George stopped abruptly, and gazed for a moment at the boys as if he had not correctly heard them. Their determined manner was not to be changed, however, and as he rose from the ground, he said,—
“Well, I must say you beat all the men I ever saw. Why, that’s the way everybody does down here when they weigh a fish.”
“It isn’t the way we do. We want to know exactly what this fish weighs,” said Bob.
Evidently chagrined and disgusted, George nevertheless weighed the great fish, and glancing at the steelyards, said, “Humph! He only weighs thirty-eight pounds!”
“Thirty-eight pounds!” exclaimed Jock, in his delight.
But even the present elation was forgotten when Hank McBride and the other two boys were seen approaching with their catch, and in a moment Jock turned to greet them with a shout of triumph.