not catch any fish."
So they went down the other side of the dyke and cut onto a little pier
that ran from the sandy beach into the water.
Grandfather showed them how to bait their hooks. Kit baited Kat's for
her, because Kat said it made her all wriggly inside to do it. She did
not like it. Neither did the worm!
They all sat down on the end of the pier, Grandfather sat on the very
end and let his wooden shoes hang down over the water; but he made Kit
and Kat sit with their feet stuck straight out in front of them, so
they just reached to the edge, "So you can't fall in," said Grandfather.
They dropped their hooks into the water and sat very still, waiting for
a bite. The sun climbed higher and higher in the sky, and it grew
hotter and hotter on the pier. The flies tickled Kat's nose and made
her sneeze.
"Keep still, can't you?" said Kit crossly. "You'll scare the fish.
Girls don't know how to fish, anyway."
Pretty soon Kat felt a queer little jerk on her line. She was perfectly
sure she did.
Kat squealed and jerked her rod. She jerked it so hard that one foot
flew right up in the air, and one of her new wooden shoes
went--splash--right into the water!
But that wasn't the worst of it! Before you could say Jack Robinson,
Kat's hook flew around and caught in Kit's clothes and pricked him.
Kit jumped and said "Ow!" And then--no one could ever tell how it
happened--there was Kit in the water, too, splashing like a young
whale, with Kat's hook still holding fast to his clothes in the back!
Grandfather jumped then, too, you may be sure. He caught hold of Kat's
rod and pulled hard and called out, "Steady there, steady!"
And in one minute there was Kit in the shallow water beside the pier,
puffing and blowing like a grampus!
Grandfather reached down and pulled him up.
When Kit was safely on the pier, Kat threw her arms around his neck,
though the water was running down in streams from his hair and eyes and
ears.
"O Kit," she said, "I truly thought it was a fish on my line when I
jumped!"
"Just like a g-g-girl," said Kit. "They don't know how to f-f-fish."
You see his teeth were chattering, because the water was cold.
"Well, anyway," said Kat, "I caught more than you did. I caught you!"
Then Kat thought of something else. She shook her finger at Kit.
"O Kit," she said, "Mother told you not to fall into the water!"
"'T-t-twas all your fault," roared Kit. "Y-y-you began it! Anyway,
where
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