“Yes.”
“It’s wound on a sturgeon’s nose.”
“That’s a likely story!” exclaimed both boys in a breath. “Is it now—honest?”
“Yes.”
“Where did you get a sturgeon’s nose?”
“They caught one at the mill; father and I were there with logs, and I got his nose.”
“How did you know it would make a ball bounce?”
“I learned it of the boys in Nova Scotia.”
“What a feller you are to make things! I wish I could; I’d have lots of things. I couldn’t cover a ball as neat as that to save my life. I wish I had lived on an island, and had to make things; perhaps I might have learned something.”
“I’ll give you that ball, Fred.”