the little dinghy belonging to the _Zephyr_, although
the boat had to make a couple of passages to and fro, being only capable
of accommodating two passengers besides proud Dick the sculler, they
were soon all on board.

The cutter, then, having her jib and mainsail already set, had only to
slip her moorings, and was off and away, bowling out seaward before the
breeze, which was blowing from the land.

The morning was bright and balmy; and the sun having risen some hours
earlier even than the very early risers of the party, its beams by this
time warmed the heavens and lit up the landscape, the rose-tints of dawn
being succeeded by a golden glow all over the sky, the sea dancing in
sympathy and sparkling in the sunlight--being altogether too merry to
look blue.

It did not take the little craft long, running before the wind with a
slack sheet, to reach the Horse Shingle shoal, beyond the outlying fort,
and near the Warner light-ship, where lay the fishing-ground, or "bank,"
which the Captain had described as being especially favourable for their
sport.

"Now," said the old sailor, "the time for action has at last arrived.
We must get ready to `shoot' the trawl."

"You are not going to fire?" cried Nell in alarm, hearing him use the
technical term he had employed. "I'm so afraid of guns."

"No, my dear," he answered chuckling, "I meant pitching the trawl over
the side, just in the same way as you say `shooting' coals or rubbish.
Are you ready at your end, Strong?"

"Yes, I'm all right," replied the barrister, who had been ably helping
the Captain in arranging the meshes of the net along the starboard-
gunwale, out of the way of the swing of the boom, and getting the trawl-
beam across the stern-sheets of the cutter; while Bob and Dick attended
to the sheets and tiller. "Fire away, Captain Dresser!"

"Well, then, let us heave over," sang out the Captain, in his quarter--
deck voice, as he called it. "One--two--three--off she goes!"

So, with a dull plunge, the trawl was "shot," the old sailor and Mr
Strong quickly pitching over the side, after it, the bunchy folds of the
net; when the guy-rope fastened to the bridle of the beam was secured to
the bowsprit-bitts and then again to a thole-pin aft, so as to prevent
its getting under the keel.

The boat was then allowed to fill her jib and drift out with the ebbing
tide, keeping a straight course for the Nab, and steering herself by
means of the dragging net as