swept round and turned shoreward
again, having left a long line of floats in its wake, they perceived
that a large sheet of water had been enclosed, and a feeling of wonder,
combined with a half guess as to what all this portended caused their
black orbs to enlarge, and the whites thereof to glisten. But when they
were requested to lay hold of a rope attached to the other end of the
net and haul, the true state of the case burst upon their awakened minds
and proportionate excitement followed.

As the circle of the net diminished and the evidences, above referred
to, of life in the water became more frequent, gleeful expectation took
the place of wonder, and a disposition to chatter manifested itself,
especially among the women and children, who by that time had eagerly
laid hold of the drag-rope.

Soon it became apparent that a mighty mass of fish had been enclosed,
and the creatures seemed themselves to become suddenly alive to their
danger, for the crowded condition of their element--which, no doubt,
caused only surprise at first--became so inconvenient that with one
accord they made a terrified rush to the right. Failing to obtain
relief they turned and rushed to the left. Discomfited again, they
dashed lakeward. Each rush was followed by a howl of anxiety from the
natives; each failure was hailed with a yell of joy. Three birch-bark
canoes followed the net to send the more obstreperous of the fish
shoreward. Finding that they could not escape, the finny prisoners
seemed to lose their wits and took to rushing skyward, with splashing
consequences that almost drove the red-men mad!

"Hold on! not so hard! You'll break it!" shouted Lumley to the men and
women at the rope.

"What a tremendous haul!" said I, as I joined my friend, who stood at
the outer end of our little wharf, enjoying the scene.

"I hope the net won't break," he replied. "If it does we shall lose
them all, and the disappointment to the Indians might be almost too much
to bear. See, they prepare for action!"

This was very obvious. The men of the tribe, who might be described as
glaring maniacs, had dropped their robes, and, almost naked, ran
waist-deep into the water in a vain attempt to catch some of the larger
fish as they were slowly forced towards the beach. Even some of the
women lost self-control and, regardless of petticoats, floundered after
the men. As for the children, big and little, they developed into imps
of darkness gon