, quite plain," cried Dick; "why, it's all covered with long waving
sea-weed, and--oh! quick! give me a fishing-line! I can see lots of
fish!"

"Oh, they're only wraaghs," said Josh contemptuously. "Here, you wait
till he's got the whiff ready, and you shall ketch something better than
that."

"Shall I?" said Dick, and he turned to Will, who was unwinding a stout
cord from a square wood frame. "Why, you're not going to fish with that
piece of rope, are you?" he added, laughing.

"Yes; but I shall put on a fine snood. We're obliged to have strong
tackle out here."

"Why, we fish with fine silk lines, and hooks tied on single horse-hairs
in the Thames."

"Do you?" said Will quietly.

"Yes, and little tiny hooks. Why, you'll never catch anything with that
great coarse thing; it would be too big for a jack."

"We do catch fish with them, though, sometimes," said Will coolly, as he
deftly tied the hook on to a fine piece of cord by making a couple of
peculiar hitches round the shank, the end of which was flattened out.
This thinner cord, or snooding, he tied to the stout line, and on this
latter he fastened a good-sized piece of lead formed like a sugar-loaf
cut down the middle so as to leave one half.

"Why, you'll frighten all the fish away with that!" cried Dick. "See
how clear the water is!"

"Wait a bit," said Will good-humouredly. "This is salt-water fishing,
not fresh. We don't fish like the gentlemen who go up on the moor for
trout. But you'll see."

"Well, but," cried Dick, in tones of remonstrance, "if you're going to
use that great hook you must hide it in the bait. Don't put your bait
on like that."

"I showed him how, and that's the right way," said Josh with authority;
and then to himself, speaking right into his blue jersey as he bent his
head, "Mussy me, how gashly ignorant the boy be!"

"Yes, this is the best way to fish out here," said Will. "We try all
sorts of ways, and this is one of the best, only I'm obliged to use this
bait till I get a better. It's the end of a squid's arm, and the fish
will take it for a worm."

"But do bury the hook in it!" said Dick earnestly.

"No; let's try my way first," said Will, "but let's see yours."

He handed the hook and piece of grey gristly squid to Dick, who, after a
fashion, buried the hook in it right over the shank, making a clumsy
knob, which he held up with a triumphant--"There!"

"Won't do," said Will smiling, as he let it fall o