The Lure of the Mississippi

usiastic about the p

ga-tanka, the big bumblebee, that builds his cells in an old mouse-nest on the ground. But Tumahga-tanka is like the Indians: he gathers only very little honey food, just for a day

tree and fill it with honey, so they can stay at home and eat honey till the maple buds break and till the wild plums and wild strawberries hang out

ch, he often sleeps among the flowers at night,

nter," asked Tim, "if they do not

sleep like Mahto, the bear, or like

asked Barker, "when w

the little black bees. They are as many as leaves on a tree, and they wil

hey can't see us and when it is too c

ll go in daylight, when we

hours high, next morning, wh

ece of mosquito netting over his hat and face. The sleeve of his hunting-sh

laughed. "You can s

nding, he rapidly made two cuts in the tree, one near th

m buzzed madly about the trapper's head; they crawled all over him, tryin

. Little gray Meetcha had been watching the fun as if puzzled at the strange behavior of his master. But now a mad bee buzzed right into the hairs of his ear. Meetcha seemed to listen a second, then he began to paw his ears frantically an

use his sharp ax vigorously and with the aid of an iron wedge, suc

ll of great irregular combs of

uted; "get your honey. We could fill a wash-tub

r and had settled in black masses on the broken comb

a would not com

pewas," remarked Tatanka, "but I d

et with honey and then put the

be right to rob the little creatures of all, because it is so late in

ought the angry bees. However, although Tim was now well on the road to recovery, it was quite evident that he could not go on the lo

first warm day after the bee hunt, he proposed a fishing trip to

f the St. Croix, it generally flows in one main channel and one or more side-channels. The steamboats naturally take the main chan

fished with a gill-net. The trapper first cut two stout poles, to each of which he tied one en

de have very large meshes, a foot or more square. When a fish runs against the middle net, the fine meshes catch him behind the gills and ho

e told his boy companion: "Now,

fish. He had heard of the Indians driving buffalo, but he

boat with me," the trapper told him, a

rted back toward the net, "beat the water with

"we're trying to drive them into the net. There, we've got one! See the float go down. There's another one. Watch the big one! He is

the trapper laughed. "He is too

" the boy asked,

Well never catch that big fellow. I think he weighs fif

f many kinds, suckers, pickerel, pike, b

into the boat. "They have a long snout and are covered with horny plates just like alligators

them. You pour boiling water on their plates and they come off in big pieces. Their meat has a fine flavor and they don't