Hollowdell Grange Part 27

"Oh! I do wish it was time to start," said Harry. "I wonder how many we shall catch."

"Oh! not many," said Philip. "We only caught twelve last time."

"Ah! but then see how it came on to rain, else we could have caught dozens more."

"Suppose Dusty Bob does not get the what-d'ye-call-'ems ready!" said Fred.

"What! the bobs? Oh! he's sure to have them ready," said Philip. "He knows that he will get a shilling for making them, so he is sure to be there, with them all in a flower pot. Isn't he, Harry?"

"Oh, yes!" said Harry; "he'll have the bobs ready; he dare not do otherwise, or we should duck him in the mill-pond; shouldn't we, Phil!"

"What a brag you are, Harry!" said Fred. "What's the good of telling such fibs as that! Why, you wouldn't touch him at all!"

"Well, you'll see," said Harry, "if the bobs are not ready."

They soon had an opportunity of testing whether the bobs were ready or not, for an early tea was hastily partaken of, and then they set off,-- Mr and Mrs Inglis having promised to come and meet them, and to help them carry home the spoils.

The boys were in too great a hurry to get down to the mill, to take any notice of the attraction they met upon the road. Harry was compelled to have one shy at the squirrel that scampered up into the chestnut tree; but with that exception not a stoppage was made, and in a very short time they came to the plank over the great ditch--the plank which replaced the one that broke when it was danced on the day that the basket of fish was lost after the visit to the fish-traps. This time, however, it was quietly crossed, and in a few minutes the figure of Dusty Bob became visible as he leaned against a post outside the mill, and smoked his pipe.

"Sarvant, young gentlemen," said Bob, as the boys came up. "'Spected to ha' seen yow yesterday."

"Oh, but we have been so busy since the fire, Bob," said Harry, and he spoke as though he really believed that they had been busy; but, if asked what they had been busy about, I think it very doubtful whether Master Harry could have given a satisfactory answer. "Never mind about that though, now," said Harry; "where are the bobs?"

"Oh! I've got 'em all right," said Bob; "but I don't see why I couldn't have a drop o' beer up at t' fire, as well as other folks."

"Well, why didn't you?" said Harry; "Papa had a whole barrel brought out."

"Oh! I dunno," said Bob; "I knows I never got none, and other folks got lots; and I says to my mate as it warn't fair."

"Well, but why didn't you have some, Bob?" said Philip; "Papa meant it for everybody that had been helping."

"I knows that," said Bob; "but n.o.body asked me to have none." And then Bob filled his pipe again, and looked very sulky as he went on smoking, for it was very evident that his dignity had been much touched over the beer business. However, he soon seemed to come to the conclusion that the lads before him were not to blame for his coming short of the needful refreshment; and, turning the lighted tobacco out of his pipe into the mill-dam, where it fell with a "ciss," he led the way into the mill, from whence he produced three light poles and some string, and from out of a cool damp flower pot three hideous-looking looped up bunches of worms, each with a leaden weight in the centre.

"There," said Harry, "I knew he would have them. Hooray, boys! come on."

Bob soon tied the bunches, or bobs, of worms strung upon worsted to a string, fastened to the poles, and then posted each boy in what he considered an eligible spot on the banks of the deep mill-dam. He took Fred, as being the novice, under his own especial charge, and began to instruct him how to proceed.

"There, yow see," said Bob, "yow lets the bob sink gently down to the bottom, and, when yow feel it touches, just draw it up a little ways till the eels sticks their teeth into it, and then pull it gently up a-top, and then out wi' 'em in a minute."

All this time Dusty Bob was suiting the action to the word, and showing Fred how it should be done, waiting all the while till one of the eels did stick his teeth in, which was in the course of a very few minutes, when Bob softly raised his bob to the surface, lifted it out quickly, and a fine eel dropped off into the water again.

"Never mind," said Bob, "try again; that's the way."

So this time Fred tried, and let his great bait sink to the bottom, when, directly after, he felt something go "tug, tug" at it, and then again, quite sharply. At first he hardly knew what to do, but another tug made him draw the bait up to the surface, when he distinctly saw an eel leave it, giving a vicious s.n.a.t.c.h at the bait as it did so.

Just then Harry landed a fine fellow, which gave a serpentine sort of a wriggle, and regained the water in a moment.

"There, that's the way to do it," said Philip, who at that moment secured one. "Try again, Harry."

But Harry was already trying again; and, profiting by past experience, had succeeded in landing two or three decent-sized eels, one after another, and secured them all. There was no stopping to bait the hook, and no disengaging the fish from the bait, for they let go of the worstedy worm as soon as they were lifted out of the water, or as soon as they could drag their teeth out of the woolly delicacy; and as to biting, they seized the bob with the greatest eagerness, for it was evident that the mill-dam swarmed with the eel tribe, now seeking their prey upon the warm summer evening--evidently a time when they loved to leave their muddy abodes.

"How many have you caught, Fred?" said Philip.

"Six," said Fred, in a half whisper; for he had one just then at his bob.

"Why, where are they then?" said Harry.

"Oh! I caught them all," said Fred; "but they tumbled in again."

"There's a goose," said Harry; "why, you did not catch them then.

Here's another, such a big one," he continued, as he landed one nearly as thick as his wrist. "How many have you got, Phil?"

"Only four," said Philip, "and such little ones, I shall change places with somebody. No, I shan't," he continued; "there's a beauty. Why, that's bigger than yours, Hal."

"No, it isn't," said Harry, "I'm sure; but look, Fred's got one."

But Fred had not, for, in spite of the many bites he obtained, not a fish could he draw out of the water; for without exception they all fell in again, he not having yet hit upon the knack of landing them, which should be done with a quick but gentle motion; for the slightest jerk makes the eel loose its hold.

"I say, how do you do it?" said Fred, at last, after missing eight or nine.

"Do what?" said Dusty Bob, coming out of the mill.

"Why, catch these nasty slippery things," said Fred. "Every time I try to get one on the bank, he always drops off too soon, and I lose him."

"Why, it's easy enew," said Bob, going up to him and taking hold of the pole. "Just drop the bait in quietly, so, and wait till yow feels 'em at it, when--there--he's tugging away a good un at it--now look; I jist draws him up a-top, and then out he comes. There yow see, I can do it straight."

And sure enough, Dusty Bob drew a fine silvery-looking eel to the top, and, with a turn of his wrist, landed it upon the bank.

Wriggle and twist went the eel--trying to get back into the water, and to all appearances he would soon have been there; and Dusty Bob, evidently thinking such would be the case, made an awkward jump at the wriggling fish, and jumped just upon the wet part of the bank where Fred's bob had been out before some twenty or thirty times. Up went Bob's heels, and the boys stared, quite aghast; for with a tremendous splash, in he went right into the deepest part of the mill-pond; when, after a few seconds, up he rose, and began to strike out for the shallow part where he could land; for the bank where he fell off was very steep, and, for about three feet, staved up with boards.

As soon as Harry saw that there was no danger, he burst out laughing, and shouted, "Now, boys, bob away, here's such a whopper," and began to drop his great bunch of worms just in front of Bob's head, to the intense disgust of that worthy, and the delight of Philip and Fred; who, of course, must follow suit, and begin to tease the unfortunate miller in the same way. But Bob soon scrambled out of the water, looking very pasty, and dripping all over the bank. He did not stop to speak, but hurried into his cottage to change his things, while the boys, laughing over his mishap, returned to their bobbing.

But the eels did not seem to have approved of the visitor who had been upon their domains, and, judging from appearances, they had all bade good-bye to the place, for not another bite could either of the boys get in the mill-pool; so they had to try in the deep part of the back-water, where they met with a little better success, and between them succeeded in capturing about two dozen more; when they found that the mist was rising heavily from off the water, and various other indications pointed out that it was time to think of returning homeward.

The poles were soon placed in a corner of the mill-yard, and the basket containing the eels being carefully tied down, they next went in search of Bob; but he was not visible, and his wife came to the door to say that the young gentlemen might say anything they liked to her.

The boys placed the right interpretation upon this message, and left a shilling for Bob, which was received with a curtsey, and then the fishermen started off with a heavy basket and light hearts; but had not gone far before they met Mr and Mrs Inglis, who had come in accordance with their promise.

The moon was just rising over the trees as they came within sight of the Grange; while in the north-west, Mr Inglis pointed out a heavy bank of clouds which every now and then seemed to quiver with the flashes of sheet lightning that played about it, the evident precursors of a heavy storm. The night was sultry in the extreme, and almost oppressive in its stillness; but the boys could pay but little heed to the appearances of the weather, every thought being taken up with the eels they had captured, and the splash which Bob made when he went into the mill-dam.

The appearances of the coming weather that Mr Inglis had pointed out were, however, not deceitful; for before the boys went to bed that night, the flashes of lightning became more and more vivid; the thunder, from muttering at a distance, began to break, as it were, just over the house; and then down came the rain, almost in a sheet.

"What a pity!" said Harry, all at once, just as they were going up to bed.

"What is a pity?" said Mr Inglis.

"Why," said Harry, "what a pity all this rain did not come when the fire was burning."

When the boys reached their bedroom, the storm raged with such violence that sleep was out of the question; so they put the candles in one room, and all three stood at the window to watch the lightning. Every now and then the whole heavens seemed to be lit up with one vast blaze of light, which showed the outlines of all the clouds in the most dazzling manner; then came the deafening peals of thunder, while all around looked of the most intense darkness; and the rain came splashing down, beating against the windows, and rushing off the eaves in streams.