a try there this afternoon, if either of you
cared to go with me."

"Now, that's too mean for anything," grumbled Steve, looking quite
unhappy. "I'm just as fond of fishing as the next fellow, and I'd like
to take a whirl with the gamey bass of the upper reaches of Paradise
River; but hang the luck, I just oughtn't to try to walk that far."

"What ails you, Steve?" demanded Jack; "I haven't heard you complain
any, though come to think of it, you did limp more or less when walking
around this morning doing your share of the chores. Got a cramp in your
leg?"

"No, but one of these shoes has rubbed my heel till it's sore," fretted
Steve, taking off his shoe to sympathetically rub that portion of his
pedal extremity. "If I expect to be able to toddle around, and have any
sort of fun while we're up here I ought to keep quiet the balance of the
day; and also put some sort of lotion on my heel that'll start it to
healing."

"I can't go with you, Toby," Jack went on to say, "because I have
planned to take advantage of this clear day to snap off a few pictures,
just to get my hand in, you see. My old camera wasn't good enough, the
lady said, and so she had me step in and buy the finest in Chester. It
looks like a dandy box, and I aim to pick up a lot of mighty smart
photographs while we're up in this neck of the woods."

"Any objections then to my going off alone, Jack?"

Toby asked this with such an appealing look on his face that Jack could
not find it in his heart to put any obstacle in the way.

"I don't see why you shouldn't take a little tramp by yourself if you
feel that you just can't wait until tomorrow, Toby," he told the other.
"Only be careful not to get lost. I'll loan you my map, which you can
study while waiting for a bite; and then again, you must carry the
compass along, too. I reckon you know something about telling the points
of the compass from the green moss or mould on the northwest side of
nearly every tree-trunk. Yes, go if you feel disposed, but start back an
hour or so before dark."

"Just when the fishing is bound to be at its best, too," complained
Toby; "but then after I know the way, and have broken a regular trail to
and from the river, I can stay later. I dug a lot of worms in our
garden, and picked up some whopping big night-walkers besides, so I'm
all fixed for bait, I reckon."

Eagerly then Toby secured his jointed rod, and the little canvas bag in
which he kept all his paraphernalia