Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/541

 HISTOID OF GOODHUE < <>ITY t61 Like ;i flash, like a ray of Lighl through the clear, pellucid water, striking at the decoy as he goes under and beyond the hole, darts a twenty-pound muskalonge. The nerves respond as to a currenl i f electricity. Now, do1 a motion, qo1 a noise, aol even a long breath. In a momenl or two lie comes moving slowly, cautiously, suspiciously back. Yen see the very tip of his nose as ii pro- jects above the ice. In the slowest, most cant ions manner pos- sible, watching everything, he moves steadily on toward the decoy, and then, when he has passed so far under the hole as to present his head and shoulders inside the wall of Lee, a quick, sharp downward blow skillfully given with the suspended spear, and the fellow is yours. If in this there is not excitement, if there is not pleasure which a sportsman feels to his very finger's ends, then the recoiled ion is strangely at fault. "Occasionally our trips were made to points some distance away, the journeys being undertaken by teams. One trip of this sort will not readily be forgotten. The party consisted of Dr. Sweney, Prof. Wilson, Teele, Downing, Brundage, Abe Thomas, Dr. Hoyt and myself. The shoes of the team had been recently sharpened: we drove up the river some distance and then across the island and struck the Vermilion slough at a point five or six miles above its mouth. We had in that neighborhood a good day's sport. .Mr. Downing using hook and line ami catching 'snakes,' the balance of the company using spear and decoy, taking fish. We returned by the Vermilion slough. Moving at a good round trot, without warning we entered upon a sec- tion of ice so thin that a jet of water of an inch or more in height followed, each cork of the shoes of the horses as they were raised from the ice in our progress, and so feeble as perceptibly to yield to the weight of the load. You may well imagine that at that moment our sleigh contained white faces, pallid lips and nervous men. It was madness to stop ; our only chance for safety consisted in going on and over the weak ice if possible, and this the driver instinctively appreciated. Applying the whip promptly and smartly, the team fairly flew until solid ice was reached and safety assured. For a brief period the strain was painfully intense. It was an experience no one, of that party was ever ambitious to repeat. "In the summer of 1857 a company consisting of Mr. Going, Mr. Williston, Brown and others left Red Wing for an extended chicken hunt. In the vicinity of Hader the troop was ranging over quite an area, yet within sight and hearing. Two of the company fired at a covey of chickens, and in a direction not toward, but away from Mr. Going. The reports of their guns had barely reached us when all eyes were turned to Mr. Going some distance away, who, howling in agony, was at intervals