He had not thought Carl would do anything like this . He was not inclined to be hard on pranks of heedlessness or forgetfulness , but THIS was different . THIS had a nasty tang in it . When he reached home he found Carl on the lawn , patiently studying the habits and customs of a colony of wasps . Calling him into the study Mr. Meredith confronted him , with a sterner face than any of his children had ever seen before , and asked him if the story were true . `` Yes , '' said Carl , flushing , but meeting his father 's eyes bravely . Mr. Meredith groaned . He had hoped that there had been at least exaggeration . `` Tell me the whole matter , '' he said . `` The boys were fishing for eels over the bridge , '' said Carl . `` Link Drew had caught a whopper -- I mean an awful big one -- the biggest eel I ever saw . He caught it right at the start and it had been lying in his basket a long time , still as still . I thought it was dead , honest I did . Then old Mrs. Carr drove over the bridge and she called us all young varmints and told us to go home . And we had n't said a word to her , father , truly . So when she drove back again , after going to the store , the boys dared me to put Link 's eel in her buggy . I thought it was so dead it could n't hurt her and I threw it in . Then the eel came to life on the hill and we heard her scream and saw her jump out . I was awful sorry . That 's all , father . ''
It was not quite as bad XXXXX Mr. Meredith had feared , but it was quite bad enough .
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