George Manville Fenn

“ No, no, Will: we can do him ourselves.”
For Will had changed his position to take the line from Arthur, who felt as if he should have liked to kick the fisherman for interfering at such a time.
Acting like a machine in Josh’s hands, Arthur slackened and hauled, and hauled and slackened, until the great eel was right at the surface, and Josh leaning over the gunwale, waiting his opportunity to hook it with the great gaff; but though he made two or three attempts Arthur was so helpless that he rather hindered than aided the capture. ”

“ I shouldn’t have called him Mr Marion,” said the landlord, smiling. “It’s the old gentleman. May I show him in, sir?”
“Yes, certainly;” and Uncle Abram came in, looking like a Finnan haddock in a glazed hat, for on account of the weather the old man was clothed from head to foot in yellow oilskins, and shone and twinkled with the drops of spray.
“Sarvant, sir,” he said, making dabs with his shiny sailor’s hat as if to knock the drops off. “Sarvant, young gentleman,”—this was to Arthur, who rose and bowed stiffly—“how do, Master Dick, how do?” ”

“ He went to another crevice in the face of the cliff and drew out a good-sized iron bar shaped like a marlinspike but about double the size, and throwing it down with a clang upon the rock he startled a cormorant from the ledge above their heads, and the great swarthy bird flew out to sea.
“Lay out that line, Josh,” said Will, who, after a little selection of a spot, took up the bar and began to make a hole between two huge blocks of granite, working it to and fro so as to bury it firmly half its length. ”

“ You would not be scared again about entering a dark cave, eh, Dick?”
“No, father—Oh! the light!”
“I’m glad of that,” replied Mr Temple, “for the lamp has gone out. The wick was too small,” he added, “and it has slipped through into the oil.”
“A mussy me!” groaned Josh. “And in this gashly place!”
“Now, then, who’ll lead the way out?” said Mr Temple sharply.
“Let me,” cried Dick.
“Go on then, my boy. There’s nothing to be afraid of but broken shins. No. Let Will guide, or—pooh! what nonsense! there’s the light. We shall almost be able to see as soon as our eyes grow accustomed to the place.” ”

“ The edge of a cliff like this must be the place where the wind blows hardest.”
“But you feel for yourself that it doesn’t,” said Will laughing.
“Not just now,” cried Dick, “but it will directly.”
“No, it will not.”
“But look at the foam flying and the spray going like a storm of rain.”
“Yes,” said Will, “but not at the edge of the cliff. Look at the grass and wild flowers; they grow longer and better here too. The wind off the sea never blows very hard here.”
“Oh, what stuff!” cried Dick; “you’re as obstinate as old Taff. It will blow here directly.” ”

“ Then as Dick and his brother stood in the crowd, which had climbed up to the top of the rock, they saw the block that ran upon the cable set in motion by a thin line that was alongside the thick rope, and there was a burst of cheers as the cradle—that basket-like contrivance of the rocket apparatus—started off, dragged by those upon the rock, to cross the seething waves, which kept leaping up at it as if to snatch it down. ”

“ He forced himself, though, to answer, fighting all the time with the nervous dread that was growing upon him; and at last he knew, though he could hardly see it, that the great stone was being swung to and fro.
“Now, lad, can’t you get it?” cried Josh; and once more the hoarse reply “No,” came up to him.
“Try now!” cried Josh; and the stone was agitated more and more, striking the sides of the shaft, sometimes swinging into the gallery a foot as it seemed, but Will was as if in a nightmare—he could not stir. ”

“ Mr Temple was quite right, and Arthur was beginning to discover that, where his brother was met with a genial smile by all whom he encountered, he, who was particular and precise and, as he considered it, gentlemanly in his ways, was either not noticed, or met with merely the coldest reception.
He was learning too that a man—especially an Englishman, whether gentle or simple—born in the lap of luxury, as people call it, or in the humblest cot, must be one who will always keep up the credit of the nation at large by being thoroughly English ”

“ The men hauled the harder, and oars were splashed in all three boats, the smaller rowing to and fro, with the result that the surface of the water became calm once more, not the sign of a ripple to betoken the presence of a fish; but no one ceased his efforts.
“Are they gone, Will?” asked Dick.
“No, they’ve only gone below; they’re hunting all about the seine for a hole to escape, and the thing is now whether they follow it on to one of the ends: if they do, it’s only follow my leader, not one will be left.” ”

“ Dick took the case from his pocket slowly and opened it.
“I thought so,” said Mr Temple sternly. “Cigars for a boy not sixteen! Are you aware, sir, that what may be perfectly correct in a man is often in a boy nothing better than a vice.”
“Yes, father,” said Dick humbly.
“So you have taken to smoking?”
“No, father.”
“Don’t tell me a falsehood, sir!” cried Mr Temple hotly. “How dare you deny it when you have that case in your hand. Now, look here, sir: I want to treat my boys as lads who are growing into men. I am not going to talk to you about punishment—I don’t believe in coarse punishments. ”

“ Shall we get down that boat and have a row?”
“Row!” cried Dick with a horrified look; “why, it couldn’t be done.”
“Would you like to see your father and some more men get down that boat and put off to sea?”
“It would be impossible,” cried Dick. “She would be tossed over by the waves and everybody drowned.”
“Hah! Yes,” said Will smiling. “You see now the danger. Many people say that fishermen are cowardly for not doing more, when the case is that they know the danger, and those who talk and write about it don’t. It isn’t everybody who has seen the sea-coast in a storm. Shall we go up?” ”

“ Don’t they teach you at school what squid is?” said Josh sharply.
“No,” cried the boy.
“A mussy me!” said Josh in tones of disgust. “Then they ought to be ashamed of themselves.”
“But they don’t know,” said the boy impatiently. “I say, what is it?”
“Cuttle-fish,” said Will.
“Cut-tle-fish!” cried Dick. “Oh! I know what that is—all long legs and suckers, and got an ink-bag and a pen in its body.”
“Yes, that’s it,” said Will, laughing. “We call it squid. It makes a good tough bait, that don’t come off, and the fish like it.” ”

“ Josh laughed, and gave Will a thrust forward, much to the lad’s discomfort, for there was a low murmur of admiration from the little group around.
“Oh, it’s nothing to make such a fuss about!” said Will, whose cheeks were burning now, as he stood there with the sea-water slowly soaking from his clothes, and making a little puddle on the deck.
“No!” said the diver huskily; “it’s nothing to make a fuss about; only one man saving another man’s life, when nobody else knew what to do!” ”

“ The cliff glistened with oilskin-clad men, many of whom bore long, clumsy telescopes, while others in great high boots, and with their sou’-westers tied beneath their chins, walked amongst the foam, a coil of strong rope upon their shoulders, and a boat-hook in hand, ready for anything in the way of flotsam and jetsam that might come ashore. ”

“ The hook was already speeding towards the bottom, but no grunting red gurnard took the bait, the boat being once more going easily along; and for the next quarter of an hour Dick did not get a bite; but at last, as they were rowing along by a rugged part of the coast where the waves foamed and roared among the rocks, tossing the olive-brown sea-weed up and dragging it back, Will bade him look out. ”

“ I recollect it well,” said Will. “It was just here, wasn’t it?”
“Just yonder,” said Josh. “She went on the rocks about ten fathom beyond where our grapnel lies.”
“Was anyone hurt?” said Arthur, who shivered at the idea of a wreck having been anywhere near them.
“Hurt, my lad? Why, it was in one of the worst storms I can ’member. Tell him about the poor souls, Will.”
“The packet ran right on the rocks, Master Arthur,” said Will solemnly. “Where we are is one mass of tossing foam in a storm, and the froth and spray fly over the Mew Rock here. ”

“ The short tentacles and the two longer ones, with which the cuttle is provided, were duly examined, and then they, murderers as they were of all things that came to their net, were condemned to be eaten in turn.
“Which is only fair, is it, father?” said Dick laughing.
“Quite fair, Dick,” he replied. “It seems to be the law of the sea; every fish eats those less than itself and gets eaten in its turn. The only thing with them is, that each one has some chance for its life, and lives as long as it can.” ”

“ We need not test it to see if it is correct.”
“Look, look!” cried Dick; “here’s a pollack like I caught. Oh! do look at its bright colours, father; but what shall we do with the jelly-fish?”
“Let it go. We cannot save it. In an hour or two there would be nothing left but some dirty film.”
The pollack was then examined, with all its glories of gold, bronze, and orange. Then there was a skipping, twining, silvery, long-nose that could hardly be kept in the net, a fish that looked remarkably like an eel, save for its regularly shaped mackerel tail, and long beak-like nose. ”

“ In the harbour the water was so low that the Pretty Ruth, Abram Marion’s lugger—named, for some reason that no one could see, after the old man’s wife—was lying over nearly on her beam-ends, so that, as Josh Helston, who was on board, went to and fro along the deck with a swab in his hands it was impossible to help thinking that if nature had made his legs like his arms, one very much shorter than the other, he would have found locomotion far easier. ”

“ And so it went on hour after hour, the fresh breeze making the trawling most successful, and at every haul there were so many treasures that at last Dick gave up collecting in despair, confiding his opinion to his brother that the happiest life anybody could lead must be that of the master of a trawler. ”

“ Meanwhile the men on the seine-boat began to haul steadily at the ropes at each end, drawing the great circle narrower.
“Why, how big is this net round?” said Dick in a whisper, as if he feared alarming the fish.
“Mile,” said Josh laconically, “ropes and all.”
“But they are drawing the ropes in fast now,” said Will, “and when they get the spreaders together it will be seven hundred yards.”
“What are the spreaders?”
“Long poles to keep the ends of the net stretched. They’ve got lead at the bottom, like the net, to keep them on the sand.” ”

“ Mr Temple hesitated for a moment or two longer, thinking of going back and letting a doctor extract the hook; but the next moment his countenance assumed a determined look, and he said firmly:
“I will not hurt you more than I can help, my boy; but I must get out that hook.”
“No, no, no!” cried Arthur. “We’ll put on a poultice when we get back.”
“Poultice won’t suck that out,” growled Josh. “We often gets hooks in ourselves, sir. Let me do it. I’ll have it out in a minute.”
“How?” said Mr Temple as he saw Josh pull out his great jack-knife, at the sight of which Arthur shrieked. ”

“ This thinner cord, or snooding, he tied to the stout line, and on this latter he fastened a good-sized piece of lead formed like a sugar-loaf cut down the middle so as to leave one half.
“Why, you’ll frighten all the fish away with that!” cried Dick. “See how clear the water is!”
“Wait a bit,” said Will good-humouredly. “This is salt-water fishing, not fresh. We don’t fish like the gentlemen who go up on the moor for trout. But you’ll see.”
“Well, but,” cried Dick, in tones of remonstrance, “if you’re going to use that great hook you must hide it in the bait. Don’t put your bait on like that.” ”