"GOLLY! I'm getting powerful tired ob dis. Fish what just clusterers 'round youah bait an' won't bite at hit noways is jest trifling and noaccount. I reckon dey's too ornery an' too finiky anyway to be fit to eat. Well, here goes again, though hit ain't no use. I'se dun spit on mah bait fifty times, an' rubbed hit twice with my rabbit's foot, but hit doan' do a bit of good. Dey jes' look at hit an' grin like white folks at a nigger's wedding." The little ebony negro who had spoken let drop his daintily baited hook into the water again with a gesture of disgust. "Let me have a look at them, Chris," said another voice, and a white face joined the black, as the two peered over the edge of the bridge down into the crystal-clear depths of the water below. The white boy straightened up after a brief glance into the azure waters. He was tall and sturdily built, with lines of self-reliance and determination upon his youthful face. His mouth widened into a grin of amusement, as he watched the little negro peering anxiously down at the circle of black-circle-eyed fish that crowded eagerly but warily around the baited hook. "You're fooling away your time, Chris," said the white lad. "Look here." He chopped up a few pieces of bait and flung them over beside the other's line. As they slowly sank there was turmoil and confusion amongst the finny observers below. With swirl and splash they darted up and seized upon the tiny fragments. Chris wound up his line with a snort of disgust. "Dey are conjured, clean conjured," he declared; "going clean out ob their way to get bait when dar was plenty right afore 'em. Them's sure some fool fishes, Massa Charles." "You're wrong," said the other boy lightly. "They are mangrove snappers, the foxiest fish that swims. Some one of them got hurt on a hook some time, and his misfortune has become history among the tribe. I guess that's what makes the black circles around their eyes. They just keep worrying so about getting hold of another tempting morsel with a hook attached that they don't eat half enough, and are fast worrying themselves into nervous prostration."