Food never drops out of a clear sky. When the sky is dark with clouds,
it sometimes rains toads; that is different. I have yet to hear of a
barbed iron hook being concealed in the flesh of a toad. Insects and
other morsels that float down the brook into the pool come to us in
the regular course of nature, and may be swallowed without question.
--_Maxims of Grandfather Pickerel._
Toots went back to the boulder by the river's margin that same
afternoon, and resumed his observation of the Pickerel Family at home.
Reginald was taking a nap on the grassy slope of the river bank, and
the Princess was tenderly waving her handkerchief over his face to keep
off the flies. On a rainy day not long afterward Toots gave her the
following account of his observations:
[Illustration]
Mother Pickerel was worried. She expected company, and everything was
at sixes and sevens. The little pickerels were quarrelsome, and were
constantly getting in her way. She cuffed them with her fins, and asked
them what they supposed their Aunt Bass would think of their conduct.
The little Pickerels loved their Aunt Bass, she was so amiable and
entertaining. They chattered about her with their noses close together
under the rocks where the brook entered the pool. Aunt Bass was not
fierce and greedy like Uncle Pike. Sometimes she came over to the pool
at sundown, and amused them by leaping far out of the water to catch
fireflies. And she would tell them such lovely stories of all she saw
in the strange upper world, where there was nothing to swim in. She
was delightful. The little pickerels disputed angrily about which of
them should go to meet her. They chased each other about and blundered
rudely into the corner where Grandfather Pickerel was trying to have a
quiet nap. The old fellow grumbled so loudly at this interruption that
Mother Pickerel had to leave her work again. She cuffed them right and
left, saying:
[Illustration]
"How often have I told you not to disturb your grandfather when he is
taking his nap? And his stomach troubling him so! Don't you know it
rained last night? Oh, you bad children, to worry your grandfather
after a rain when his stomach hurts him so."
Just then Father Pickerel came home. Hearing what had happened, he
went at once and apologized to Grandfather Pickerel. Presently Mother
Pickerel joined them. Baby Pickerel sneaked up near enough to hear what
they were saying. After a little she rejoined her brothers and sisters,
looking very important.
"What are they talking about?" demanded the other little pickerels, in
a chorus.
"About Big Brother," said Baby Pickerel. "I just knew that was what
was the matter. He's been gallivanting again after that ill-bred Miss
Catfish. He can't be found anywhere. Uncle Pike's gone after him, and
pretty soon there's going to be a regular picnic, I can tell you. All
the relations are coming. I expect Big Brother's going to catch it this
time."
[Illustration]
Miss Pickerel turned up her nose disdainfully. "The idea of Brother
running after that Catfish girl. What shocking bad taste! Did you
notice what a horrid big mouth she has?"
"And she hasn't got a decent suit of scales to her back," chimed in the
next to the youngest Pickerel.
"She actually eats mud," said Baby Pickerel. "I saw her do it only the
other day. When she noticed that I saw her, she looked ashamed and
sneaked away."
"I am very glad to hear that she is not lost to all sense of shame,"
said Miss Pickerel, with a toss of her head.
"For my part," said one of the little Pickerels who had not yet spoken,
"I'd about as lief be a low-bred catfish as a greedy, quarrelsome pike."
"S-s-s-h!" said Miss Pickerel, warningly, "the Pikes are our
relations."
"I don't care if they are. Uncle Pike is perfectly disgraceful. He
snatches the fattest tadpoles and gulps them down at a single mouthful
before any one else has a chance at them. He has the most enormous
appetite. It's unnatural, too, I'm sure. Yesterday I saw him sneaking
about after Baby. Do you know, I have an idea he could tell what became
of little Cousin Bass last summer. It made me shudder to see him
watching Baby with his big, greedy eyes. I went and told Grandfather,
and they had some warm words about it."
[Illustration]
As they listened to this gruesome tale, the other little pickerels
turned pale and were silent. They did not recover their accustomed
spirits until Aunt Bass bustled in among them, giving each a pat with
her gentle fin. She was closely followed by Uncle Pike, who was
driving before him Big Brother Pickerel and Miss Catfish. Big Brother
Pickerel kept a protecting fin spread above Miss Catfish, and his bold
features bore an expression of defiance. Miss Catfish was pale and
trembling.
[Illustration]
"If I were in her place," whispered Miss Pickerel to her brothers and
sisters, "I should want the earth to open and swallow me up!"
The Pickerel Family and all the relations drew up in line and looked
with severity at Big Brother Pickerel, who continued his protecting
attitude toward Miss Catfish. At length Grandfather Pickerel spoke.
"Grandson," said he, "it is more in sorrow than in anger that we are
gathered here. Speak. Do you insist on bringing that young person into
this respectable family?"
"I do," answered Big Brother Pickerel, firmly; "and as for the
respectability of the family, I don't--"
"That will do, sir!" thundered Grandfather Pickerel, in a terrible
voice. "So be it. Miss Catfish, consider yourself raised to our level.
Your apartment is under the seventeenth cobble-stone to the left of
where the brook enters the pool. Spare your protestations of gratitude,
I beg of you. _Our_ feelings are too deep for words."
At this instant the proceedings were interrupted by a dazzling object
that dropped into the water a short distance down the stream, and came
glinting and whirling through the pool. Big Brother Pickerel made a
dash for it, but Grandfather Pickerel hit him such a slap with the flat
of his tail that he fell back, dazed, to the bottom of the pool.
[Illustration]
"Idiot! Look up and see what you were jumping at."
When the others looked in the direction indicated by Grandfather
Pickerel, they saw a most amusing thing. A dapper young man was
actually trying to deceive them with some scarlet feathers and a silver
bangle at the end of a line. Even Baby Pickerel knew better. Big
Brother Pickerel looked very much ashamed. He tried to explain that his
nervousness over domestic matters had temporarily warped his judgment.
[Illustration]
Grandfather Pickerel rose cautiously toward the surface of the pool
to see whether any more formidable enemy was in sight. He saw Toots
sitting on the boulder, but there was nothing to cause alarm in that.
On the contrary, Grandfather Pickerel regarded Toots in the light of a
friend and sympathizer. He had only one reason to be at all doubtful
concerning him. He sometimes came down to the pool with the terribly
fascinating big man in the tattered straw hat. Grandfather Pickerel
felt a dyspeptic twinge in the pit of his stomach as he recalled his
experiences with the big man. As he sank back into the pool, the other
pickerels noticed that he appeared grave and preoccupied. This meant
that the head of the family was turning something over in his mind
that he would shortly communicate to them. So they approached in a
respectful semicircle, and waited expectantly. Grandfather Pickerel
cast his eye over his audience, and asked:
"Where is my son?"
"Father has gone to see Aunt Bass home," answered Mother Pickerel; "he
will return in a few minutes."
Grandfather Pickerel cleared his throat, and looking severely at Big
Brother Pickerel, said:
"I must again warn you of the necessity of using care and judgment in
the selection of your food. I will pass over the humiliating scene we
have just witnessed, simply reminding you that dazzling objects which
seem to drop out of the sky should never be construed as food. My
youngest grandchild would be ashamed to act as you have done, sir!"
Big Brother Pickerel hung his head, while Baby Pickerel swelled
with pride to twice her natural size. At this instant the brilliant
combination of scarlet and silver again came whirling through the water
above their heads. The whole Pickerel family gazed at it without the
slightest evidence of emotion, whereat Grandfather Pickerel gave them a
benignant smile, and continued:
"As a general rule, everything that drops into the pool is to be
regarded with suspicion. Food never drops out of a clear sky. When the
sky is dark with clouds it sometimes rains toads; that is different.
I have yet to hear of a barbed iron hook being found concealed in the
flesh of a toad. Insects and other morsels that float down the brook
into the pool come to us in the regular course of nature, and may be
swallowed without question."
Here Grandfather Pickerel stopped and reflected for a moment. Presently
he added:
"Regarding objects that seem to drop out of the sky, I think of one
exception--grasshoppers"--the little pickerels smacked their lips at
mention of this delectable morsel--"which may either fly into the pool
from a distance or leap in from the bank.
"I now come," said the patriarch, "to the most deadly danger with which
we have to deal. I refer to the powerful fascination which seems to be
exercised over us by those big two-legged creatures in tattered straw
hats, carrying long, crooked poles over their shoulders, who come down
to the pool and lure us to destruction with grubs impaled on sharp iron
hooks. I don't know how to account for it," said Grandfather Pickerel,
shaking his head and turning pale about the gills, "except on the
theory of hypnotism--"
"Oh, here comes papa!" interrupted Baby Pickerel.
But the others were gazing in consternation at the patriarch, who was
now white clear to the tip of his tail and shaking with terror. He was
staring upward with wild, distended eyes. The others looked also and
understood. The big man was there with his crooked pole. They felt
themselves drawn toward him. He was throwing something into the pool.
"Back! Back!" shouted Grandfather Pickerel. "Back for your lives!" But
the warning was too late. Father Pickerel, approaching from the middle
of the river, jumped at the white grub, and all was over. The bereaved
Pickerel family saw him dangling helplessly at the end of the big man's
line, then disappearing into the unknown world where there is nothing
to swim in.
"Back under the rocks, all of you!" thundered Grandfather Pickerel.
"There is only one thing to be done. I must have that hook, or soon
there'll be none left to tell the tale. Thank heaven, I have two sound
teeth in my head yet."
[Illustration]
With bated breath and quivering fins the other pickerels peered out
from under the rocks at the desperate struggle which immediately
ensued. It was short, but decisive. The waters of the pool were lashed
into foam. The little pickerels were half-mad with terror. All at once
they gave a loud cheer. The victorious patriarch was returning. There
was bloody foam on his jaws, but several inches of fish-line hung from
between them. The aged hero paid no attention to the cheering, but
swam dejectedly into the farthest corner of his den. Mother Pickerel
followed him in silence. When she returned, her eyes were red.
"Didn't Grandfather get the hook after all?" asked Baby Pickerel.
"Hush, dear," said Mother Pickerel, wiping her eyes with the tip of
her tail. "Yes, your grandfather has the hook safe in the pit of his
stomach along with all the others, and it is paining him dreadfully."
The Princess was still fanning the flies away from the face of
Reginald. John was cultivating corn on the high bank of the river.
Every five or six minutes he turned his team near by from one row into
the next one. Toots remembered John's extra pole and line concealed
behind the old cottonwood. He went and got it. But how about bait? Then
Toots had a second inspiration. He recalled Grandfather Pickerel's
remark about grasshoppers. There were plenty of them all about. At that
instant a fat one dropped out of the tree and lay with its long legs on
the rocks at Toots' feet. The boy, as tenderly as possible, stuck it
on the hook and went back to the boulder. First, he would see what was
going on in the bosom of the Pickerel Family.
Mother Pickerel was asking Grandfather Pickerel if he didn't think he'd
better take a bite of something to stay his stomach till dinner-time.
"There's some nice tender tadpoles over in the mouth of the brook," she
said. "Do try half a dozen raw, dearie, won't you?"
It was at that very instant that Toots' grasshopper, with the hook
through the small of his back, jumped out of his hands into the pool.
Before the boy had time to realize what had happened, the line and then
the pole began moving of their own accord toward the water's edge.
Toots grabbed the pole and was nearly dragged into the pool. He looked
around and saw John turning his team on the high bank.
"I've got him, John! Come here quick!" yelled Toots.
Reginald awoke barely in time to seize the end of the pole before it
and Toots had been dragged into the water. John came tearing down the
bank, shouting at the top of his voice:
"Don't fight him yet. Give him the line! Give him the line!"
"He's got the line," said Reginald, "and he seems to want the pole,
too. Now is the time when fifty yards of silk and a good reel--"
"Here, give me the pole," said John; "we'll see who's master this time."
Then followed a most exciting scene. When at last Grandfather
Pickerel's nose appeared above the surface of the pool, John hadn't
a dry rag to his back. The big man was amazed to see that the old
pickerel made no attempt to bite off the line. When he had him safely
landed, the first thing he did was to look in his mouth.
"Well, I'm durned," said John. "The old sinner hasn't a tooth left in
his head."
As Toots gazed on the form of the vanquished patriarch, all his pride
of conquest was swallowed up in a great wave of pity.
"He'll never swallow any more fish-hooks, will he, John?"
"Well, I guess not," said the big man; "the frying pan will stop all
that nonsense."
"It seems a pity to fry the old chap," said Toots. "He's lost all his
teeth and can't do any more damage."
"That's so," answered John, good naturedly; "maybe you'd rather put him
in the spring, and keep him for a pet?"
But Toots was thinking of the grief of the Pickerel Family. How would
Mother Pickerel be able to get along with both Father and Grandfather
Pickerel no more, especially considering the doubtful character of Big
Brother Pickerel, with his tendency to overturn the established order
of society? When he had thought it all over, he said:
"No, John, I'd rather put him back in the pool, where he can continue
to care for the little Pickerels."
And thus the patriarch of the Pickerel Family, wiser than any of his
race, before or since, was restored to those who had such grave need of
his guidance.