“No, sir; not a word.”

“That is wise. Well, we’ll soon find out whether it’s another Daniel come to judgment or just another case of mistaken identity. You say he struck out twenty men to-day?”

“No, fifteen.”

“So it was. How much do you pay this Dan when you hire him to take you fishing on Six Town Pond?”

“Two dollars a day.”

“Does he earn his money?”

“He does that!” exclaimed Walter with enthusiasm. “The other day we got a pickerel that weighed almost ten pounds and we saw a snake almost as big as a fence rail.”

“You say ‘we’ got a ten-pound pickerel. Who got it—you or Dan?”

“I caught it—though I don’t believe I’d have landed it if it hadn’t been for him.”

“Quite likely. What did he do?”