the hooks on one of her husband's
numerous fishing outfits. Farther landward, a mixed throng--nattily clad
business men who were snatching a few minutes of sport before business
called, down at the heel out-of-works with nothing to do and all day to
do it in, here a woman with a colorful shirtwaist, there a couple of
noisy school-boys--made the sides of the pier bristle like the branches
of a thicket hedge.

The faint tinge of orange in the eastern sky deepened to a radiant
crimson glow. A glistening, fast-widening, crescent sliver of the sun
appeared on the horizon and painted a long golden path on the rippled
lake, and still the lonely perch waited in vain for a companion in
misery.

Silvey jerked his line from the water and examined the untouched bait in
disgust.

"Just like it was last time," he ejaculated. "I'm going down the pier
and see what the other fellows are catching."

He jammed his pole between two bent nails in a plank and was off,
stopping now and then to peer downward at some trophy as he sauntered
along. John did likewise with his rod and stretched out on the rough
boards to look lazily up at the clear sky. It wasn't half bad after all,
even if the fish weren't biting. There was something in this getting up
and over to the park before the smoke got into the air, to listen to the
songs of the birds and watch the throng of people, that more than atoned
for the lack of luck.

He pulled out his watch dreamily--a quarter of six and still but one
captive--and let his glance follow the wake of a graceful, white-hulled
gasoline cruiser which chugged its way up from the south. Presently
Silvey returned to break in upon his revery with the exciting news that
a man near the life-preserver post had caught five fish. John sat up.

"What did he catch 'em on?" he asked as he stretched his arms.

"Minnows."

"Let's try a couple of ours."

They scraped the hooks free of the whitened worms with their finger
nails and rebaited, only to find that the sun-parched flesh softened and
floated away soon after it was lowered into the water.

"Have to buy some fresh ones! Got any money?"

A thorough search resurrected a worn copper that had lain in Silvey's
back pocket until he had forgotten it--else the coin had gone the way of
many another that had purchased peppermints at the school store. John
surrendered a penny that had been given him the night before for a
perfect spelling paper. They viewed the scanty hoar