about noon
`` The mother bass is going to keep her swarm of little ones in shallow water , and guard them until they get to a certain size . Then she darts in among them , scatters the whole lot , after which she is done with them . They have reached an age when they must take their chances . '' When finally about noon the three came ashore , rather stiff from having straddled that log for such a length of time , they had a pretty fine string of fish , two of them in fact . The talk as they ate their mid-day meal was along the subject of deer hunting , and Tom as well as Josh had to tell all about it , as far as they knew . Stanley declared he had made good use of his camera , and hoped the results would come up to expectations . All of them united in saying that it had been an adventure worth while ; and apparently their sympathies were wholly with the gallant buck , for they expressed a fervent hope that he would succeed in outrunning his canine enemies .