mping here for
two weeks or more, we stood to learn just what caused that queer booming
sound."

"There's Toby whistling, as sure as anything," announced Steve. "I
figure from his merry tone that he's met with a decent bunch of luck.
Yes, there he comes, swinging through the woods, and actually following
the trail he made in going out. Good boy, Toby, he's all right."

"And it's fish for supper in the bargain," asserted Jack, "for you can
see he's carrying quite a neat string of the finny beauties. There, he
holds it up so you can get your mouth ready for a feast."

As the fisherman came closer, Jack saw that he was looking a bit serious
for a fellow who had been so successful in his first fishing trip to the
river.

"Something happened, I calculate, eh, Toby?" demanded Steve, also
reading the signs.

"Well, yes, I've got a story to tell that _may_ interest you both,"
admitted Toby with an important air.

CHAPTER V

TOBY'S ADVENTURE

"Now that's what I get for staying home when I had a chance to go along
with you, Toby, old scout," grumbled Steve. "Just my luck to be left out
of the running. Hang the sore heel, I say!"

"Come over to the log and sit down, Toby," tempted Jack; "you must be a
little tired after your long walk, and all the work of catching such a
bunch of fighters. It seems after all that the gamiest bass frequent the
upper reaches of Paradise River. And none of the fellows in Chester
cared to go that far when the fishing near home was always pretty good."

So Toby was escorted to the sitting log with one chum on either side. He
would not have been a natural boy if he did not feel his importance just
then, with two fellows eager to hear his story.

"Now pitch in and tell us what really did happen," begged Steve; "for of
course by now you've got us all excited, and guessing a dozen things in
the bargain."

"Well, I didn't have a bit of trouble finding the river," began Toby,
just as though he felt he should conduct them gradually along until the
climax came, as good story-tellers do, he understood. "All I had to do
was to follow my nose, and keep going ahead into the west.

"I reckon the Paradise River must lie about a mile and a half over
yonder; but in places the going isn't as easy as you'd like. Finally, I
glimpsed running water, though to tell the truth I'd heard it some time
before; because in places there are quite some rapids, and they make
music right along, as the water gu