ke themselves to the rocks at the mouth of the harbour, and see
what fish they could get for him during the afternoon.

Meanwhile he himself went along to the shed which was used as a sort of
storage-house by some of the fishermen; and here he found lying about
plenty of pieces of net that had been cast aside in the process of
mending. This business of mending the nets is the last straw on the
back of the tired-out fisherman. When he has met with an accident to
his nets during the night, when he has fouled on some rocks in dragging
them in for example, it is a desperately fatiguing affair to set to
work to mend them when he gets ashore, dead beat with the labours of
the morning. The fishermen, for what reason I do not know, will not
entrust this work to their wives; they will rather, after having been
out all night, keep at it themselves, though they drop off to sleep
every few minutes. It is not to be wondered at, then, that often,
instead of trying to laboriously mend holes here or there, they should
cut out a large piece of torn net bodily and tack on a fresh piece.
The consequence is, that in a place like Erisaig there is generally
plenty of netting to be got for the asking; which is a good thing for
gardeners who want to protect currant bushes from the blackbirds, and
who will take the trouble to patch the pieces together.

Rob was allowed to pick out a large number of pieces that he thought
might serve his purpose; and these he carried off home. But then came
the question of floats and sinkers. Sufficient pieces of cork to form
the floats might in time be got about the beach; but the sinkers had
all been removed from the cast-away netting. In this extremity, Rob
bethought of rigging up a couple of guy-poles, as the salmon-fishers
call them, one for each end of the small seine he had in view; so that
these guy-poles, with a lump of lead at the lower end, would keep the
net vertical while it was being dragged through the water. All this
took up the best part of the afternoon; for he had to cadge about
before he could get a couple of stout poles; and he had to bargain with
the blacksmith for a lump of lead. Then he walked along to the point
where the other MacNicols were busy fishing.

They had been lucky with their lines and bait. On the rocks beside
them lay two or three small codling, a large flounder, two good-sized
lythe, and nearly a dozen saithe. Rob got hold of these; washed them
clean to make th