He tied his skiff under the crowding alders , gathered a big bunch of the purple flag lilies with their silky petals , and started homeward , whistling cheerily as he stepped briskly along the fern-carpeted wood path that wound up the hill under the beeches and firs . He was a freckled , sunburned lad of thirteen years . His neighbours all said that Danny was `` as smart as a steel trap , '' and immediately added that they wondered where he got his smartness from -- certainly not from his father ! The elder Phillips had been denominated `` shiftless and slack-twisted '' by all who ever had any dealings with him in his unlucky , aimless life -- one of those improvident , easygoing souls who sit contentedly down to breakfast with a very faint idea where their dinner is to come from . When he had died , no one had missed him , unless it were his patient , sad-eyed wife , who bravely faced her hard lot , and toiled unremittingly to keep a home for her two children -- Dan and a girl two years younger , who was a helpless cripple , suffering from some form of spinal disease . Dan , who was old and steady for his years , had gone manfully to work to assist his mother . Though he had been disappointed in all his efforts to obtain steady employment , he was active and obliging , and earned many a small amount by odd jobs around the village , and by helping the Carleton farmers in planting and harvest . For the last two years , however , his most profitable source of summer income had been the trout pond . The former owner had allowed anyone who wished to fish in his pond , and Dan made a regular business of it , selling his trout at the big hotels over at Mosquito Lake . This , in spite of its unattractive name , was a popular summer resort , and Dan always found a ready market for his catch . When Mr. Walters purchased the property it somehow never occurred to Dan that the new owner might not be so complaisant as his predecessor in the matter of the best trouting pond in the country . To be sure , Dan often wondered why it was the pond was so deserted this summer . He could not recall having seen a single person on it save himself . Still , it did not cross his mind that there could be any particular reason for this . He always fished up in the cool , dim creeks , which long experience had taught him were best for trout , and came and went by a convenient wood path ; but he had no thought of concealment in so doing . He would not have cared had all Carleton seen him . He had done very well with his fish so far , and prices for trout at the Lake went up every day . Dan was an enterprising boy , and a general favourite with the hotel owners . They knew that he could always be depended on . Mrs. Phillips met him at the door when he reached home .
`` See , Mother , '' said Dan exultantly , XXXXX he held up his fish .
For To along around as from of that under with