tle or no damage to it, and it would serve another turn, so he went
to work once more. Several minutes passed, and then he had another
bite, and again landed his fish, but it was a little smaller than the
first.

'No big uns in this pool,' murmured Chippy. 'Theer's another good
place about thirty yards up. We'll try that.'

The minnow had been badly torn by the teeth of the second trout, so by
the light of a couple of wax matches, struck one after the other by
Dick, Chippy fixed a fresh bait on the leaded hook. Then they went up
to the second pool.

'S'pose yer have a try here,' whispered Chippy to Dick. 'It's as easy
as can be. Ye must just let it down an' pull it up again, quiet an'
easy. Ye'll know soon enough when a fish lays hold on it. Then give a
little jerk to fasten th' 'ook in. Next lug him right up, pullin'
smooth an' steady wi'out givin' an inch. If yer do, he'll get away,
most likely.'

Dick took the rod and let the minnow down into the smooth dark pool
where stars were reflected between the shadows of overhanging branches.
Down and up, down and up, down and up, he lowered and raised the bait,
many, many times, but there was no sign that the pool held a fish. He
was about to whisper to Chippy that it was useless to try longer, when
there came a tremendous tug, which almost tore the hazel wand out of
his grasp. He tightened his clutch convulsively, and in recovering the
rod he struck the fish, for at the next moment the tug of a tightly
hooked 'big un' shook him from head to foot. Then there was a terrific
splash at his feet, which caused his heart to jump into his mouth. The
trout had leaped clean out of the water.

'Pull up! Pull up!' yelled Chippy, and Dick pulled. The fish was so
firmly hooked that he was still there, and now the rod bent and twisted
in Dick's hands as if that, too, were alive and trying to free itself
from his wild clutch. Dick raised the fish slowly, for it felt
tremendously heavy, and when he had it on the surface it kicked and
wallowed till you might have thought a dog was splashing in the water.

'A good swing an' step back,' roared Chippy. Dick obeyed, and gave a
big lift. He felt the hazel bend and tremble in his hands, then Chippy
pounced on something, and the rod was still.

'Have we got it?' cried Dick breathlessly, for he had felt sure that
the trout was too strong for their tackle.

'Got 'im,' snapped Chippy in triumph, 'an' a good un, too. They s