Page:Old ninety-nine's cave.djvu/219

 *ment, and then a look of such vindictive hatred that Jack proceeded with difficulty; but when he had concluded, his listener remarked coolly, "I'll be doggoned if I aint hungry!"

"Were you ever North, Mr. Watson?"

"Never, but I reckon I'll go some time, perhaps along o' you when you take a turn home."

"Oh, how delightful! I may go next year."

For dinner, they were served with blue cat-fish of which Jack never seemed to tire, a long, slender fish averaging about one and a half pounds, and equalling in flavor the northern brook trout. It is very unlike the mud cat-fish which is coarser in grain and flavor and sometimes attains a tremendous size; but even from a fifty-pound fish, the steaks are very good.

"I do not believe there is a fish in the world equal to our blue cat-fish," observed Watson, deftly removing the bones from his mouth.

"Unless it is our speckled trout," Jack suggested.

"There is a peculiar spring on my ranch,"