e the first two yards of the net--there were
three herrings in it. These three proved Flucker's point as well as
three million.

They hauled in the net. Before they had a quarter of it in, the net came
up to the surface, and the sea was alive with molten silver. The upper
half of the net was empty, but the lower half was one solid mass of
fish.

The boys could not find a mesh, they had nothing to handle but fish.

At this moment the easternmost boat showed a blue light.

"The fish are rising," said Flucker, "we'll na risk nae mair nets."

Soon after this a sort of song was heard from the boat that had showed
a light. Flucker, who had got his net in, ran down to her, and found,
as he suspected, that the boys had not power to draw the weight of fish
over the gunwale.

They were singing, as sailors do, that they might all pull together; he
gave them two of his crew, and ran down to his own skipper.

The said skipper gave him four men.

Another blue light!

Christie and her crew came a little nearer the boats, and shot twelve
nets.

The yachtsmen entered the sport with zeal, so did his lordship.

The boats were all full in a few minutes, and nets still out.

Then Flucker began to fear some of these nets would sink with the weight
of fish; for the herring die after a while in a net, and a dead herring
sinks.

What was to be done?

They got two boats alongside the cutter, and unloaded them into her as
well as they could; but before they could half do this the other boats
hailed them.

They came to one of them; the boys were struggling with a thing which no
stranger would have dreamed was a net.

Imagine a white sheet, fifty feet long, varnished with red-hot silver.
There were twenty barrels in this single net. By dint of fresh hands
they got half of her in, and then the meshes began to break; the men
leaned over the gunwale, and put their arms round blocks and masses of
fish, and so flung them on board; and the codfish and dogfish snapped
them almost out of the men's hands like tigers.

At last they came to a net which was a double wall of herring; it had
been some time in the water, and many of the fish were dead; they
tried their best, but it was impracticable; they laid hold of the solid
herring, and when they lifted up a hundred-weight clear of the water,
away it all tore, and sank back again.

They were obliged to cut away this net, with twenty pounds sterling in
her. They cut away the twine from