He had made a miniature pond a foot or two in width along the side of the river, and into this he meant to drop any bait secured, to keep them alive until wanted.
But even the minnows had almost entirely forsaken that shallow at this time of day, for after working industriously a whole hour he had only succeeded in trapping three.
One of these he used at once, but it brought no success, for the hour was now near noon.
Dick munched at his lunch and watched his floats pensively as the time crept on.
Up to three o'clock he had had only one more bite, but he managed to land the late diner, which proved to be at least the equal of his first capture.
Then came another long wait.
About four he concluded to try another minnow, hoping that the bass were arousing from their mid-day nap and would feel like partaking of a bite.
The river was very pretty just here, and the current rather slow, for the banks had widened; only for this deep hole the stream was shallow, and since the rains had been few and far between of late Dick fancied he could almost wade across to the opposite shore should the occasion arise.
Strange to say the idea of taking a swim had not occurred to him, as it certainly must have done had there been another boy along; he was too much engrossed in his fishing, and the laying out of plans for the future to think of these material joys so dear to the heart of the ordinary boy.
Just as he had fastened the minnow to his hook, and gently floated this out to the most promising place in the pool he thought he heard voices somewhere close by.