must weigh five pounds!"

The stranger looked at them with interest. "So you fish? Well, it's the
best sport in the world. This bouncer has been dodging me all the
afternoon, and I vowed I'd get him before I left. Almost had him once
before, but he got away with the bait. Wouldn't let me alone, though,
even after that. I warned him he was flirting with his fate!" And he
laughed a big, booming, pleasant laugh.

At this moment Rags, who had been elsewhere occupied, came bounding up,
and straightway made a bee-line over to investigate the fish.

"Hi! Stop that!" exclaimed the stranger. "I intend to have that fish for
my supper to-night!" and he made a dash for his cherished trophy. But
Rags, disconcerted by the sudden movement, was on his guard at once. As
the man approached, he sank his teeth into the fish with a growl that was
a warning not to be ignored.

"Oh, call him off!" cried the man, anxiously, and Leslie, very much
upset, sprang forward to rescue the stranger's dinner. But Rags saw a
chance for a lark; and as times had been rather slow and uninteresting
for him of late, he determined to make the most of it. Seizing the fish
in a firm grip, he galloped madly up the beach, the two girls wildly
pursuing.

There ensued a chase very similar to the one he had led them on that
eventful day when he had unearthed the Dragon's Secret. Never once did he
allow them to lay a finger on his prize, though, panting and disgusted,
they pursued him hither and yon, sometimes so close that he was well
within their reach, sometimes with him far in advance. Occasionally he
would lie down with the fish between his paws, fairly inviting them to
come and help themselves. Which they had no sooner attempted, than he was
up and away again.

The man wisely took no part in the struggle, but stood looking on,
encouraging them with half-rueful, half-laughing remarks. At length
Leslie had an inspiration. While Rags was standing at the edge of the
water, panting from a long and furious run, the fish reposing at his
feet, she seized a small board lying near, called to him beguilingly and
hurled the board out into the sea.

Here was a game that was even more fascinating. Rags always adored it.
Forsaking the much-sought fish, he leaped into the lazy waves and swam
out toward his new prize, while the stranger eagerly seized the fish and
concealed it in his basket.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" apologized Leslie. "I know he has spoiled it now. I
hope