It proved so for a while, and there Jeff pulled in his first eel. Then he had a good time, as Charley said, getting the eel off the hook, and untwisting him from the snarl he had got himself into with the fish-line.
"There he goes," said Charley, "all over the bottom of the boat. Black Dan says an eel just loves to travel round."
"They're mean things to catch."
"I've got one. Now I'll show you."
Charley knew how to take an eel off a hook, but that one bothered him, and when he finally got him loose, he said,
"I say, Jeff, this won't do. I'd as lief fish for turtles. Let's move."
"Wait a bit. Maybe there's something else."
So there was, but not for any great length of time; and as the boys were impatient, they made another move.
They would have given one of their eels to know how the fat man from the city was getting along.
Toward noon their frequent changes brought them away up to the head of the pond, near the mouth of the creek; but they had not been anchored ten minutes before a deep-toned cheery voice from the bank hailed them with,