"Then I will have to do my plowing by a
heidlicht, so I can fish as much as ye do in the day time. I hereby
make, enact, and enforce a law that neither of us is to fish in the
Bass hole when the other is not there to fish also. That is the
only fair way. I've as much richt to him as ye have."
"Of course!" said Mary. "That is a fair way. Make that a rule, and
kape it. If you both fish at once, it's got to be a fair catch for
the one that lands it; but whoever catches it, _I_ shall ate it, so
it don't much matter to me."
"You ate it!" howled Jimnmy. "I guess not. Not a taste of that
fish, when he's teased me for years? He's as big as a whale. If
Jonah had had the good fortune of falling in the Wabash, and being
swallowed by the Black Bass, he could have ridden from Peru to
Terre Haute, and suffered no inconvanience makin' a landin'. Siven
pounds he'll weigh by the steelyard I'll wager you."
"Five, Jimmy, five," corrected Dannie.
"Siven!" shouted Jimmy. " Ain't I hooked him repeated? Ain't I seen him
broadside? I wonder if thim domn lines of mine have gone and rotted."
He left his supper, carrying his chair, and standing on it he
began rummaging the top shelf of the cupboard for his box of
tackle. He knocked a bottle from the shelf, but caught it in
mid-air with a dexterous sweep.
"Spirits are movin'," cried Jimmy, as he restored the camphor to
its place. He carried the box to the window, and became so deeply
engrossed in its contents that he did not notice when Dannie picked
up his rat bag and told him to come on and help skin their day's
catch.
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