“Phew!” exclaimed Pepper at length, “what is the matter with stopping here?”

“Tired?” asked Donald.

“Well, I feel as if I had been doing something,” replied Pepper, resting on his oar.

“I suppose there isn’t much choice in the matter,” remarked Rand; “one place is probably as good as another.”

“Only some of them are better,” put in Jack.

“And this is one of them,” asserted Pepper, “and there is a nice green place over there on the shore where we can put in and cook some fish for dinner.”

“If we have any to cook,” suggested Donald.  “You know you have first to catch your fish before you can cook them.”

“We’ll do that, too, old Solomon the Second,” returned Jack, who was in the bow.  “That’s what we came out for.  Shall I let go the anchor, Rand?”

“All right, let it go,” ordered Rand.  “Easy now, if you don’t want to scare all the fish away.  What are you trying to do?” as Jack gave the anchor a swing and, failing to let go of the painter, promptly went overboard with it.

“I just went down to see if the anchor got to the bottom,” explained Jack a moment later, as he scrambled over the side.

“We thought you were going to dive for the fish,” said Pepper, “like the hawks do.”

“Maybe I will try that later,” replied Jack, shaking himself like a dog to get rid of some of the water.  “Now, then, who is going to get the first bite.”

For the next few moments the boys were busy getting their tackle in order and into the water, after which they settled down to await results.

“I had almost forgotten,” broke in Jack after a pause, as the fish did not seem eager to be caught.  “I met Colonel Snow this morning—­”

“Indeed,” said Rand sarcastically, “that’s news.”

“Now you needn’t go off at half-cock,” retorted Jack, “wait until I get through.”

“Well, what about it?” asked Donald.

“Why, he said—­Hurrah, I’ve got a bite!” cried Jack, pulling in his line.

“He did!” exclaimed Rand.  “That was a queer thing for him to say.”

“No, the colonel didn’t say that,” explained Jack, as he landed a good-sized perch in the bottom of the boat, “there’s one for luck.  That was a comment of my own.  Wait until I put a fresh bait on and I will tell you what he did say.  He said—­”

“Hurrah, I’ve got one!” interjected Pepper, pulling in his line and landing another fish.

“Why, that’s the same thing he didn’t say before,” commented Donald, referring to the colonel.

“He said—­” began Jack again, but the fish were now biting freely and the boys were so busy pulling them in that, for a time, they quite forgot the colonel and what it was that he said.

“If you haven’t forgotten,” began Donald, a little later, when there came a lull in the biting, “I would like to know just what it was that the colonel did say.”