aid his hand upon my shoulder and gave it a hearty grip.

"You're right, my lad," he said. "You're the better philosopher after
all. There's good and bad, and like so many more I think of the bad and
overlook the good. But all the same, Cob, I'm very uneasy. These men
have a spiteful feeling against you, and we shall not be doing right if
we trust you out of our sight again."

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

WHAT I CAUGHT AND HEARD.

"I should say you will very likely have some sport," said Uncle Dick.
"Try by all means."

"I hardly like to, uncle," I said.

"Nonsense, my lad! All work and no play makes Jack--I mean Jacob--a
dull boy."

"But it will seem as if I am neglecting my work."

"By no means. Besides, we shall not be busy for a day or two. Have a
few hours' fishing, and I daresay one of us will come and see how you
are getting on."

The opportunity was too tempting to be lost, so I got a cheap rod and a
dear line--a thoroughly good one, asked a gardener just outside to dig
up some small red worms for me, and, furnishing myself with some paste
and boiled rice, I one morning took my place up at the head of the dam
where the stream came in, chose a place where the current whirled round
in a deep hole and began fitting my tackle together prior to throwing
in.

I had been longing for this trial, for I felt sure that there must be
some big fish in the dam. It was quite amongst the houses and
factories, but all the same it was deep, there was a constant run of
fresh water through it, and I had more than once seen pieces of bread
sucked down in a curiously quiet way, as if taken by a great slow moving
fish, a carp or tench, an old inhabitant of the place.

Certainly it was not the sort of spot I should have selected for a day's
fishing had I been offered my choice, but it was the best I could obtain
then, and I was going to make the most of it.

I laughed to myself as I thought of the eels, and the great haul I had
made down in the wheel-pit, and then I shuddered as I thought of the
horrors I had suffered down there, and wondered whether our troubles
with the men were pretty well over.

I hoped so, for from what I heard the business was succeeding beyond the
hopes of the most sanguine of my uncles, and if we were left alone
success on the whole was assured.

Of course it was this brilliant prospect that induced them to stay on
and dare the perils that lurked around, though, during the past few
weeks,