A good-sized piece of
lead, melted and moulded around the stem of the hook near the eye,
weighted it heavily, and it was baited with a piece of fat pork and a
small piece of red cloth or yarn, tied below the lead. The rod was a
stout stick three feet in length and an inch thick.
With this equipment the hook was dropped into the hole and moved up
and down slowly, until a fish took hold, when it was immediately
pulled out. The trout were very sluggish at this season of the year
and made no fight, and were therefore readily landed. The most of them
weighed from two to five pounds each, and indeed any smaller than that
were spurned and thrown back into the hole "t' grow up," as Ed put it.
One evening a rain set in and for four days and nights it never
ceased. It poured down as if the gates of the eternal reservoirs of
heaven had been opened and the flood let loose to drown the world. The
snow became a sea of slush and miniature rivers ran down to join
forces with the larger stream.
At first the waters overflowed the ice, but at last it gave way to the
irresistible force that assailed it, and giving way began to move upon
the current in great unwieldly masses.
The river rose to its brim and burst its banks. Trees were uprooted,
and mingling with the ice surged down towards the sea upon the crest
of the unleashed, untamed torrent.
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