pass through freely. Fastened close to the end, and
neatly wound around it, was a short length of stout line on the end of
which was a hook with wire snell. Unwinding one of these lines the
doctor passed one of the alder sticks through the hole in the lath,
baited the hook with a lively minnow and dropped it through the hole in
the ice. The alder stick was placed across this so that the lath came in
the middle and lay on the ice at right angles. A pull on the line would
drag the end of the lath down, making it stand upright with its little
red signal on the end, and that was all there was to it.

It was simple in the extreme, but quite as effective as Hal's more
elaborate type could have been, as was presently demonstrated. They were
just preparing to set the last tip-up when Hal, glancing over to the
first one set, saw the red signal and with a wild yell of "We've got
one! We've got one!" started for it at top speed. The others paused to
see what the result would be, and saw him yank out a flapping prize.

"It's a beaut!" he panted as he rejoined them, holding out a handsome
pickerel. "Bet it weighs five pounds if it weighs an ounce. Say, this is
great!"

The fish was already stiff, but much to their surprise the doctor told
them it was not dead, frozen fish often retaining life for some time
after being taken from the water. He now left the tip-ups to the care of
the three boys, warning them to make frequent rounds of the holes to
break the ice as it formed and keep the lines free. The fish he took
with him to where Mother Merriam was busy beside the fire, for which Pat
was chopping wood.

Pickerel were numerous and hungry, to judge by the way they bit. It was
novel and exciting sport to the three city boys. There would be a yell
of "There's one!" and then a wild race to see who could reach it first.
At first they almost invariably forgot in their excitement to take along
the bait pail, which meant a second trip for one of them to rebait the
hook. Sometimes the signal would drop before they reached it and they
knew that the fish was off. Several times there were two signals waving
at once and one time there were five. By the time the doctor's welcome
hail of "Din-ner!" came ringing across the ice the bait pail was empty
and they had fourteen fish, none under three pounds, and from that up to
six. With the first one caught they had a total of fifteen. The doctor
smiled as he scanned the eager faces of the young fis