Menhardoc Part 31

"Three fathoms!" cried Arthur. "Why, that's eighteen feet, and over my head!"

"Well, yes, you ar'n't quite so tall as that!" cried Josh, with a bit of a chuckle.

"But suppose the boat was overset?" said Arthur.

"Oh, she won't overset, my lad. You couldn't overset her; and if she did--can you swim?"

"A little--not much. I'm not very fond of the water."

"Ah! that's a pity," said Josh; "everybody ought to be able to swim.

You'd better come down to me every morning, and I'll take you out in the boat here and you can jump in and have a good swim round, and then come in again and dress."

Arthur looked at him in horror. The idea seemed frightful. To come out away from land, and plunge into water eighteen feet deep, where he might go to the bottom and perhaps never come up again, was enough to stun him mentally for the moment, and he turned away from Josh with a shudder.

"Here you are, Taff!" said d.i.c.k just then. "Now have a try for a fish.

Come and sit here; change places."

d.i.c.k jumped up and stepped over the thwarts, vacating his seat right in the stern. In fact he looked as if he could have run all round the boat easily enough on the narrow gunwale had there been any need, while, in spite of his call and the sight of the fishing-line, Arthur sat fast.

"Well, why don't you get up?"

"I--I prefer staying here," said Arthur, who looked rather white.

"But you said you would like to fish!" cried d.i.c.k in a disappointed tone.

"Did I? Oh yes, I remember. But I don't wish to fish to-day. You can go on."

"Oh, all right!" said d.i.c.k lightly. "I daresay I can soon get something;" and he set the line dragging behind.

"Like to be rowed over to yon mine, sir, on the cliff?" said Josh, nodding in the direction of the old shaft, the scene of his adventures with Will.

"Where, my man? I can see no remains. Oh yes, I can," he continued, as he brought his gla.s.s to bear on the regular bank-slope formed by the material that had been dug and blasted out. "I see; that's a very old place. Yes; I should like to inspect that first."

"Me and him went down it la.s.s week," said Josh, as he tugged at the oar, Will having now joined him in forcing the boat along.

"It's not a deep one, then," said Mr Temple carelessly.

"Dunno how deep she be," said Josh, "because she's full o' water up to the adit."

"Oh, there is an adit then?"

"Yes, as was most covered over. She begins up on that level nigh the cliff top, where you can see the bit o' brown rock with the blackberry bushes in it, and she comes out down in that creek place there where the bank's green."

"I see!" said Mr Temple eagerly. "Ah! that must be an old place. When was it given up?"

"Oh, long before we was born, or our grandfathers, I expect!" said Josh.

"The more reason why I should examine it," said Mr Temple. "I suppose," he added aloud, "we can land here?"

"Oh yes, while the sea's like this! You couldn't if she was rough. The rocks would come through her bottom before you knowed where you were."

"Is it going to be rough, did you say?" said Arthur eagerly.

"Yes, some day," said Josh. "Not while the wind's off the sh.o.r.e."

"Taff, Taff! Here! I've got him!" cried d.i.c.k excitedly; and his words had such an effect upon Arthur that he started up and was nearly pitched overboard; only saving himself by making a s.n.a.t.c.h at his father, one hand knocking off Mr Temple's hat, the other seizing his collar.

"You had better practise getting your sea-legs, Master Arthur," said his father. "There, give me your hand."

Arthur longed to refuse the proffered help, for he knew that both Josh and Will were smiling; but he felt as if the boat kept running away from beneath him, and then, out of a sheer teasing spirit, rose up again to give the soles of his feet a good push, and when it did this there was a curious giddy feeling in his head.

So he held tightly by his father's hand while he stepped over the seat, and then hurriedly went down upon his knees by where d.i.c.k was holding the line, at the end of which some fish was tugging and straining furiously.

"Here you are!" cried d.i.c.k, handing the line to his brother. "He's a beauty! A pollack, I know; and when you get him he's all orange, and green, and gold!"

"But it's dragging the line out of my hands!" said Arthur.

"Don't let it! Hold tight!" cried d.i.c.k, whose cheeks were flushed with excitement.

"But it cuts my hands," said Arthur pettishly.

"Never mind that! All the better! It's a big one! Let a little more line out."

Arthur obeyed, and the fish darted off so vigorously that it would have carried off all there was had not d.i.c.k checked it.

"Now, hold tight!" cried d.i.c.k. "Play him. Now begin to haul in."

"But the line's all messy," said Arthur, in tones full of disgust.

"Oh, what a fellow you are! Now, then, never mind the line being messy; haul away!"

"What, pull?" said Arthur feebly.

"To be sure! Pull away hand over hand. I know he's a monster."

Mr Temple and the little crew of two were so intent upon the old mine that they paid no heed to the boys. Hence it was that d.i.c.k took the lead and gave his directions to his brother how to catch fish, in a manner that would have been heartily condemned by both Josh and Will, whose ideas of playing a fish consisted in hauling it aboard as soon as they could.

"Oh, you're not half hauling it in!" cried d.i.c.k, as he grew out of patience with his brother's fumbling ways. "You'll lose it."

"You be quiet and let me alone," said Arthur quickly. "I daresay I know as much about sea-fishing as you do."

"Then why don't you haul in the line?"

"Because the fish won't come, stupid! There, you see, he will now!"

continued Arthur, hauling pretty fast, as the captive began to give way.

"Oh, how nasty! I'm getting my knees quite wet."

Quite! For he had remained kneeling in the bottom of the boat, too much excited to notice that he was drawing the dripping line over his legs, and making a little pool about his knees.