Jack," he said, looking entreatingly atthe other.

  "Why, no, there wasn't enough to hurt the skating," replied the other,readily, much to Tom's evident satisfaction.

  "Bully for you, Jack!" he exclaimed. "There was more or less windblowing at the time, and the snow was pretty dry, so it blew off theice. We can easily make the lake in an hour I reckon, with daylight tohelp us. Besides, we know the way by this time, you see."

  "All right!" called out Frank, who had been detailed to assist Paul inthe making of the extra bunks out of some spare boards that lay nearby, having been brought into the woods for some purpose, though neverused.

  "Remember, you two fishermen," warned Paul, "we'll all have our mouthsset for pickerel to-night, so don't dare disappoint us, or there willbe a riot in the camp."

  "We've just got to get those fish, Jack," said Tom, with mocksolemnity, "even if we have to go in ourselves after them. Our liveswouldn't be worth a pinch of salt in this crowd if they had to gopickerelless to-night."

  "Oh! that'll do! Be off with you!" roared Jud Elderkin, making out tothrow a frying-pan at Tom's head.

  When at the lake talking to the man who had agreed to look after theiriceboats during their absence, the boys had learned that there wasfine fishing through the ice to be had at this season of the year.

  Abe Turner had also informed them that should they care to indulge inthe sport at any time, and should skate down to his cabin, he wouldshow them just how it was done. What was more to the point, he had astore of live minnows in a spring-hole that never froze up, even inthe hardest winter, he had been told.

  This then was the object that drew the two scouts, both of themexceedingly fond of fishing in every way. None of the boys had everfished through the ice, it happened, though they knew how it wasdone.

  Accordingly, Tom and Jack set off down the creek, their skate runnerssending back that clear ringing sound that is music in the ears ofevery lad who loves the outdoor sports of winter.

  Jack carried his gun along. Not that he had any particular intentionof hunting, for others had taken that upon themselves as a part of theday's routine, but then a deer might happen to cross their path, andsuch a chance if it came would be too good to lose.

  "You see," commented Tom, after a mile or so had been placed to theircredit, "the snow isn't going to bother us the least bit. And I neverenjoyed skating any better than right now."

  "Same here," Jack told him. "And we certainly couldn't find ourselvessurrounded by a prettier scene, with every twig covered with snow."

  "Listen!"

  Both of them stopped when Tom called in this fashion, and strainedtheir ears to catch a repetition of the sound Tom had heard.

  "Oh! that's only a fox barking," said Jack. "I've heard them do itmany a time. You know they belong to the dog family, just as the wolfand jackal and hyena do. Tolly Tip has a couple of fox pelts already,and he says they are very numerous this year. Come on, let's be movingagain."

  So they pursued their winding way down the straggling creek, firstturning to the right and then to the left.

  "It's been just an hour since we left camp," remarked Jack at length,"and there you can catch a glimpse of the lake through the treesyonder."

  Abe Turner was surprised as well as pleased to find two of the boys athis door that morning.

  "Didn't expect us back so soon, did you, Abe?" laughed Tom. "But inlaying out the plans for to-day we found that some of the boys werefish hungry, so we decided to run down and take you up on yourproposition."

  "Nothing would please me better," Abe told them. "And it is about asgood a day for ice fishing as anybody'd want to set eyes on. I'll goright away and get my lines. Then we'll pick up a pail, and put someof my minnows in it."

  Before long they were out upon the ice of Lake Tokala, Tom carrying anaxe, Jack the various lines and "tip-ups" that were to signal when afish had been hooked, and Abe with the live bait in a tin bucket.

  The day was not a bitterly cold one, and this promised to make fishingagreeable work.

  "On the big lakes where they do a heap of this kind of work,"explained their guide as they went toward Cedar Island, "the men buildlittle shanties out on the ice, where they can keep fairly warm. Yousee sometimes the weather is terribly cold. But a day like this makesit a pleasure to be out."

  Coming to a place where Abe knew from previous experience that a goodhaul could be made, the first hole was cut in the ice. As winter wasstill young this did not prove to be a hard task.

  Abe had marked a dozen places where these holes were to be chopped,but the boys chose to watch him set his first line. After the noveltyhad worn off they would be ready to take a hand themselves.

  There are many sorts of "tip-ups" used in this species of sport, butAbe's kind answered all purposes and was very simple, being possiblythe original "tip-up."

  He would take a branch that had a certain kind of fork as thick aroundas his little finger. In cutting this he left two short "feet" and onelong one. To Tom's mind it looked something like an old-fashionedcannon, with the line securely tied to the short projecting muzzle.

  When the fish took hold this point was pulled down, with the resultthat the longer "tail" shot up into the air, the outstretched legspreventing the fork from being drawn into the hole.

  At the end of the long "tail" Abe had fastened a small piece of redflannel. When a dozen lines were out it often kept a man busy runningthis way and that to attend to the numerous calls as signaled by theupraised red flags.

  "Now that we know just how it's done," said Tom, after they had seenthe bait fastened to the hook and dropped into the lake, "we'll getbusy cutting all those other holes. My turn next, Jack, you remember.Watch my smoke."

  They had hardly finished the second hole before they heard Abelaughing, and glancing toward him discovered that he was holding up atwo-pound, struggling pickerel.

  "First blood for Abe!" cried Tom. "But if they keep on biting it'll beour chance soon, Jack. My stars! but that is a beaut, though. A dozenlike that would make the boys stare, I tell you."

  When Abe had arranged four lines he would not hear of the boys cuttingany more holes.

  "I'll dig out a couple to make an even half dozen," he told them. "Andthe way the pike are biting to-day I reckon we'll get a good mess."

  "All right, then," agreed Tom, much relieved, for he wanted to bepulling in the fish rather than doing the drudgery. "I'll look afterthese two holes, Jack, and you skirmish around the others. And byjinks! if I haven't got one right now!"

  "The same here," shouted the equally excited Jack. "Whew! how he doespull though! Must be a whopper this time. I hope I don't lose him!"

  Fortune favored the ice fishermen, for both captives were saved, andthey proved to be even larger than the first one taken.

  So the fun went on. At times it slackened more or less, only to beginagain with new momentum. The pile of fish on the ice, rapidlyfreezing, once they were exposed to the air, increased until at noonthey had all they could think of carrying home.

  "The rest of the day we'll take things easy, and lay in a stock forAbe here," suggested Tom; for the guide had told them he meant to cureas many of the fish as he could secure, since later on in the winterthey would be much more difficult to catch, and it would be a longtime until April came with its break-up of the ice.

  The boys certainly enjoyed every minute of their stay at the lake.Jack was wise enough to know that they had better start for camp aboutthree o'clock. It might not be quite so easy going back, as they wouldbe tired, and the wind was against them.

  They had skated for over half an hour, with their heavy packs on theirbacks, when again Tom called to his comrade to listen.

  "And believe me it wasn't a fox that time, Jack!" he declared, "but,as sure as you live, it
sounded like somebody calling weakly forhelp!"