“Hey there! Look out, Ted!” called Tom. “Your line is all tangled up with mine!”
“And so is your line tangled with mine!” added Ted. “That’s why I can’t get my fish in!”
Both little boys had turned and were looking at one another. All of a sudden Uncle Ben began to laugh.
“What’s the matter?” asked Ted, who was red in the face from pulling so hard on his pole.
“Somebody’s got to help me get my fish!” exclaimed Tom.
“Neither one of you has a fish,” said Uncle Ben, with another laugh. “Your hooks and lines tangled together under the boat and you have been pulling one against the other. Ted was pulling on Tom’s line and Tom was pulling on Ted’s line. Take it easy, now, and I’ll untangle your lines.”
The two little boys looked at one another and then at Uncle Ben. Then they laughed, and so did Lola and Janet.
As Ted and Tom lowered their poles their lines were no longer stretched tight. Then Uncle Ben pulled on Tom’s line and drew it from the water beneath the motor boat. And just as he had said, Tom’s hook was caught in Ted’s line. The two cords were snarled together, and it was no wonder each lad felt that he had a big fish when, the truth was, he was only pulling against his friend on the other side of the boat.
“There! Now you’re all right once more, and you can throw in again,” said Uncle Ben, when he had finished the untangling. “Better move a little farther apart. Ted, you come back here to the stern, and Tom, you go forward to the bow. Then your lines won’t be so likely to get crossed under the boat.”
As the two boys started to separate Lola gave a cry.