Chapter 10 - Page 2

airth!' he shouted, 'the ol' settler!'

The pole turned quickly and went lengthwise into the rapids. He
ran down the bank and I after him. The pole was speeding through
the swift water. We scrambled over logs and through bushes, but
the pole went faster than we. Presently it stopped and swung
around. Uncle Eb went splashing into the brook. Almost within
reach of the pole he dashed his foot upon a stone, falling headlong
in the current. I was close upon his heels and gave him a hand. He
rose hatless, dripping from head to foot and pressed on. He lifted
his pole. The line clung to a snag and then gave way; the tackle
was missing. He looked at it silently, tilting his head. We walked
slowly to the shore. Neither spoke for a moment.

'Must have been a big fish,' I remarked.

'Powerful!' said he, chewing vigorously on his quid of tobacco as
he shook his head and looked down at his wet clothing. 'In a
desp'rit fix, ain't I?'

'Too bad!' I exclaimed.

'Seldom ever hed sech a disapp'intment,' he said. 'Ruther counted
on ketchin' thet fish - he was s' well hooked.'

He looked longingly at the water a moment 'If I don't go hum,' said
he, 'an' keep my mouth shet I'll say sumthin' I'll be sorry fer.'

He was never quite the same after that. He told often of his
struggle with this unseen, mysterious fish and I imagined he was a
bit more given to reflection. He had had hold of the 'ol' settler of
Deep Hole' - a fish of great influence and renown there in Faraway.
Most of the local fishermen had felt him tug at the line one time or
another. No man had ever seen him for the water was black in
Deep Hole. No fish had ever exerted a greater influence on the
thought' the imagination, the manners or the moral character of his
contemporaries. Tip Taylor always took off his hat and sighed
when he spoke of the 'ol' settler'. Ransom Walker said he had once
seen his top fin and thought it longer than a razor. Ransom took to
idleness and chewing tobacco immediately after his encounter
with the big fish, and both vices stuck to him as long as he lived.
Everyone had his theory of the 'ol' settler'. Most agreed he was a
very heavy trout. Tip Taylor used to say that in his opinion "twas
nuthin' more'n a plain, overgrown, common sucker,' but Tip came
from the Sucker Brook country where suckers lived in colder water
and were more entitled to respect.

Mose Tupper had never had his hook in the 'ol' settler' and would
believe none of the many stories of adventure at Deep Hole that
had thrilled the township.

'Thet fish hes made s' many liars 'round here ye dimno who t'
b'lieve,' he had said at the corners one day, after Uncle Eb had told
his story of the big fish. 'Somebody 't knows how t'