“Go to sleep is good,” laughed Frank. “That’s one thing everybody down here seems able to do.”
Mark and Frank had purchased some fishing tackle in the town and as they sailed they threw out lines behind for trolling. Salvador showed them how to bait up to the best advantage and soon Mark found he had a bite. He hauled in without delay and brought on deck a bass weighing all of a pound and a half.
“First haul!” he shouted, highly pleased.
“Here is another,” cried Frank, and brought in an equally big fish. All examined the catches with care but saw little difference from the fish caught nearer home.
“Any electric eels here?” asked the professor of the boatman.
“I have heard of a few but I never see them, señor.”
“Electric eels?” repeated Hockley. “Do they come from Venezuela?”
“Yes, we’ll find them in the Orinoco, Hockley,—big ones too. We will have to be careful when we go fishing there, unless we want to get a shock.”
“Pooh! I’m not afraid of an eel,” returned the other. “I saw an electric eel once, in an aquarium at Chicago, but he didn’t have much electricity in him.”
“Then he must have been almost exhausted. A strong healthy electric eel can give a man as much of a shock as anybody wants, I can assure you.”