Eddie and Teena hurried along the beach. The two men looked up as they approached. “Hi, there,” Eddie greeted. “Any luck?” The two men glanced at each other, seeming to pass a silent question back and forth. Eddie laughed. “It’s O.K.,” he said. “I know most of the fishing spots out there. You won’t be giving away any secrets.” [Illustration: _“Hi, there,” Eddie greeted. “Any luck?”_] “Secrets?” one of the men said. He was tall and thin. His cheekbones pushed sharply outward against the sides of his face. His skin was strangely white for that of a fisherman in midsummer. Most week-end fishermen around Oceanview had pretty good tans by this time. Both men wore faded blue denims, white sneakers, and bright-colored sports shirts. The fact that their clothes looked new made Eddie think it might be the first time they had fished Moon Bay. The orange-and-white rowboat pulled up on the sand had been rented from Anderson’s Landing. Both Eddie and Teena knew Mr. Anderson well. “We know fishermen don’t like to give away their fishing secrets,” Teena said, “so if you caught any, you don’t need to tell us where you got them.” The other man smiled then. He looked relieved, Eddie thought. In appearance, he was almost the opposite of his companion. He was short and squat, almost fat. Despite the slight cool breeze from the ocean, the warm sun made his chubby face glisten with sweat. He seemed a little more willing to smile than the tall man. Eddie didn’t feel uncomfortable under his gaze, as he did under the stare of the tall man. “To tell you the truth,” the short man said, “we haven’t been fishing yet. So I guess you couldn’t say we’ve had any luck.” “Oh, I see,” Eddie said thoughtfully. Sandy began sniffing around the rowboat. “Get that mutt away from there,” the tall man said. “He won’t hurt anything, mister,” Eddie assured him. He went over, though, and took hold of Sandy’s collar. As he did so he glanced into the beached rowboat. There were no fish, or even signs of fish. There were a couple bamboo poles which Eddie recognized also as having been rented from Anderson’s Landing. There was a box, probably the men’s lunch. And under the plank seat stretching across the beam Eddie saw a round metal cylinder. At first he thought it was the kind of tube used as a carrying case to hold the sections of a jointed trout rod, but as he got a better look, it didn’t seem long enough for that. Besides, who would use a light trout rod for ocean fishing? It wouldn’t be any good to catch the big bass which were sometimes caught in the bay. It’d probably snap in two if you tried to horse a halibut in with it. “What are you looking at, kid?” The tall man’s harsh voice jerked Eddie out of his thoughts. “N-nothin’,” Eddie said. “Then stay away from the boat.”