o and help my brother catch another bass," he said; so rather
unwillingly the lad went to where Arthur was diligently dragging the
whiffing-line through the water.

"Don't you get any bites, sir?" said Will.

"No. I don't think there are many fish hero now," said Arthur
haughtily.

"But there are a few," said Will smiling. "Did you put on a good bait?"

"Good bait!" said Arthur, looking at his questioner in a half-offended
tone.

"Yes, you must have a good lask on your hook, or the fish will not rise
at it."

"Why, I've got the same hook on that my brother used when he caught that
fish."

"Let me look," said Will quietly.

Arthur frowned, and would have declined, but Will did not wait for
permission, and drew in the line till he came to the lead, lifted it
carefully inboard, and then hauled up the hook.

"You might have kept on trying all day," said Will. "There's no bait."

"Oh, indeed! then some fish must have bitten it off," said Arthur in the
most nonchalant way. "I thought I felt a tug."

Will had his back turned to the fisherman, so that he could smile
unobserved, for he knew that there had been no bait left on the hook,
and that Arthur would not have soiled his fingers to put one on.

"There," he said as he hooked on a good bright lask; "now try."

He threw the bait over and then dropped in the lead, when the bait
seemed to dart away astern, drawing out the line; but to Arthur's
surprise Will checked it instantly, caught the line from the gunwale and
handed it to him, Will's quick eyes having detected the dash of a fish
at the flying bait.

"Why, there's one on!" cried Arthur excitedly.

"Small pollack," said Will smiling. "Haul him in."

Arthur forgot all about the wetness of the line this time, and soon drew
one of the brightly coloured fish inboard and called to his brother.

"Here, look!" he cried, "you never saw anything so beautiful as this."

"Just like mine," cried Dick, "only it was ten times as big."

"Oh!" said Arthur in a disappointed tone. Then, in a whisper to Will,
"I say, boy, put on a big bait this time. I want to catch a large one."

Will felt amused at the other's dictatorial importance, but he said
nothing: placing a bait on the hook, and the line was once more trailed
behind, but this time without success, and at the end of a few minutes
the boat was guided into a narrow passage amongst the rocks, below a
high forbidding headland where the long slimy sea-weed th