"Oh, yes, sometimes. But don't catch any Sallie Growlers."
"What's a Sallie Growler?" asked Vi, before any one else could speak.
"Oh, you'll know as soon as you catch one," laughed her cousin. Then he picked up Mun Bun, who was really asleep by this time, and carried him up to the house, while Daddy Bunker took Margy, whose eyes were also closed.
True to their promises Russ and Laddie went down to the little boat wharf the next morning after breakfast. Russ had the crab net and a chunk of meat tied to a string. Laddie had a short pole and line and a hook baited with a piece of clam, for that was what fishermen often used, Cousin Tom said.
"Now we'll see who catches the first fish!" exclaimed Laddie, as he sat down on the pier.
"I'm not fishing for fish, I'm fishing for crabs," said Russ.
"Well, in this race we'll count a crab and a fish as the same thing," returned Laddie. "We'll see who gets the first one."
The boys waited some time. Now and then Russ would feel a little tug at his line, as if the crabs were tasting his bait, but had not quite made up their minds to take a good hold so he could pull them up and catch them in the net. And the cork float on Laddie's line would bob up and down a little as though he, too, had nibbles. But neither of them had caught anything yet.
Suddenly Laddie felt a hard tug, and he yelled:
"Oh, I got one! I got one! I got the first bite!"