CHAPTER X. FISHING THROUGH THE ICE
It was Billy who gathered the last bunch of bluebells. He found themone November morning, their brave, delicate beauty all that remained ofunforgotten blooms. The next day it was winter.
The boy welcomed the whirling snow, but when the ice began formingall along the beach, his delight was unbounded. He couldn't pity thepoor sailors as Betty advised; Billy envied them. The last trip of theseason, like the first perilous voyage in the spring, seemed brimmingwith possibilities of adventure.
Morning after morning, Billy ran to the window before he was dressedto see the waves tossing the broken ice in ridges farther and fartherfrom the shore. How he longed to try the stretches of clear ice betweenthe ridges! How he longed to go where the waves were dashing againstthe crystal wall! He wondered how much higher than his head the sprayleaped toward the sun before it fell in sparkling showers all along thesouthern shore as far as the child could see.
In the meantime the last light-ship had gone into winter quarters,the last buoy had been taken away, and even Billy understood thatnavigating the straits was a perilous undertaking. Whenever a boatwhistled to be reported, the whole family ran to the window to see itpass, while the fog-horn sounded a farewell, and Billy's father dippedthe stars and stripes in parting salute, to which the boat made answer.
One steam-barge, the _Wallula_, was long unaccounted for. She was thelast of the season, as Billy knew. He and Betty watched almost asanxiously as their father for the belated boat. One afternoon therecame a blinding snow-storm, and for the first time Billy agreed withBetty in pitying the poor sailors, especially those on the _Wallula_.
"Just think of being out in such a storm, with the light-ships all goneand the buoys all taken away!" said the little girl. "I don't see howa boat could help going on the shoals. Don't you ever be a sailor,Billy, will you?"
"No," replied Billy, "of course not; I'll be the captain."
A wonderful sight greeted Billy the following day. As usual he wasup early, and through the east window in the sitting-room he saw the_Wallula_ frozen fast in the ice not far from shore.
"Oh, mamma! mamma!" he called. "Here's the big red sun coming rightout of the red, red clouds, and it's shining on the _Wallula_. And theicicles! Oh, mamma! Betty! Come and see the icicles shining on all theropes. Oh, I must get out there quick."
As Billy dressed, the sun was swallowed by a cloud so big, so black,its shadow dimmed the joy shining in his face.
"Why, mamma!" he shouted, "what a 'normous cloud, and it's spreadingover all the sky. I never saw anything happen so quick before. Did youever see such a cloud! It was so heavy it had to go and fall down overall the sunshine."
"No wonder!" exclaimed Betty, "I should think it would! Look there!"
"Where? What?"
"Why, Billy, don't you see? There is Antoine LeBrinn down on the beachwith Samone in his arms, and I know the poor little thing hasn't onhalf enough clothes to keep her warm. I don't care how soon they takeher away from him, so there!"
"Why, Betty!"
"I don't care, Billy. I'm beginning to feel just the way the rest ofthe folks do about that old Antoine. Papa says he don't stick to anykind of work, and his family are too poor for anything!"
"I'm going to tell him," Billy threatened; "you see if I don't."
Late in the morning half the village gathered to watch the tug fromCheboygan release the _Wallula_ and tow her into safe water. ThenBilly saw more than one man frown, as he noticed the thinly clad childshivering in the Frenchman's arms. From that time he determined tocompel Betty to tell Antoine he must stop drinking. At first Bettyrefused, but finally a new idea came into her mind.
"Tell you what we might do, Billy," she said, "we might get up a pledgefor him to sign his name to."
"What's a pledge?"
"Oh, it's something you sign," and Betty, offering no furtherexplanation, wrote her pledge. Having never seen a temperance pledge,this was not an easy thing to do. Betty tried many times, and destroyednearly all her best tablet before she decided upon the correct form.All this scribbling she did in the presence of the impatient Billy.
"Now read it," he begged, when Betty folded several sheets of paperinstead of destroying them.
"I am afraid you won't understand it, Billy," she said, doubtfully,"but it means, 'I won't drink any more whiskey and things.' Now listen,Billy; I'd like to hear how it sounds myself: 'When in the course ofhuman events it becomes necessary to touch not, taste not, handle not,look not upon the wine when it is red, give me liberty or give me deathbefore I ever touch another drop.'"
"Oh, Betty, that's good; course I understand it. Why, it sounds justlike the Fourth of July last year!"
"There now, Billy, I shall have to read it all over again if I find outhow it sounds, because that's only the short beginning."
"Why, Betty, but that's enough! If he signs that and promises that hewon't drink another drop, why, why, that's the place to stop, Betty."
"I don't know but you're right, Billy, but lawyers put in lots ofwords they don't need when they write things, and they never stop whenthey get through. You see, I haven't read you the 'whereas' and 'nowtherefore' part. I wanted this pledge to sound as if a lawyer made it.You see, Billy, I know, because I read everything."
"I don't care," Billy maintained, "you might get him mixed."
"That's so," admitted Betty.
"And then, too, Bet, why don't you say 'before I drink another drop--ofwhiskey,' in big capital letters."
"Oh, never, Billy, that would hurt Antoine's feelings. We mustn't evenhint about getting drunk and such things, but I will do as you sayabout having a short pledge, and we'll trim it with pictures."
"Make pictures of bottles and things, Betty."
"Oh, stop, Billy, I should say not! Birds and flowers will be better,and won't hurt Antoine's feelings. Don't you understand? Then we'll tiea red ribbon on it."
It so happened that Billy's mother, not sharing the children's secret,wouldn't allow them to visit the Frenchman's home, and it was not untilthe ice stretched from shore to shore, and Antoine began his winterfishing, that their opportunity came. After school one night, theyvisited his fish shanty on the frozen straits.
"Come in," said Antoine, in response to Betty's knock, "come in."
"Oh, my, what a tiny place!" exclaimed Betty, "and how warm it is! toowarm! Oh, my!"
"Smells fishy and tarry," added Billy, holding his nose.
"Hush!" warned Betty, fearing Antoine might be offended.
"Warm!" repeated the man, laughing heartily; "the preacher she washere, and I ain't want it to stay, so I make it warm, and she ain'tstay long."
"Why did the minister come to see you?" asked Betty.
"Did he come out here to have you tell him fish stories?" Billyinquired.
Again Antoine laughed. "No, Beely, the preacher she come out here andbring one temperance pledge. She say to me, 'Antoine, I'm fisherman,too. I'm ask you to sign your name on this one paper.' I'm tell thatpreacher she make a mistake, and I'm put one, two, three stick of woodon the stove, and it get too warm pretty quick. The preacher she gohome, and ole Antoine she sign no pledge so long she live, I tole youthat right now."
Betty looked discouraged, but Billy grinned as he knelt to peer throughthe hole in the ice. Both children knew better than to speak of theirpledge.
With utmost patience Antoine explained to his visitors all he knewabout fishing through the ice.
"What you think is on the end of that line, Beely, that go into thewater there?"
"Minnows?"
"Oh, no, Beely, no minnow on the winter. On the end that line is onedecoy fish. She's heavy and weighted with lead. We let it down on thedeep water. Then, when we see a fish come after it, we wind the linewith one windlass."
"Can't you pull in the line?" asked Betty.
"No, Betty, no, you pull the line, you jerk the decoy fish, and thatwon't do. Beely, you turn the cra
nk there and wind the line over thereel. Now, Betty, kneel on the edge of the opening on the floor andlook down on the water. Can you see one decoy fish?"
"Yes, just as plain as anything."
"Now you, Beely, turn the crank."
"Oh, oh!" cried Betty. "Up comes the little fish, straight, straightup, just as natural as if it was alive."
"Now let me see," besought the small boy. "You come, Betty, and turnthe crank."
"Here, Beely," said Antoine, "you and Betty can both look on the sametime if you squeeze beside her. Fish shanty ain't big like the townhall?"
"Well, I should say not," admitted Billy. "Why, isn't it nice, Antoine?You can sit right still on your box and reach all the walls, can't you?Oh, that's the way you do it? When you see a fish coming, you just keepwatching him, and then you reach over and turn the crank and wind upthe line, and then the pretend fish comes up higher and higher. Butthen, I don't see how you spear the real fish."
"Well, Betty and Beely, I will show you. You see the decoy fish shecome quiet through the water when we bring it up with a windlass. Ifwe brought it up with one jerk, our trout would be scare away. Fish nofool, I tole you that. When my fish come to the top of the water, soI'm sure of my aim, I send my spear after him."
"But I should think you would lose the spear," said Billy. "My, it'sheavy!"
Antoine pointed to the rope which tied the spear to a ring fastened inthe roof.
"Wish a fish would come along now," said Billy, still gazing into thedepths beneath.
"We make too much noise, Beely. Betty, you be little squaw and Beelybe Indian, and we'll keep still like the Indian and then I'll show youone fish. I'm fix the spear so she's all ready, and now watch. Don'twhisper."
Silently the three peered through the hole in the ice. Betty wishedthat her heart wouldn't beat so loud; she feared the fish must hearits thumping. Several times Billy was compelled to stifle deep sighs,warned by a look from Antoine. Poor Billy! His knees ached and hisback ached, and it is no wonder the active child kept thinking that hecouldn't endure such a cramped position another moment. It seemed agesto Betty also before she raised her face with a pleased smile to thefisherman and exchanged a glance with the radiant Billy.
There was a big fish coming straight toward the decoy. The childrenhad a fine chance to see exactly how a fish swims. Billy held hisbreath, as the line was slowly wound over the reel and the decoy camenearer and nearer the surface. They could see the bright eyes and theglistening fins of the fish that came after it.
Just as Antoine reached for his spear, Betty sneezed. Quick as a flashthe fish darted to the bottom of the straits; but it moved no quickerthan Antoine, who motioned for silence. Betty longed to explain thatshe couldn't help sneezing, while Billy could scarcely be restrainedfrom venting his wrath. Under the circumstances, he gave Betty an angryglance, and ventured to wiggle the least bit before settling himselffor another time of breathless waiting. As for Betty, she could justmanage to keep the tears back, and, when the fish slowly rose from thebottom of the lake, she didn't see him so clearly as Billy and thefisherman did.
That time Antoine speared the fish. Billy not only saw him do it, buthelped pull a big trout through the hole in the ice, and soon he andBetty were taking turns carrying the treasure home.
"Dear me," said Betty at last, "I'll never dare say 'pledge' to himagain."
"I should say not," echoed Billy.
Upon reaching home, Betty was much distressed when she discovered thather pledge was lost. "Somebody'll find it, Billy, and tell everybody intown, and then won't we catch it? Everybody'll be making fun of us."
Billy tried to be consoling. "They won't know who wrote it, Betty."
"Oh, that's the worst of it, Billy. I put my name and your name and thedate and everything on that paper, and I said it was for Mrs. LeBrinn'sChristmas present! Oh, dear!"
At that very moment, Antoine, alone in his shanty, was reading Betty'spledge. A curious smile came and went as he read the slip of paper.When the last gleam of sunlight faded in the west, he locked his shantyand walked to the village with his load of fish.
The following morning little 'Phonse LeBrinn came late to school. Hispinched face looked sad and care-worn.
"Old Antoine was drunk again last night," some one whispered across theaisle. "He sold his fish before he went home, and spent every cent atthe saloons."
Billy heard the whisper, and, passing 'Phonse on his way to class, heleft a piece of candy on his desk. It was all he had to offer.