From the moment he felt the tug at his line until his catch was safely
in the bottom of the boat his excitement was tremendous. How the
little creature pulled! How it swept away with the bait into deep
water! With Manuel, Dr. Swift, Tony, and Mr. Croyden all coaching
him, and almost as frenzied as he, poor Theo hardly knew where he
was. But he obeyed the insistent command of: "_Play him! Play him!_"
and play him he did. Even with the captive's final leap into the air
the trout did not succeed in freeing itself from the hook. Keeping his
prize well away from the boat that the line might not slacken Theo at
last reeled in his victim.
He gasped when the feat was accomplished.
The second time he knew better what to do; and before the sun was high
and the fish had ceased to bite he landed five beauties.
In the meantime both his father and Mr. Croyden had been so absorbed
in watching his pleasure that they had almost forgotten their own
lines, and it was not until a big land-loch struck that the Doctor
remembered he, too, was fishing. When finally a lull in the sport
came and the party pulled up-stream toward the lean-to, there were a
dozen good-sized trout in Mr.
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