“Well, you tell the station-man for me that he had better put him in a padded room. Ha! ha!” And Bob hung up the receiver.
But almost immediately the bell rang again.
“Hello!” said a voice. It was the telephone operator. “Is Mr. Bennett still there? Oh! Well, there’s a party on the long distance wants to speak to you.”
“Hello; that you, Bob?” came in far-away accents.
“It’s me. Who are you?”
“Dad.”
“Oh, hello, dad!” Bob tried to make his voice joyful.
“I called you up to tell you I caught a fifty-seven pounder. Thought you’d like to congratulate me.”
Bob did.
“They’ve made me a member of the Pius Piscatorials—swell club down here,” continued dad jubilantly, and again Bob did the congratulating act. “By the way, how’s hustling?” went on dad.