"What's he doing?" asked Laddie, for the man now and then would stop rowing and handle something he had in front of him.

   "He's fishing," said Russ. "I can see his pole."

   Laddie saw it too, a moment later. The man in the boat was a fisherman.

   Pretty soon he was near enough for the boys to call to him.

   "Hey!" exclaimed Russ. "Have you got 'em?"

   He supposed, of course, that the man would know what he was talking about. And so it might seem, for the man made answer:

   "Well, I had 'em but I lost 'em. But I'll get 'em again."

   "Oh, daddy will be so glad!" cried Laddie. "Did you lose 'em out of your coat?"

   The man looked up quickly.

   "Lose 'em out of my coat? Why, no," he said. "I lost 'em off my hook—two of the biggest fish I've caught this day! But I'll get 'em back—or some just like 'em which

   will be as good. Hello, youngsters," he added with a smile. "Do you live at Mrs. Bell's place?"

   "We're just visiting her," explained Russ. "She's our grandma. We're the six little Bunkers."

   "Oh, ho!" exclaimed the man with a laugh. "That's so—there are six of you! I can see now," and he looked beyond Russ and Laddie to where Rose, Vi, Margy and Mun Bun were playing on the sandy point and having lots of fun.

   "But are you fond of fishing, that you ask if I lost 'em?" the man went on.

   "If you please," replied Russ, "we didn't mean to ask about your fish, though we're sorry you lost any. But have you daddy's papers?"

   "Daddy's papers? I don't know what you mean," the man said.

   "Aren't you a lumberman?" asked Laddie, not liking to use the name "tramp," as the man, though he did have on a ragged coat, did not seem like the lazy wanderers who prowl about the country asking for food but not wanting to work.

   "No, I'm not a lumberman," said the man. "What makes you ask that?"

   "Well, 

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