After this plan had failed, Grant tried several others, his object being to secure possession of the wooded hills directly east of Vicksburg. For the present he was baffled by the geographical character of the country, which was excellently suited for defense by resolute men who knew every channel, but which presented almost insuperable obstacles to an invading army.
As is usually the case in Minnesota, the fine outdoor skating came to a close toward the end of November through storms and snow-falls.
If the lads had not lived in company with such men as the trapper and Tatanka, time would have hung heavily on their hands. On many days the weather was very cold and the snow had become so deep in the woods that traveling was very difficult.
After they had been shut up in the cabin for three days by a bad storm, Tatanka one morning began to carve something out of a piece of soft basswood.
“Watch and see,” said Tatanka, as he continued slowly to cut away small white shavings.
Soon the boys saw that Tatanka was making a wooden fish about six inches long. When the figure was ready, the Indian cut small pieces of tin out of a tobacco-can and these he tacked to his wooden minnow to serve as fins.
“There, my little brothers,” he uttered with a smile, “you have a good minnow. He will fool the pickerel and the bass when they are hungry. I put a little piece of lead on him and you pull him up and down in the water, and pickerel and bass think he is a real fish. They come to eat him. May be you catch them.”
After Tatanka had made two more wooden minnows he and the lads went to a deep quiet place in a slough to fish.
At first they cut a small hole in the ice. Then, by the aid of a few poles and some blankets, Tatanka built a small dark tent over the hole.
“Now, then,” he said, “we go in and fish. May be we catch them, may be not. If the fish don’t come, we go home. May be they come to-morrow.”
The tent was entirely dark, but the boys were surprised to find that after their eyes had adjusted themselves to the darkness in the tent the water did not appear dark, but was pervaded by a soft light, enabling them to see clearly even insects and small fish which swam past, and they could plainly see their decoy minnow to a depth of four feet.