dy. Archie took him on his back,
replaced him in the stern of the canoe in company with the big stone,
and then stepped gently into his own place at the bow, where a common
trading gun, with the old-fashioned flint lock and single barrel, rested
against the gunwale. Pushing off they soon left Breakfast-isle far
behind them, and crept swiftly along by the margin of the reeds.

On the way Billie cast out his fishing-line. It was a strong cod-line,
with a great cod-hook attached and a lump of fat pork on it; for Archie,
in the fervour of hope coupled with piscatorial ignorance and a sanguine
disposition, had strongly advised his brother to err, if err he must, on
the safe side, and be prepared for anything, from a great lake-serpent
to a fresh-water whale.

No civilised fish would have deigned to give a second thought to the
obvious deception which a mass of indigestible pork presented, but fish
of the backwoods--especially in the early years of this century--were
not suspicious. An enormous pike, or "jack-fish," coveted that bait and
took it. Not only so, but it took the great cod-hook and ten inches of
the line besides.

A shout such as Billie had not uttered for many months announced the
fact.

"Hi! hold on, Archie! Back water! I say, I'd believe I had hanked the
bottom if it didn't tug in such a lively way!"

"Pay out line, Little Bill!" cried the other, looking over his shoulder
with blazing eyes, but unable to render any assistance owing to the
small size and crank nature of the canoe. "Stay, I'll turn about and
become steersman, while you play the--whew! It's a whale! I say--ease
off!"

"Ease off!" cried Billie in desperation; "how can I ease off, with only
a few yards o' the line left?"

"Pitch the reel back to me then. I'll manage it!" cried Archie, who had
converted the bow of the canoe into the stern--both ends being alike--by
the simple process of turning himself round and sitting with his face
towards his brother.

What Archie had styled the reel was simply a piece of stick with the
line wound round it. His brother pitched it to him with one hand while
the desperate jerking of the other--indeed of his whole body--told at
once of the size and the impatience of the fish.

Unwinding the line in haste, Archie fastened the extreme end of it to
two spare paddles and flung them overboard.

"Now, Little Bill," he said; "you may let him have his head, and if you
can't hold on without risking th