nd take you up on your
proposition."

"Nothing would please me better," Abe told them. "And it is about as
good a day for ice fishing as anybody'd want to set eyes on. I'll go
right away and get my lines. Then we'll pick up a pail, and put some
of my minnows in it."

Before long they were out upon the ice of Lake Tokala, Tom carrying an
axe, Jack the various lines and "tip-ups" that were to signal when a
fish had been hooked, and Abe with the live bait in a tin bucket.

The day was not a bitterly cold one, and this promised to make fishing
agreeable work.

"On the big lakes where they do a heap of this kind of work,"
explained their guide as they went toward Cedar Island, "the men build
little shanties out on the ice, where they can keep fairly warm. You
see sometimes the weather is terribly cold. But a day like this makes
it a pleasure to be out."

Coming to a place where Abe knew from previous experience that a good
haul could be made, the first hole was cut in the ice. As winter was
still young this did not prove to be a hard task.

Abe had marked a dozen places where these holes were to be chopped,
but the boys chose to watch him set his first line. After the novelty
had worn off they would be ready to take a hand themselves.

There are many sorts of "tip-ups" used in this species of sport, but
Abe's kind answered all purposes and was very simple, being possibly
the original "tip-up."

He would take a branch that had a certain kind of fork as thick around
as his little finger. In cutting this he left two short "feet" and one
long one. To Tom's mind it looked something like an old-fashioned
cannon, with the line securely tied to the short projecting muzzle.

When the fish took hold this point was pulled down, with the result
that the longer "tail" shot up into the air, the outstretched legs
preventing the fork from being drawn into the hole.

At the end of the long "tail" Abe had fastened a small piece of red
flannel. When a dozen lines were out it often kept a man busy running
this way and that to attend to the numerous calls as signaled by the
upraised red flags.

"Now that we know just how it's done," said Tom, after they had seen
the bait fastened to the hook and dropped into the lake, "we'll get
busy cutting all those other holes. My turn next, Jack, you remember.
Watch my smoke."

They had hardly finished the second hole before they heard Abe
laughing, and glancing toward him discovered that he