I'll
never forget how finely you handled him, either, Jack, old chum! Now, if
it had been me I'd like as not have got so excited I'd lost my fish by
some fool play. But that ought to be enough for even Steve, and so I
reckon we must quit the fun."

He looked dolefully toward the river, as though disliking very much to
give up when the acme of the sport had just been reached.

"I hope you'll take his mate another day, Toby," Jack told him,
hopefully. "Don't forget the old saying that 'there's just as good fish
in the sea as ever were caught,' and it applies to the Paradise River in
the bargain. And now I'll wash up, so I can get busy with my
photographic work, as it's about ten o'clock, and the sun as strong as
I'd want."

He seemed to have made up his mind just what pictures appealed most to
him, judging from the business-like way he went about his work. Toby
stood by ready to assist in any way possible, though he did not happen
to be as greatly interested in photography as his comrade. So after
about half an hour Jack had accomplished his task.

"I think they ought to turn out pretty fine," was his finishing comment,
as he closed his camera, the present of the lady who had engaged him to
combine business with pleasure on this camping trip. "If there's
anything wrong the fault will be wholly mine, because the conditions
certainly couldn't be improved on."

"I suppose it's home for us now, Jack?" asked Toby.

"We might as well be making a start," he was told. "Perhaps I'll want to
snap off another picture on the way, because one or two things struck me
as worth while."

Accordingly Toby lifted the string of fish from the water, where they
had been keeping cool. He grinned as he pretended to stagger under the
load.

"Believe me, they're going to turn out something of a weight, Jack."

"We'll fix that soon enough, and share the burden," the other told him,
as he picked up a stout pole, and proceeded to fasten the fish to its
centre. "Many hands make light work, they say, and when we carry our
prize bag of fish between us the strain will hardly be noticed."

It proved just as Jack had said; what would have been a heavy weight for
one to carry was a mere bagatelle for both, thanks to that pole, which
was some six feet in length.

"First time in all my life I ever had to tote home a string of fish in
this way," Toby confessed, though with brimming good humor. "Don't I
wish we were going through Chester with the