After this plan had failed, Grant tried several others, his object being to secure possession of the wooded hills directly east of Vicksburg. For the present he was baffled by the geographical character of the country, which was excellently suited for defense by resolute men who knew every channel, but which presented almost insuperable obstacles to an invading army.
CHAPTER XIII—FISHING THROUGH THE ICE
As is usually the case in Minnesota, the fine outdoor skating came to a close toward the end of November through storms and snow-falls.
If the lads had not lived in company with such men as the trapper and Tatanka, time would have hung heavily on their hands. On many days the weather was very cold and the snow had become so deep in the woods that traveling was very difficult.
After they had been shut up in the cabin for three days by a bad storm, Tatanka one morning began to carve something out of a piece of soft basswood.
“What are you making?” Tim asked.
“Watch and see,” said Tatanka, as he continued slowly to cut away small white shavings.
Soon the boys saw that Tatanka was making a wooden fish about six inches long. When the figure was ready, the Indian cut small pieces of tin out of a tobacco-can and these he tacked to his wooden minnow to serve as fins.
“There, my little brothers,” he uttered with a smile, “you have a good minnow. He will fool the pickerel and the bass when they are hungry. I put a little piece of lead on him and you pull him up and down in the water, and pickerel and bass think he is a real fish. They come to eat him. May be you catch them.”
After Tatanka had made two more wooden minnows he and the lads went to a deep quiet place in a slough to fish.