“Where are you going to fish?” asked Flossie. She and her brother were on the deck not far from the two staterooms of the Bobbsey family. Mrs. Bobbsey was sitting in a steamer chair near the door of her room, where she could watch the children.
“I’m going to fish right here,” Freddie said, pointing to the rail at the side of the ship. “I’m going to throw my line over here, with the hook on it, just like I fish off the bridge at home.”
“And I’ll watch you,” said Flossie.
Over the railing Freddie tossed his bent-pin hook and line. He thought it would reach down to the water, but he did not know how large the boat was on which he was sailing to Florida.
His little ball of string unwound as the end of it dropped over the rail, but the hook did not reach the water. Even if it had, Freddie could have caught nothing. In the first place a bent pin is not the right kind of hook, and, in the second place, Freddie had no bait on the hook. Bait is something that covers a hook and makes the fish want to bite on it. Then they are caught. But Freddie did not think of this just now, and his hook had nothing on it. Neither did it reach down to the water, and Freddie didn’t know that.
But, as his string was dangling over the side of the ship there came a sudden tug on it, and the little boy pulled up as hard as he could.
“Oh, I’ve caught a fish! I’ve caught a fish!” he cried. “Flossie, look, I’ve caught a fish!”
Of course Flossie could not see what was on the end of her brother’s line, but it was something! She could easily tell that by the way Freddie was hauling in on the string.
“Oh, what have you got?” cried the little girl.
“I’ve got a big fish!” said Freddie. “I said I’d catch a fish, and I did!”