GEORCxE AT THE POND. 



lowy pole, George said, " If you are going 

 to fish you must bait your own hook, lit- 

 tle woman," and he handed me a tin box 

 of wiggling worms, at the same time se- 

 lecting 2 or 3 long fellows he adroitly 

 covered his hook. I looked in dismay at 

 the brown, slimy things, but seeing the 

 twinkle in George's eye and the " I told 

 you so " look on Paul's face, I resolved 

 to do or die, and grasping 2 of the cold, 

 creepy things proceeded to put them on 

 my hook. 



" Well done for a woman. I'll make a 

 sportswoman out of you yet, Beth, see if 

 I don't. Now we'll start in and fish. I'll 

 go over tother side of the maples and Paul 

 had better start in there behind the meet- 

 ing house and fish up. Come along with 

 me, Beth, and I'll give you a nice little pool 

 over here where I saw the prettiest pair 

 of trout. One of 'em would weigh on to 

 a pound and a half, and tother won't fall 

 short of it. Durned poor luck for me to- 

 day, I'll wager," and George jumped 

 quickly aside as something darted past us 

 in the grass. " Never have any luck when 

 I see one of them pesky adders. Here 

 you are, now stand back here and throw 

 your line so; " and George lightly swung 

 my line over into the pool. " Now keep 

 quiet, you'll soon hev' a bite. Let the fel- 

 low get a good hold and handle him care- 

 fully or you will lose him. When you have 

 landed him just bait up again and get his 

 mate. Good-by! If you don't hook one 

 of them in half an hour you're no good," 

 and George disappeared up the brook. 



For some time I held the rod, first in one 



hand thenthe other without getting a bite, 

 and was just on the point of giving up 

 when I felt a tug at my hook. Grasping 

 the rod with both hands I jerked, but to 

 no avail. I could not lift the heavy thing 

 from the water and the harder I pulled the 

 harder pulled the fish. Fearful of losing 

 my prize I called loudly for George and he 

 soon came on a run. 



" Got him, little girl? Hold him fast 

 till I get there," he said. Just as I was 

 about to sink down exhausted he seized the 

 rod. " Should think you'd got a whale, 

 Beth, by the way he pulls," and George 

 with a quick jerk threw the line back over 

 his head and a long black something land- 

 ed, flapping madly, in the tall grass. In a 

 flash we were there and with a look of dis- 

 gust George pointed to my first trout wig- 

 gling at his feet. Instead of a pink spotted 

 fish I saw a hideous black object some 3 

 feet long, and realized that my first catch 

 was nothing but an eel. Without a word 

 George cut the line and threw the creat- 

 ure, hook and all, to the other side of the 

 brook. Then he fixed me a new outfit and 

 hastened away up the stream. Nothing 

 daunted I tried again and when the men 

 came up for lunch I had caught 2 dace and 

 one poor, little trout about 4 inches long. 

 George had 20 and Paul ■$]. Grasping 

 Paul's hand George said in a husky voice. 

 " You are a brick, my boy, and my mantle 

 shall fall upon you. Somehow I feel I 

 shan't fish much more. I'm an old man, 

 children, and can't stay much longer at 

 the longest, but we won't talk about it 

 any more to-day for I want you to enjoy 



97 



