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 thrash about and struggle! Even yet he didn't know what it was that was holding him.

By and by he had to stop struggling in order to get his breath. His foot ached dreadfully. Without really thinking of what he was doing, he swam towards the shore. Then he found that this thing that had him by the toe didn't pull him under water. He twisted around to see what it was that was holding him. It was a cruel, steel trap. He knew what it was as soon as he saw it, for his father, Little Joe Otter, had shown him one that very morning.

Right within reach was that fish which had been the cause of