uld be in a New York
hotel, and because to tell the truth I have a hankering for a taste of
fresh fish myself. Pat, I hope that spring is still open where you put
the minnows last fall. Suppose you take this net and pail and see what
you can find." He opened a small folding net as he was speaking. "I take
it for granted that you youngsters have your belt axes with you, as good
Scouts in the woods should. One of you can run over to that alder
thicket and cut a dozen straight sticks about three feet long and as
thick as my forefinger. The other two can chop holes in the ice. They
don't need to be very big, you know, not over a foot across. I suggest
that you scatter them pretty well. It adds to the fun to have them some
distance apart, and it multiplies the chances of a good catch. While you
are doing that I will start a fire and get things started for lunch."

Sparrer, having no axe, but a stout Scout knife, volunteered to cut the
alder saplings while Hal and Walter attended to the holes in the ice.
Hal was radiant. This was one of the things he had counted on, and he
had brought from New York a dozen type, as the modern tip-ups for
fishing through the ice are called. But when they had started out that
morning he had not dreamed that he would have a chance to use them on a
snow-shoe trip, and so they were neatly rolled in his duffle bag at the
camp.

"Wonder what kind of a rig the Big Chief has got, and how he's going to
use those sticks," said he to Upton as he came up to where Walter was
making the ice fly in glittering chips.

"Don't know, but whatever it is you can bet your last dollar it is all
right," replied Walter. "How many holes have you cut?"

"Five; I'm going to chop one more over there toward the north shore. How
many have you?" replied Hal.

"Six. That ought to be a good place over there, and that will make the
dozen. Here come Sparrer and the Big Chief, and I guess we'll soon see
what the idea is. Pat must have found the spring open, for Sparrer has
the pail."

The guess was a good one, for when he peeped in the pail Walter found
that it contained a couple of dozen minnows. Together the three walked
over to where Hal was just finishing the last hole. The doctor took from
under his arm a bundle of short pieces of lath, each about eighteen
inches long, tapering toward one end, to which was fastened a bit of red
flannel. Two inches from the other end was a hole big enough for one of
the alder sticks to