four o'clock in the morning
I know there is a great deal of similarity in the way they bite , but when you get them well hooked the result is all the same , and they have to come into the basket , whether it is a fish or a girl . The way a girl acts reminds me a good deal of a black bass . You throw your hook , nicely baited with a fat angleworm , into the water near the bass , and you think he will make a hop , skip , and jump for it , but he looks the other way , swims around the worm , and pays no attention to it , but if he sees another bass pointing toward the worm he sticks up the top fin on his back , and turns sideways , and looks mad , and seems to say , ` I 'll tend to this worm myself , and you go away , ' and the bass finally goes up and snuffs at the worm , and turns up his nose , and goes away , as though it was no particular interest to him , but he turns around and keeps his eye on it , though , and after awhile you think you will pull the worm out , because the bass is n't very hungry , anyway , and just as you go to pull it up there is a disturbance in the water , and the bass that had seemed to close its eyes for a nice quiet nap , makes a six-foot jump , swallows the hook , worm , and eight inches of the line , kicks up his heels , and starts for the bottom of the river , and you think you have caught onto a yearling calf , and the reel sings and burns your fingers , and the bass jumps out of the water and tries to shake the hook out of his mouth , and you work hard , and act carefully , for fear you will lose him , and you try to figure how much he weighs , and whether you will have him fried or baked , and whether you will invite a neighbor to dinner , who is always joking you about never catching any fish , and then you get him up near you , and he is tired out , and you think you never saw such a nice bass , and that it weighs at least six pounds , and just as you are reaching out with the landing net , to take him in , he gives one kick , chews off the line , you fall over backwards , and the bass disappears with a parting flop of the tail , and a man who is fishing a little ways off asks you what you had on your hook , and you say that it was nothing but a confounded dogfish , anyway , and you wind up your reel and go home , and you are so mad and hot that the leaves on the trees curl up and turn yellow like late in the fall . Many a girl has acted just that way , and finally chewed off the line , and let the man fall with a dull thud , and after he has got over it he says to those who have watched the angling that she was not much account , anyway , but all the time he knows by the feeling of goneness inside of him that he lies like a Spaniard , '' and Uncle Ike tied a handkerchief over the tomato can to keep the worms in , and said to the boy , `` Now , if you can get up at four o'clock in the morning we will go and get a fine mess . '' `` Mess of bass or girls ? '' . said the boy , as he looked up at the old man with a twinkle in his eye .