ashore, swung
the lines round both, and trotted with them to the boat-house, where he
laid them on the pegs, and then came back to where we stood, so utterly
upset that neither of us had spoken a word.

"Now then," cried Jem, taking hold of the scrap of line to which the eel
was attached and twisting it round his finger. "This all you caught?"

"No," I said helplessly; "there's an eel in that handkerchief hanging on
the tree."

Jem dropped the big eel again and trotted to the tree.

"Big as t'other?" he said. "Raw, haw! Here's the hankerchy, but
there's no eel. Look ye here, he's worked a hole through and gone. You
didn't kill him first?"

"It must be down there," I said.

"Down here!" said Jem contemptuously; "he's found his way back to the
water again. Eels goos through the grass like snakes. Ketch anything
else?"

"Two carp," I said. "Here they are."

"Ah, that's better, and all alive, oh! I'll carry 'em. Come along."

He thrust a twig of willow through the gills of the fish, and led the
way through the woods, and across some fields to a cottage, where a
woman came to the door.

"Here, missus," he said, "pitch some more wood on the fire. Young
squire here stepped into the pond."

"Oh, a mercy me!" cried the woman. "Pore dear, he do look bad."

"Not he. All right again direckly. You let him warm himself, and I'll
run up to the schoolhouse and fetch him some dry clothes."

"No," cried Mercer, rousing himself now. "We'll both run up, and get in
without any one seeing us, and go and change our things."

"Ay, that'll be best," said Jem; "and, if I was you, I'd start at once.
Run all the way, and it'll warm you up."

"Yes. Thank you for coming and helping us," said Mercer, who had now
quite found his tongue.

"Oh, that's all right," said the man jocularly. "That's a fine eel, but
don't fish for 'em that way again. Going in after 'em ain't the best
way; you see they're quicker, and more used to the water than you are."

Mercer shuddered.

"Come along, Burr," he said feebly.

"Wait a minute. Here's your eel and the carp. Where's that there rush
basket, missus?"

"Oh, we don't want the fish," said Mercer, with a shiver. "Come along,
Burr."

He hurried out of the cottage, and into a lane. "Keep listening," he
said. "If you hear any one, we'll go across the fields."

"There's some one coming now," I said.

"Oh dear! it's old Rebble. He hasn't seen us. This way."

He stoop