strangest thing happened. Fatty felt himself pulled right over into the
water.

He was surprised, for he never knew a bug or a fly to be so strong as
that. Something pricked his cheek and Fatty thought that the bright
thing had stung him. He tried to take it out of his mouth, and he was
surprised again. Whatever the thing was, it seemed to be stuck fast in
his mouth. And all the time Fatty was being dragged along through the
water. He began to be frightened. And for the first time he noticed that
there was a slender line which stretched from his mouth straight across
the pool. As he looked along the line Fatty saw a man at the other end
of it--a man, standing on the other side of the brook! And he was
pulling Fatty toward him as fast as he could.

Do you wonder that Fatty Coon was frightened? He jumped back--as well as
he could, in the water--and tried to swim away. His mouth hurt; but he
plunged and pulled just the same, and jerked his head and squirmed and
wriggled and twisted. And just as Fatty had almost given up hope of
getting free, the gay-colored bug, or fly, or whatever it was, flew out
of his mouth and took the line with it. At least, that was what Fatty
Coon thought. And he swam quickly to the bank and scampered into the
bushes.

Now, this was what really happened. Farmer Green had come up the brook
to catch trout. On the end of his fish-line he had tied a make-believe
fly, with a hook hidden under its red and yellow wings. He had stolen
along the brook very quietly, so that he wouldn't frighten the fish. And
he had made so little noise that Fatty Coon never heard him at all.
Farmer Green had not seen Fatty, crouched as he was among the stones.
And when Fatty reached out and grabbed the make-believe fly Farmer Green