oo far," he said, lifting
her into the carriage where Grandma Elsie and Violet were already
seated. "I am going on a mile further to Sachacha Pond, ladies," he
remarked; "will you drive there, or directly home?"

"There, if there is time to go and return before the bathing hour," they
answered.

"Quite. I think," he replied, and the carriage moved on, he with Max
and Lulu, and several of the young gentlemen of the company following on
foot.

Sachacha Pond they found to be a pretty sheet of water only slightly
salt, a mile long and three quarters of a mile wide, separated from the
ocean by a long narrow strip of sandy beach. No stream enters it, but it
is the reservoir of the rainfall from the low-lying hills sloping down
to its shores.

Quidnet--a hamlet of perhaps a half dozen houses--stands on its banks.

It is to this pond people go to fish for perch; calling it fresh-water
fishing; here too they "bob" for eels.

Our party had not come to fish this time, yet had an errand aside from a
desire to see the spot--namely, to make arrangements for going sharking
the next day.

Driving and walking on to Quidnet they soon found an old, experienced
mariner who possessed a suitable boat and was well pleased to undertake
the job of carrying their party out to the sharking grounds on the
shoals. He would need a crew of two men, easily to be found among his
neighbors, he said; he would also provide the necessary tackle. The bait
would be perch, which they would catch here in the pond before setting
out for the trip by sea to their destination--about a mile away.

Mr. Dinsmore, his three grandsons, and Bob Johnson were all to be of
the party. Max was longing to go too, but hardly thought he would be
allowed; he was hesitating whether to make the request when his father,
catching his eager, wistful look, suddenly asked, "Would you like to go,
Max?"

"Oh, yes, papa, yes, indeed!" was the eager response, and the boy's
heart bounded with delight at the answer, in a kindly indulgent tone,
"Very well, you may."

Lulu, hearing it, cried out, "Oh, couldn't I go too, papa?"

"You? a little girl?" her father said, turning an astonished look upon
her; "absurd! no, of course you can't."

"I think I might," persisted Lulu; "I've heard that ladies go sometimes,
and I shouldn't be a bit afraid or get in anybody's way."

"You can't go, so let me hear no more about it," the captain answered
decidedly as they turned toward home, the