, while the rest of the slimy captives went into the
basket.

There was no larger pike than the one first taken out of the net by
Dave, but plenty of small ones, all extremely dark in colour, as if
affected by living in the amber-tinted water, and nearly all these were
thrown back, in company with dozens of silvery roach and orange-finned,
brightly gilded rudd, all thicker and broader than their relatives the
roach.

Many scores of fish were thrown overboard, some to turn up and float for
a few minutes before they recovered their breath, as Tom called it, but
for the most part they dived down at once, uninjured by what they had
gone through, while their largeness fortunate friends were tossed into
the basket--gilded side-striped perch, with now and then a fat-looking,
small-eyed, small-scaled tench, brightly brazen at the sides, and
looking as if cast in a soft kind of bronze. Then there were a couple
of large-scaled brilliantly golden carp; but the majority of the fish
were good-sized, broad, dingy-looking bream, whose slimy emanations made
the bottom of the punt literally ask for a cleansing when the basket was
nearly filled.

By that time the party were well on their way to the Toft, and as they
neared the shore, it was to find the squire waiting to speak to the
engineer, while John Warren was close behind with his dog, ready to join
Dave, in whose company he went off after the latter had been up to the
house and had a good feast of bread and cheese and ale.

That evening the squire and Mr Marston went over to the works to see
how matters were progressing, to find all satisfactory, and the night
passed quietly enough; but at breakfast the next morning, when some of
the best of the tench appeared fried in butter, a messenger came over to
see the engineer on his way to the town for the doctor, to announce that
Hez Bargle, the big delver, who had been leader of the party who came
over so fiercely about the attack upon Mr Marston, had been found that
morning lying in the rough hovel where he slept alone, nearly dead.

The man was sharply examined by the engineer, a fresh messenger in the
shape of Hickathrift being found to carry on the demand for the doctor.
But there was very little to learn. Bargle had not come up to his work,
and the foreman of the next gang went to see why his fellow-ganger had
not joined him, and found him lying on the floor of the peat-built hut
quite insensible, with the marks of savage blo