go with him.

Jeremiah furnished Marco with a hook and a piece of sheet lead to make a
sinker of, and Marco had some twine in his pocket already; so that he
was soon fitted with a line. But he had no pole. Jeremiah said that he
could cut one, on his way down to the river, as they would pass through
a piece of woods which had plenty of tall and slender young trees in it.

He succeeded in getting a pole in this manner, which answered very well;
and then he and Jeremiah went down to the river. They stood upon a log
on the shore, and caught several small fishes, but they got none of much
value, for nearly half an hour. At last, Jeremiah, who was standing at a
little distance from Marco, suddenly exclaimed:

"Oh, here comes a monstrous great perch. He is coming directly towards
my hook."

"Where? where?" exclaimed Marco. And Marco immediately drew out his hook
from the place where he had been fishing, and walked along to the log on
which Jeremiah was standing.

"Where is he?" said Marco, looking eagerly into the water.

"Hush!" said Jeremiah; "don't say a word. There he is, swimming along
towards my hook."

"Yes," said Marco, "I see him. Now he's turning away a little. Let me
put my line in, too."

Marco extended his pole and dropped his hook gently into the water. He
let it down until it was near the perch. The poor fish, after loitering
about a minute, gradually approached Marco's hook and bit at it.

Jeremiah, seeing that he was in danger of losing his fish, now called
out to Marco to take his line out. "It is not fair," said he, "for you
to come and take my fish, just as he was going to bite at my hook. Go
away."

But it was too late. As Jeremiah was saying these words, the fish bit,
and Marco, drawing up the line, found the fish upon the end of it. As
the line came in, however, Jeremiah reached out his hand to seize the
fish, and Marco, to prevent him, dropped the pole and endeavored to
seize it too.

"Let go my fish," said Jeremiah.

"Let alone my line," said Marco.

Neither would let go. A struggle ensued, and Marco and Jeremiah, in the
midst of it, fell off into the water. The water was not very deep, and
they soon clambered up upon the log again, but the fish, which had been
pulled off the line in the contention, fell into the water, and swam
swiftly away into the deep and dark parts of the water, and was seen no
more. He was saved by the quarrels of his enemies.

Marco, who was not so much accusto