ds, and I
went out with him at four o'clock one morning, to see him set his
trawl. I remember there was a thin mist over the sea, and the air was
almost chilly; but, as the sun came up, it changed the color of every
thing to the most exquisite pink,--the smooth, slow waves, and the
mist that blew over them as if it were a cloud that had fallen down
out of the sky. The world just then was like the hollow of a great
pink sea-shell; and we could only hear the noise of it, the dull sound
of the waves among the outer ledges.

We had to drift about for an hour or two when the trawl was set; and
after a while the fog shut down again gray and close, so we could not
see either the sun or the shore. We were a little more than four miles
out, and we had put out more than half a mile of lines. It is very
interesting to see the different fish that come up on the
hooks,--worthless sculpin and dog-fish, and good rock-cod and haddock,
and curious stray creatures which often even the fisherman do not
know. We had capital good luck that morning, and Georgie and Andrew
and I were all pleased. I had a hand-line, and was fishing part of the
time, and Georgie thought very well of me when he found I was not
afraid of a big fish, and, besides that, I had taken the oars while he
tended the sail, though there was hardly wind enough to make it worth
his while. It was about eight o'clock when we came in, and there was a
horse and wagon standing near the landing; and we saw a woman come out
of Andrew's little house. "There's your aunt Hannah a'ready," said he
to Georgie; and presently she came down the pebbles to meet the boat,
looking at me with much wonder as I jumped ashore.

"I sh'd think you might a' cleaned up your boat, Andrer, if you was
going to take ladies out," said she graciously. And the fisherman
rejoined, that perhaps she would have thought it looked better when it
went out than it did then; he never had got a better fare o' fish
unless the trawls had been set over night.

There certainly had been a good haul; and, when Andrew carefully put
those I had caught with the hand-line by themselves, I asked his
sister to take them, if she liked. "Bless you!" said she, much
pleased, "we couldn't eat one o' them big rock-cod in a week. I'll
take a little ha'dick, if Andrer 'll pick me one out."

She was a tall, large woman, who had a direct, business-like
manner,--what the country people would call a master smart woman, or a
regular driv