“It ‘will’ weigh nine or ten pounds and get heavier every time you tell how you caught it,” replied Dan with a smile.
“No. Tell me honestly what you think it weighs now.”
“It may tip the scales at eight pounds.”
“More than that!” asserted Walter confidently. “Dan, I’d like to stay and get two or three more like this fellow, but I guess we’d better start for home. It’ll be dark before we get there, even if we start right away.”
“All right,” assented Dan promptly, as he instantly began to row toward the landing-place.
“We’ll come back for the snake and some more of those big pickerel some other time.”
“They’ll keep,” said Dan shortly.
Old Prince, with a whinny, greeted the return of the boys. In a brief time the skiff was placed in the little boat-house on the shore, the rods and various belongings were put into the buggy, and last of all the big pickerel was wrapped in a bag and covered with a cloth under the seat.
“Some people count the fish they catch; others weigh them,” said Walter with a laugh as the homeward journey was begun.