Menhardoc Part 20

They rowed on for another quarter of an hour, watching the chimney and church, which seemed to glide more and more over the distant points till, full of excitement as he began to comprehend more fully the little simple problem learned by fishermen without instruments or books, he waited till he thought that the various points must be exactly coinciding, and called out to those who were rowing behind him as he looked over the stern:

"It's now, isn't it--now?"

"Now it is," said Josh, as there was a splash in the water and the rattling of a rope over the gunwale.

d.i.c.k had well learned his first lesson in taking bearings, and called out at the exact moment, just as Josh was in the act of throwing over the little anchor and buoy, to which the long-line, or "bolter," was to be made fast.

Here is the problem in mathematical lines:

Which being explained is that A represents the old mine chimney, B the cairn, C Gullick Church, and D the tree. The boat was rowed till A and B were in a straight line, and C and D were also in a straight line.

This would place the boat at E, the fis.h.i.+ng-ground, which they could always find by these simple means.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

THE CATCHING OF MANY FISH, AND THE GETTING CAUGHT THEMSELVES.

It was a glorious evening, the aspect of the bay being grand, lit up as it was by the golden light of the setting sun. Distant windows glowed like fire; the rugged Cornish hills were like amber; and sea and sky were gorgeous with brilliant hues.

"Oh! I do like this!" cried d.i.c.k. "I wish poor old--but you will bring him next time. Now, then, what shall I do?"

"Sit still," said Josh gruffly, "and see him pay out the line."

d.i.c.k felt snubbed; but on glancing at Will he was met by a friendly nod as the lad busied himself in making fast one end of the line, coiled up in the basket, to the buoy-rope, and then, as Josh took both oars, fixed his eyes upon a point on land, and began to row slowly due south, Will let the line run over the side.

It was no easy task, and it required co-operation on the part of him at the oars, for every now and then, in spite of the care with which the line had been coiled, and the hooks regularly baited and laid in place, there would be a disposition to kink, and for hooks to catch and go down tangled with each other. But Josh always had an eye for this, and was ready to ease the boat's progress, or in a bad case to back water, while Will's quick clever fingers pounced upon every hitch, shook out the line, and sent it down fathom after fathom with its hooks and baits clear to lie upon the bottom.

"Shall I--shall I hinder you if I talk?" said d.i.c.k at last, when about half the line was out.

"Hinder! No," cried Will; "talk away."

"Why didn't you put the line down there where we caught that beautiful-- what was it--pollack?"

"Because the bottom was all rocks, and we should have lost the line.

Besides, it isn't a good place for long-line fish."

"Oh!" said d.i.c.k; and he was silent, watching the line go over, and the baits seem to dart down through the dark clear water and disappear, while Josh rowed on and on, with his eyes now on the line-basket, now on the land, his forehead wrinkled, and his countenance as solemn as if this were the most serious venture of his life.

And what a wonderful sight it was! The waters of that great bay turning to topaz, and then to ruby, as if the oars were plas.h.i.+ng up wine, which bubbled and foamed as the boat went slowly on, while close down in the shadow, where Will lowered the line, all was of a dark transparent slate.

Down went bait after bait, coil after coil of the line, till the uneven rings in the basket grew fewer--fewer still--then there were only three or four--two--one.

"Avast!" shouted Josh, throwing in his oars and dropping another little grapnel anchor overboard, which ran out so much rope. Then a little tub buoy was pa.s.sed after it, and Josh held on by the ring, while Will fastened the line to the rope, dropped it, and as the last bait rested on the bottom, turned with satisfied face to the visitor.

"There!" he said; "that's done."

"But you did not tell me why you came here to lay the line," said d.i.c.k.

"'Cause it's a good place," growled Josh.

"Yes; it's a long even bank of sand, all about the same depth, five or six fathoms; and the flat-fish lie here a good deal."

"And the trawler can't touch 'em, 'cause there's a rock here and there as would stop their net."

"I see," said d.i.c.k dubiously. Then, determined to know all--"No, I don't quite see," he said. "I don't know what you mean by the crawler."

"Trawler, lad--trawler. I didn't say crawler," cried Josh. "A mussy me!" he added softly.

"Well, trawler, then. What's a trawler?"

"Fore-an'-aft rig boat."

"Oh, I say!" cried d.i.c.k merrily, "it's all like Dutch to me. How am I to know what a fore-an'-aft rig boat is?"

"A mussy me!" groaned Josh, to Will's great delight; "how your eddication have been neglected! Don't you know what rig means?"

"Yes; the rigging of a s.h.i.+p."

"Or a boat," said Josh. "Well, don't you know what fore-and-aft means?"

"Not unless it's before and after, or behind."

"It ain't no before and no after; it's fore-and-aft," growled Josh.

"He's quite right, Josh," said Will, taking his new friend's side; "fore means before, or forward, and aft means after, or behind."

"Oh! very well; have it your own way," said Josh, putting a pellet of tobacco in his mouth. "I call it fore-and-aft."

"That's right too, Josh. Look here, sir, we call the rig of a boat or s.h.i.+p fore-and-aft when the sails are flat, like they are in a cutter or sloop or schooner. When I say flat I mean stretching from the front of the vessel to the stern; and we call it square-rigged when the sails are put across."

"Then there's lug-sails like them," said Josh, pointing to some fis.h.i.+ng-boats, whose brown sails stood out against the amber sky; "and there's lots of other rigs as well."

"Yes; but what's a trawler?" cried d.i.c.k.

"It's a fore-and-aft rigged boat that trawls," said Will. "She has a great net like a big night-cap stretched over on a spar, which we call a trawl-beam, and this is lowered down, and as the boat sails it is dragged along the bottom, and catches soles, and turbot, and plaice and sometimes john-dory, and gurnet, and brill. They like sandy banks, such as this is; and if there were no rocks the trawler would soon sweep this clean."

"On'y, they can't run their trawl along here a-cause o' the rocks," said Josh.

"Which would catch the net, and they'd p'r'aps lose it."

"But they might fish it up again."

"Oh, yes! I daresay they would," replied Will with a smile.

"I say," cried d.i.c.k, "I wish you wouldn't call things by such names.

What's a creeper?"