"Hurrah, first blood!" shouted Si. "Give me one of those critters." And soon he was baited in a similar fashion. Walking up the stream, he too threw in with care and was rewarded with equal quickness, his catch being even larger than that of Walter.
The young sailors had now learned a secret well worth knowing, and they kept at the spot until they had sixteen fish to their credit, all squirming and twisting at a lively rate in a hollow into which they had been thrown.
"I fancy that is more than we need," said Walter, as he brought up the last, as plump a catch as any. "If we bake these and pack them in leaves, they will last us for several days. Probably we'll get tired of eating them before they are all gone."
"Humph, it will be better nor nothing," was Si's comment. "Come, I'm hungry for some already."
And then they moved to a ravine which was not far away, where they spent the whole evening in preparing the fish and in getting a substantial supper. The day's journey had proved even harder than that of the day before, and in consequence the boys upon retiring slept, as Walter afterward declared, "like tops."
Daybreak found them making their way around a village with extreme care. They could plainly see
