p in. The rudder-like oar, several feet long, is held
by the captain, who sculls and steers at the same time.

Captain Ole was a regular "old salt." Our crew was composed of Sven,
Hakon, Fridthjof, Ivor, Evert, Harald and Erik. Evert and Harald were
lads about seventeen years old; they were learning to be hardy sailors
like their father.

After a sail of three hours' beating against the wind, we came to the
fishing banks and towards our buoys. The water for as far as I could see
was filled with buoys and glass balls (floaters to hold the nets)
enclosed in netted ropes. These glass balls were attached by a short
cord to the nets to keep them floating, while stones at the bottom held
the nets stretched. It was no easy matter to sail among them.

Looking at the multitudes of buoys I asked Captain Ole, "How can you
ever find and recognize your own buoys?"

He answered smiling, "We can find our nets by the bearings, and every
buoy has its special mark of ownership. It is hard work to haul in the
nets, especially when the sea is rough. Each net is one hundred and
twenty fathoms long, and about three fathoms deep;--we sailors do not
count by yards but by fathoms. Each fathom is six feet long. In our boat
we have to raise twenty-four nets tied together in fours."

[Illustration: "It is hard work to haul in the nets."]

"I will help you all I can," I replied; "I am willing to work. I have
come to sea and I am in your boat as one of the crew, and I will try to
do my part. I hope we are going to have good luck, and that the catch of
cod will be big."

To Evert and Hakon was assigned the duty of pulling in the nets. Two
other men stowed the nets carefully. Near the net-reels were two men who
hooked the fish as they appeared and threw them inside of the boat, and
another man and I arranged the nets. How eager we were as the nets were
hauled up to peep and see how plentiful the fish were; for these
represented money--and the poor fishermen work so hard to get a
livelihood.

The sea was rough and it took us about ten minutes to haul each net.
After they were all in, we estimated that we had caught about eight
hundred codfish. This was considered a very fine catch. Then a
consultation was held to decide where to re-set the nets. It was very
important to know the direction in which the fish had gone on the banks,
for these big shoals were constantly moving as they spawned.

After they had decided where to go our sail was hoist