of others. That time you were nearly speared going up the rapids you
were in a school, and when you were caught in the net and it broke--"

"It wouldn't have broken if there hadn't been a school of fish in it,"
interrupted his aunt, tartly. "That just proves what I say; the weight
of so many made the hole, and so I escaped.

"The only time when I came near getting caught was once when I was
alone and got a hook in my gills. My! it was terrible! I ought to have
known better, but I was very hungry that morning, and when I saw that
beautiful fly hanging over the water--"

But Sammy had heard this story many times before, and was tired of the
conversation.

"I don't want to wait any longer for these lazy brothers and sisters
of mine to get ready," he said crossly. "Besides, if I did go in a
school, _I_ might get speared, or caught so that the rest could
get away, and that would not suit me a bit. I'd rather risk the
flies."

"You are an impertinent young fish," said Aunt Sheen, and she retired
under her favorite rock in a rage.

That night when everything was very still, and all the world seemed
asleep, alone and unobserved Sammy swam quietly down stream and
started alone on his wanderings.

It was a lovely moonlight night, and only the faint sighing of the
wind in the pine-trees broke the silence.