Some days before, while Jimmy was fishing very industriously, he had given a yell, and was seen to be pulling at a tremendous rate at something to which his hook had evidently become attached.
Of course his rival had shown great interest in his actions, for it looked as if the Irish lad must have hooked a monster of a fish. But when finally Jimmy was able, alone and unaided, to bring the thing to the surface, he discovered, much to his chagrin, that it was only a sunken and waterlogged log. His own frantic labor had given it all the wonderful movements which he believed were the struggles of a captured fish.
“But I say, Jack, darlint,” went on the Irish boy, “before I make another thry, plase tell me this: Suppose now, ye should say me comin’ back, and ridin’ on a manatee that they do be havin’ around here—would ye call that a fish, becase it lives, so they tell me, under the wather all the toime?”
He glared triumphantly at Nick, whose mouth opened in sheer amazement upon hearing the audacious proposition.
“If he don’t take the cake for trying to do the queerest things, now!” the fat boy exclaimed. “Why, it’s just silly to think of him capturing a manatee, and harnessing it, like they say Father Neptune does the dolphins. And Jack, looky here, a manatee can’t be a fish at all, any more than an alligator is.”
“Tell me why?” demanded Jimmy, pugnaciously. “Sure, it’s amphibious it do be, and lives under the water all the toime. I think I’ve got ye there, Nick, me bhoy.”
“But listen,” Nick continued, with conviction in his manner, “haven’t you heard it called a sea cow; and can a cow be a fish, Jack?” with which he turned triumphantly toward the laughing umpire.
“Now, what’s the matter with a cow-whale?” asked Jimmy; “and yet deny that a whale is a fish if ye dare?”
“Jack, settle that, won’t you, before he goes and brings in every old varmint to be found in this region?” pleaded Nick.
But Jack was too wise. He did not want to shut out the possibility of their having the time of their lives, should the energetic and ambitious Jimmy attempt to carry his plans into effect.