Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/334

 one could not see more than twenty or thirty feet up the creek, a high wooded point limiting the range of vision in that direction. I didn't know at the time why I observed this, but I thought of it afterward.

Joe made his first cast with a scarlet ibis, and the result was surprising to both of us. The fish that took the lure did not give much of a bite—I have known a half-pound trout to seize the bait with more vim than he did—but when Joe fastened the hook with a scientific twist of his wrist, I couldn't have doubled up quicker if he had caught a log.

"Scotland's a burning! what's that?" exclaimed Joe, speaking so rapidly that the words seemed to come out all at once. "I declare, it's a bass," he added a moment later, as the green and bronze side of the beautiful captive could be seen for an instant just under the surface of the water. "I wish he was at the bottom of the pond, for he'll break my rod and I'll have no more fishing this trip."

But Joe did not give up because he thought he was going to be worsted in the fight. He brought into play all the skill of which he was