Three Boys in the Wild North Land

by Egerton Ryerson Young

Chapter Twelve.

Novel Fishing—Guns and Gaff Hooks—Frank’s Plunge—Light-hearted Sam and his Story—Strange Battle—Pugnacious Jack Fish.

The boys were quite fascinated by the wonderful story, which is undoubtedly true, of the silver cave. Their imaginations were fired, and they longed to start off to find those treasures of silver that in that hidden cave somewhere in the foothills of the northern Rockies are still hidden away from man’s curious, greedy gaze. Uncertain as are the whereabouts of Captain Kidd’s long-sought-for treasures is the locality of the cave of silver.

Long years ago Apetak, the old Indian, died and carried with him to the grave the knowledge of its whereabouts, and old Mr Ross, honourable man that he was, made no attempt to find it; neither did he state his impressions as to its locality beyond what is mentioned in his recital of the story. But it shows how a good Providence has his treasures of wealth for the generations to come. By and by, when it is needed, it will be found and utilised, as will the vast resources of other mineral wealth which this great new country has in reserve when the supplies in older lands begin to be exhausted.

However, in a few short days the story of the silver cave was less and less talked about, and the lads with Indian attendants were more or less busily employed in various undertakings.

Sam, who was an enthusiastic fly fisherman, was quite amazed and disappointed on finding that there was so little of his favourite kind of fishing in this part of the country. However, although there was a lack of success in that kind of fishing, there were many other methods that were very successful. One plan that very much interested them was fishing with a net attached to the small end of a pole. This they used in the water in the same method in which they had been accustomed to catch moths and butterflies with their lighter and frailer nets. They felt quite elated when a large whitefish or lively trout was brought up in the almost invisible net.

One day Mr Ross organised a fishing excursion for them, and equipped three canoes, with a couple of Indians in each to paddle them. He placed one boy in charge of each of the canoes, and sent them off in high spirits to see which canoe would return with the largest load of fish. To the boys alone was to be left the work of securing the fish. The Indians were only to attend to the paddling, and as the men in the canoe that succeeded in securing the greatest load were to receive, in addition to their wages, a flannel shirt apiece they all keenly entered into the spirit of the expedition.

All was needed in each boat for this kind of fishing was a good gun and a gaff hook with a long handle. The boys decided to go to Jack River, which takes its name from the number of jack fish that used to swarm in its waters. Not many hours’ paddling brought them to their destination, and then the fun began.

To start even they drew up side by side, and then at the given word away they all paddled toward a distant spot, where the Indians knew the fish were likely to be found in large numbers. So evenly matched were the canoemen that they were not far apart when they arrived at the designated locality. So they widened the space between their canoes and noiselessly paddled up to where the disturbed waters and many back and tail fins told of the presence of the gamey fish.