Run for the boat, Nicol! There's more where they came from!' Rob
shouted.

Nicol rushed along to the boat; shoved her out; pulled her along to
where his companions were; and backed her, stern in. They had no
bucket; they had to fling the fish into the bottom of the boat. But
this business of stripping the nets--shaking out the seaweed and
freeing the enmeshed fish--was familiar to them; and they all worked
with a will. There was neither a dog-fish nor a conger in all the
haul, so they had no fears for their hands. In less than a quarter of
an hour the net was back in the boat, properly arranged, and Rob ready
to start again--at a place farther along the beach.

They were soon full of eagerness. In fact, they were too eager; and
this time they hauled in with such might and main that, just as the
guy-poles were nearing the shore, the rope attached to one of them
broke. But Rob instantly jumped into the water, seized the pole
itself, and hauled it out with him. Here, also, they had a
considerable take of fish; but there was a heavy weight of seaweed
besides; and one or two rents showed that they had pulled the net over
rocks. So they went back to the former ground; and so successful were
they, and so eagerly did they work, that when the coming darkness
warned them to return to Erisaig, they had the stern of the boat nearly
full of very fairly-sized saithe.

Neil regarded this wonderful treasure of the deep, as he laboured away
at his oar.

'Man, Rob, who could have expected such a lot? And what will ye do
with them now? Will ye send them to Glasgow by the _Glenara_?--I think
Mr. M'Aulay would lend us a box or two. Or will ye clean them and dry
them, and sell them from a barrow?'

'We canna start two or three trades all at once,' said Rob, after a
minute or two. 'I think we'll sell them straight off, if the folk are
no in bed. Ye'll gang and see, Neil; and I'll count the fish at the
slip.'

'And what will I say ye will take for them?'

'I think I would ask a sixpence a hundred,' said Rob, slowly; for he
had been considering that question for the last ten minutes.

At length they got in to the slip; and Neil at once proceeded to inform
the inhabitants of Erisaig, who were still lounging about in the dusk,
that for sixpence a hundred they could have fine fresh 'cuddies.' It
might be thought that in a place like Erisaig, which was one of the
headquarters of the herring-trade, it would be difficult to s