ess instant while
Jock, Sandy, and Jean watched the fly with him, and then, as
nothing happened, he cast again. When several such attempts
brought no result, he said, "You're sure they 're there?"

"They're lying at the bottom as soft as a baby in a cradle," said
Jean. "I could catch them with a skimmer! Gin they don't bite,
maybe I'll try it!"

Jock looked at Jean in amazement.

"You're a braw lassie, Jean Campbell," he said severely, "and you
just telling about Angus Niel!"

"T'was yourself and Sandy here telling about Angus Niel," Jean
answered. "I said nothing at all about him. I'm not afraid of
him, either."

"Good for you!" said the new boy with admiration. "You can have a
turn with my rod. Try it once before you get the skimmer!"

Jean sprang to her feet and took the rod, though she had never
had one like it in her hand before. She made a mighty sweep with
it as she had seen the new boy do, but somehow the fly flew off
in an unexpected direction and caught in a tree, while the line
wound itself in a hopeless snarl around the tip. Jock and Sandy,
who had stood by, green with envy, clapped their hands over their
mouths and danced with mirth.

"It looks easy," said poor Jean mournfully, "but maybe I'd best
stick to the skimmer when I fish."

"Oh, it always does that the first time," said the new boy
comfortingly, as he rescued the fly and straightened out the
line.

"When a girl tries to do it," added Jock witheringly.

The new boy held out the rod.

"You try it," he said to Jock, and Jock, full of confidence, did
not wait for a second invitation.

"Look here, Jean," he said. "This is the way you do it."

He swung the rod with a mighty flourish over his head, bud alas,
the fly surprised him too. It caught in Sandy's trousers and
surprised Sandy as well. Not only that, it scratched him.

"Ow!" howled Sandy, leaping about like a monkey on the end of the
string. "Leave go of me!"

There was a snarl even worse than Jean's, too, and between that
and Sandy's jumping about it was some time before the line was
disentangled and the hook freed so that Sandy was able to take
his turn. Jean, meanwhile, said nothing at all, for Jock looked
so crestfallen that she hadn't the heart. When Sandy tried it
things were still worse, for the fly flew about so wildly that
Jock and Jean fled before it and hid behind some bushes.

"Whoever could catch fish with such gewgaws as them anyway?" said
Sandy scornfully, whe