“Reel in your lines, for I have a fish that is a fish,” he cried suddenly.
Sam was not fishing at the time and he took hold of the oars so that he could maneuver the boat while Earl played the fish. Bill and Bob were trying so hard to reel in their lines that they snarled them. Everything was in a mess, but Earl managed to keep the fish out of the tangled lines. It began to look as if the tangled lines might have to be cut. Sam could not always move the boat so that the fish would clear them, and Earl could not play his fish to keep it clear forever.
“What’s the matter?” asked Sam. “Can’t you get your lines in?”
“We have them untangled now,” said Bill as he started to reel in again.
It was quite evident that Earl had quite a large fish on his line. It played around the boat in large circles. Once it ran right at the boat and Sam was quite busy keeping the boat in such a position that it would not run under the keel. If it had done that, the chances were that the line would have parted or the leaders broken.
Finally Earl brought the fish up to the side of the boat.
“Where’s the net?” asked Bill.
“We don’t need a net,” said Sam. “That’s what we brought the rifle for. See if you can hit it.”
Once again Bill took the rifle and aimed at the new target. It was not as large as the salmon, but it was a magnificent trout. Bill aimed at a point about four inches below the trout and fired—another miss.
“This fish is closer to the surface,” said Sam. “Wait until it stops moving so rapidly and try again.”