Summary

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A man named William Wallace Jamieson has a pregnant wife called Hazel, and he's been going out a lot lately until finally, one night, he stays out all night. When he returned to his house, he found Hazel was not there, and she'd left a note saying that she had gone to drown herself in the river and that he'd be sorry for his behavior. William goes to get his friend, Virgil, with whom he'd spent the night carousing, and the pair of them round up some neighborhood men to drag the river. They have to go and get the wide net, though, and that belongs to a man called Doc. Doc doesn't believe that Hazel would have drowned herself, but he lends the men the net just the same. He goes with them to drag the river. Other people join in too.

As the men and boys work together to drag the river, they turn up a bunch of stuff: some fish, a great number of shoes, eels, alligators, and so on. They catch a baby alligator and the Malone brothers insist that they want to keep it. William Wallace keeps diving down to search for Hazel until, finally, the group decides to stop and cook some of the fish they've got for a meal. It is then, after they've eaten, that they see a giant snake that they call the King of the Snakes. They marvel over the snake, but seem to feel satisfied by their feast. Soon, a storm comes, and the lightning strikes trees around the group as they watch—it is rather exhilarating. Then group returns to town, everyone carrying their heavy strings of fish. Soon, people begin to ask if the fish are for sale, and William Wallace sells them. When William Wallace gets home, he notices a night rainbow over his house, though it clearly hadn't rained there. He goes inside and there is Hazel! She claims that she was hiding when he read her letter, and he spanks her, insisting that she say she'll never do it again. In the end, they seem happy and content again. He has proven his love to her by spending the whole day looking for her, and he has also bonded with his friends and other other men during the process.

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