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Van Dyke, Henry, 1852-1933

"Fisherman's Luck and Some Other Uncertain Things"

At least two hundred of these she spent on
the pool; and when Beekman was too exhausted to manage the boat and
the net and the lantern for her, she engaged a trustworthy guide to
take Beekman's place while he slept. At the end of the last day her
score was twenty-three, with an average of five pounds and a
quarter. His score was nine, with an average of four pounds. He
had succeeded far beyond his wildest hopes.
The next year his success became even more astonishing. They went
to the Titan Club in Canada. The ugliest and most inaccessible
sheet of water in that territory is Lake Pharaoh. But it is famous
for the extraordinary fishing at a certain spot near the outlet,
where there is just room enough for one canoe. They camped on Lake
Pharaoh for six weeks, by Mrs. De Peyster's command; and her canoe
was always the first to reach the fishing-ground in the morning, and
the last to leave it in the evening.
Some one asked him, when he returned to the city, whether he had
good luck.
"Quite fair," he tossed off in a careless way; "we took over three
hundred pounds."
"To your own rod?" asked the inquirer, in admiration.
"No-o-o," said Beekman, "there were two of us."
There were two of them, also, the following year, when they joined
the Natasheebo Salmon Club and fished that celebrated river in
Labrador.


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