84 Sucker Days. 



the stones near the road, the other boy 

 followed the brook down into the pasture 

 and began to poke under rocks in all of 

 the holes, to see if the big sucker was still 

 in that part of the stream. All at once it 

 rushed out in sight, and the shouts of the 

 boy brought the others on a run as fast as 

 they could come. 



" Right under that stone he is, fellers, 

 and an old whopper, too, by golly," said 

 he. " I 'm going to hold on to him this 

 time, you bet." Just then came the sound 

 of the school bell across the fields. It is 

 called a musical sound, but somehow or 

 another it seems to a boy to be different 

 from the voices of the robins and the 

 wood-thrushes. Ruefully the boy paused 

 a moment and listened, then reaching 

 around and feeling the tender parts that 

 had not quite recovered from the previous 

 day's reddening, he decided that they 

 would have to stand one more ruling 

 from the bench, and into the brook he 

 stepped. His hands trembled with excite- 

 ment as they went under the water and 

 under the stone and felt the fins of the 



