CHAPTER III
GREAT SNAKES
“You get some wood, Walter, and start a fire in the fireplace, while I am cleaning the fish and getting everything ready for dinner,” said Dan, as the two boys, with the fish they had caught and the cooking utensils in their hands, started toward the grove on the bluff.
“Where’ll I find an axe?”
“There’s one in the skiff, but I don’t believe you’ll need it. Just pick up some of the dead wood; that’s all we want.”
“I’ll have a roaring fire before you’re ready,” laughed Walter, as he turned among the trees. In a brief time he had collected sufficient wood, and a blazing fire was soon made in the rude fireplace. As he completed his task, Walter turned to his companion, who now was peeling some potatoes.
“Put the kettle on and fill it with water from the spring,” Dan said. “If you are as hungry as I am, you won’t want to lose much time. I’ll have these potatoes boiling before you know it, if you are lively.”
“I’m your man,” laughed Walter, as he seized the kettle and at once went to the bubbling little spring on the border of the woods. As soon as he returned he placed the kettle over the fire, resting it upon the flat stones. In a moment Dan dropped his potatoes into the water and then turned to his fish.
“They’re great, Dan!” exclaimed Walter, as he saw his companion take the white-meated fish which had been cleaned and skinned and, after he had carefully placed them on the broiler, hold them over the blazing fire. “Strange, isn’t it?” continued Walter. “Less than an hour ago those perch were swimming around in Six Town Pond as lively as crickets. Three hours afterward they are an important part of you and me. If I get a home run in the game to-morrow, probably that big perch that took my hook a few minutes ago will be what provided the force. One minute, a live fish chasing another smaller fish and trying to swallow it, and the next just changed into the force and nerve and muscle that knocks out a clean home run. Ever think about that, Dan?”
“Can’t say that I have. You’d do better to drop poetry and set the table.”