, till at last his hands slipped, and down he came upon the ground
in a sitting position.

Happily, the distance was only small, and there was too much excitement
awaiting him for Harry to spare time for anything more than a terrible
grimace.

"Now, then," he said, taking hold of the line and drawing it gently,
"look out, boys," and then, with his beautiful golden scales glittering
in the sun, and his strength completely gone, a carp of about a pound
and a half weight rose to the surface, and, turning on his side, was
drawn inshore.

"Now hold the line, and I'll land him," said Harry to his brother, who
took his post while the speaker went down upon his knees to grasp the
fish.

"Flip, flap, plish, plash," went the carp, when Harry's hand came in
contact with its shiny sides.

"Oh!" groaned all the boys, "he's gone;" for the fish was free from the
line, the hook having, broken out of his mouth.

But he was not quite gone, for he lay in a shallow on some weeds, feebly
opening and shutting his gills. The next flap of his tail, however,
would have taken him into deep water, but in went Harry into the mud up
to his knees, and with one scoop of his hand sent the golden treasure
flying out on to the grass, yards away from the pond edge.

Didn't they cheer, and didn't Harry dance about, on the grass with his
black muddy legs dripping about, and the water going "suck, suck," in
his boots, and squeezing out at every step. How they gloated over the
poor panting prize; so much, that it was ever so long before they could
stop to rub Harry's legs down with bunches of grass; and it was no easy
matter for Fred and Philip to do, for the wet boy kept dancing, and
cheering, and skipping about like a mad thing, slapping his brother's
back; and at last, when they were half finished--

"Bring the tiddlers along, and let's keep carpy alive," he shouted; and
running to the edge of the pond, soaked his handkerchief therein,
wrapped up the carp, and away they all ran homewards, to put the fish in
their little pond. Philip, who was carrying the can of little fish--
which had now become almost insignificant in the eyes of their captors--
kept splashing his legs at every step, till they were nearly as wet as
his brother's; while Fred, who bore the rods, had to stop more than once
to disentangle the lines from the overhanging branches as they went down
the lane.

At last they reached home, to find Mary carrying in the dinner, after
M