At length they approached an outlying patch of pads where the water was deep and black. Two canoe lengths short of it Pat stopped the canoe. Then he sorted over his remaining supply of frogs till he found one that suited his critical fancy. With this he rebaited Walter’s hook. “Now, ye throw roight over ter the very edge o’ thim pads, and don’t ye be in no hurry,” he commanded.
The first cast was short, but at the second attempt the frog landed with a spat at the very edge of the pads and began to swim vigorously in an effort to reach and climb up on them. Suddenly the water fairly boiled, and Walter all but lost his balance and upset the canoe, so sudden and vicious was the strike.
“Ye have him! Ye have him! Shure ’tis the king av thim all, an’ ’tis mesilf that knows ut, for ’tis tree times thot the ould feller has walked off wid me line and hooks!” yelled Pat excitedly. “Don’t let him get foul o’ thim pads!”
Walter soon found that he had the fight of his life on to keep the wary old warrior in clear water, but inch by inch he worked the fish away from the pads until finally he felt that the danger was past and that it was only a matter of time when the prize would be his. A few more heavy lunges, which threatened by the mere weight of the fish to break the slender rod, and the battle was over. Softly Pat slid his hand along till his stout fingers closed in the gills and the prize was in the canoe, where Pat speedily put an end to the snapping of its cruel looking jaws by severing the spinal cord with his knife.
Walter brought out his scales, and could hardly believe that he read them aright. “Thirteen pounds and a half!” he gasped.
“An’ there’s two av me hooks in his mouth, bad cess ter him,” said the matter-of-fact Pat, deftly extracting his property.
Pat was for trying for another big fellow, but Walter had had enough for that morning. Besides, he was anxious to show his prize at camp, so reeling in his line they started for the mouth of the backset.
“Pat, did Harrison ever have much luck in here?” asked Walter.
Pat stared at his companion for a minute before he found speech. “What, do ye mane ter tell me ye be thinkin’ Oi iver showed him where Oi was ketching the fish he bought?” demanded Pat. “Not he nor any ither o’ the Woodcraft byes knows about this setback. ’Tis lucky ye was ter be findin’ the way in yer own self. Ye will kape ut ter yerself now, will ye not?”
Walter promised that he would.