DICK TEMPLE TAKES A LESSON IN FINDING HIS BEARINGS BEFORE THE BOLTER IS
LAID.
"So your father has to do with mines, has he?" said Will rather eagerly,
as the two lads walked down towards the little harbour.
"Yes, and I'm going to be a mining engineer," said Dick. "I say, I wish
I was a fisherman--boy, I mean!"
"And I wish I was going to be a mining engineer," said Will, smiling
sadly.
"Why, it isn't half such fun!" cried Dick. "You have to learn all sorts
of stuff about rocks and strata, and chemistry, and mechanics, and
hydro-all-sorts-of-things. I say, do you ever see sharks down here?"
"Not very often," said Will. "I never did see one. Josh hooked one
once with his gaff, after it had taken a conger bait."
"Oh, did he? Tell me all about it."
"There isn't much all to tell," replied Will. "Josh was out in the
boat, fishing off the rocks with a mate--out yonder, where you can see
the cliff with the white patch on the top--Poldee."
"Yes, I see."
"Well, they couldn't catch a single conger, and they were going to give
it up, when Josh's mate had a bite; and when he began to pull up, he
thought it was a conger, but only a very small one; and then, when they
got it to the top of the water they stared, for it was--how much do you
think?"
"Forty feet!" cried Will eagerly.
"No, no!" said Will smiling; "they thought it was about six."
"Oh, that isn't big!" said Dick in disappointed tones.
"Not big! What, a fish the size of a tall man, and ten times as strong
in the water! Not big! We think it very big down here."
"Well, go on," said Dick.
"Oh, there's no more to tell; only that Josh took up the gaff and got
hold of the shark, which gave one flash with his tail and went down
again, taking with it Josh's gaff-hook and the conger-line, and that was
all."
"Oh!" said Dick in a disappointed tone. "They ought to have caught it."
"Yes," said Will dryly; "they ought to have caught it, but they did not.
There's Josh already in the boat. I wonder whether he thought of a
line to whiff."
"To whiff? what's that--to make cigars?"
"No, no!" said Will as they went along the pier. "I'll show you when we
get on board.--Think of a line to whiff, Josh?"
"Ay, lad; I thought young master there might like to try as we went
out."
"This way," said Will, pausing in front of the lugger, which was now
very little below the edge of the pier, as the tide was flowing fast.
"Shall I help you?"
"Oh no!" cried Dick, leaping aboard; and then actively lowering himself
into the lugger's boat, a short, broad, heavy affair, wherein sat Josh,
with the long-line and box of bait.
"You sit down there--aft," said Josh, "and we'll soon row you out."
"Is it far?" cried Dick.
"'Bout three mile," replied Josh, taking up an oar and pushing the boat
away from the side of the lugger, Will following his example, and
getting an oar over the side.
"Stop! Look, look, look!" cried Dick, pointing out in front of them,
where, through the water, there about eighteen inches deep, he could see
what seemed to be a long white worm or serpent dashing here and there in
a curious way. "There's another and another!"
"That's only the cleanings of the fish," said Will; "intestines, don't
you call 'em? That's a shoal of small fish come into the harbour, only
they're so clear you can't make 'em out; and first one lays hold of one
end and runs off with it, and then another. Looks just like little
snakes darting about, don't it?"
"Why, so it is," said Dick. "I can see the little rascals swimming
about, and drawing the long white strings after them. Oh, I say, I wish
Taff were here!"
"Look there!" said Will, eager to show the stranger all the
peculiarities of the place; "do you see that?"
He was pointing to a shallow part, close inshore, just after they had
left the harbour, where a drain ran down, and the smooth black
water-polished rock was veined with white spar.
"I can see something shadowy-like in the water. Why, there was a fish
went over that white place--two--three--there's a whole shoal of them!"
"Grey mullet, nearly as long as your arm!" said Will.
"Got a line? Oh, I wish I had my fishing-rod! Let's try for them."
"No use," said Will; "they very seldom take a bait. I don't like them;
they're nasty fish. They come up to feed off the mouth of that dirty
drain."
"We'll ketch something better than them as soon as we get outside," said
Josh, bending to his oar, Will following suit, and the water began to
rattle under the blunt bow of the heavy boat as they sent it speedily
along.
"What are all those little tubs for?" said Dick as they threaded their
way amongst a number lying a short distance outside the harbour.
"Buoys?"
"Yes," said Will; "anchor buoys, to make fast the luggers to when they
have been out fishing, and are coming into the harbour in fine weather."
They were now leaving the village behind, and it looked like a panoramic
picture lit up by the sinking sun, with the tall cliff to left and
right, and the hills rising in a steep slope behind. Eight away over
the bay the rippling water was stained with the reflection of the
western sky, and the sides of the waves glistened with orange, and blue,
and gold.
"Oh, you are lucky to live down here!" cried Dick, who was in ecstasies
with the beauty of the scene. "I say, though, I wish we'd brought poor
old Taff!"
"We'll bring him another time," said Will smiling.
"Will you?" cried Dick joyfully. "Oh, then, I don't mind."
"I thought London was a very beautiful place!" said Will as he tugged at
his oar.
"Beautiful!" cried Dick; "why, it's horrid. You can't play a game of
cricket without going out by rail; and as for seeing a bird, why, there
isn't anything but the old chiswicks--the sparrows, you know. Why, this
is worth a hundred Londons. I say, what a big buoy!"
"Yes; that's a dangerous rock there."
"Can you see?"
"Oh, yes!" said Josh; "she's only about five foot under water now," and,
giving an extra tug at his oar, he turned the boat's head to a huge tub
that was anchored close by the rock, and which looked like the
cork-float likely to be used by the giant who bobbed for whales.
"Give's your oar, Will, lad, and I'll take her over the rock while you
get ready a whiffing-line."
He rowed close up to the great buoy, and then bade the visitor look down
through the clear water.
"See her?" he said.
"Yes, 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 over into the water.
"That don't look like anything that lives in the water, does it?"
"I d'know," said Dick, who was disappointed.
"I do!" growled Josh to himself.
"Look here, sir," said Will, tearing the hook out of the piece of squid
and throwing it away before picking a similar piece about five inches
long from his basket. "I shall just hook it through like that on the
end. Now, look here! watch it as we go through the water."
He threw a yard or two of line in the water, the bait going in with a
little splash; and as it was drawn along close to the surface by the
progress of the boat it had a curious wavy motion, while, when Will
snatched the line a little now and then, the bait seemed to be making
darts.
"Why, it looks like a little eel!" cried Dick.
"Yes, like a sand-eel! See that!"
"Oh!" said Dick excitedly, as there was a splash astern, and something
flashed like silver through the water.
"Little tiny mackerel," said Will calmly. "There you are. Let it go;
pitch the lead over, and that will keep the bait down, and you can let
out twenty or thirty yards of line, and then hold on."
"But won't that lead sink it to the bottom?" said Dick, as he obeyed his
companion.
"It would if we kept still; but rowing like this, it will only keep it
down a few feet. If you had no weight, you'd only have the long noses
after it, for the bait would be skipping along the top of the water."
"Long noses!" cried Dick eagerly; "what are they?"
"A-mussy me!" sighed Josh to himself, as he looked pityingly at the
young visitor.
"We call the gar-fish long noses," said Will. "They are long silvery
fish with bodies like eels."
"I've seen them at the fishmongers'," cried Dick. "They've regular
beaks something like a bird's."
"But full of sharp teeth," said Will. "Those are the fellows, and
they're very hard to catch."
"Why?"
"Because there is so little for the hook to hold on by."
"Oh! I say! look here!"
During the above conversation the line had been allowed to run out forty
or fifty yards, the lad holding it in his left hand, with his arm
hanging over the stern. Then all at once there was a sharp snatch, and
Dick turned over on to his knees, holding the line with both hands.
"I've got him!" he cried. "Such a big one! Oh, don't he pull!"
"Well, why don't you pull?" cried Will laughing at his new friend's
excitement.
"I'm going to play him first."
"Pull him in sharp, hand over hand, or you'll lose him!" cried Josh.
The boy obeyed, and drew away at the cord till he could see what looked
like a great silver shuttle darting about in the quivering water, and
then, panting still, he drew out a fine mackerel, with its rippled
sides, glorious with pearly tints, and its body bending and springing
like so much animated steel.
"Oh, you beauty!" cried Dick in a state of excitement. "But I thought
it must have been four times as big; it pulled so."
Will had been rowing, but he now handed the oar to Josh, unhooked the
mackerel, killed it by a blow or two on the head, and then, to Dick's
astonishment and horror, took out his sharp jack-knife and sliced off a
long narrow piece of the silvery-skinned fish close to the tail.
"Oh, what a pity!" cried Dick. "I say!"
"You must have a good bait," said Will quietly, "and a lask from a
mackerel's tail--"
"A what?"
"A long thin piece like this--we call it a lask--is one of the best
baits you can have."
"But it seemed such a pity to cut that beautiful fish."
"Catch another," said Will laughing; and he threw the newly-baited hook
over the side, where, as the lead dragged it down into the clear water,
Dick could see it dart out of sight, looking like a small silvery fish.
"Why, how quick a mackerel must be to catch that as it goes through the
water!" he said.
"Quick as lightning," said Josh. "There, you've got him again."
"So I have," cried Dick, hauling in rapidly now, as the result of his
teaching, and bringing in another mackerel larger than the first.
"I'll take it off for you," said Will.
"No, no, I will. Get me another bait."
"All right!" cried Will.
"Ugh! you nasty cannibal, eating bits of your own brother!" cried Dick,
apostrophising the lovely fish as it lay beating the bottom of the boat
with its tail.
"Hor! hor! hor! hor!" laughed Josh heartily, the idea of the fish being
a cannibal tickling him immensely. "They'll eat their own fathers and
mothers and children too, when they get a chance."
"Mind, or he'll tangle the line," said Will; and he pounced upon the
fish just as it was going to play shuttle in the boat, and weave the
line into a task that it would take long to undo.
Then another bait was hooked on, the line thrown over, and Will resumed
his oar.
"Put her along, Josh," he said.
"Ay, ay, lad," cried the sturdy fellow; and the water began to patter
beneath the bows of the boat, when all at once there was a sharp crack,
and Josh went backwards with his heels in the air.
"Look at that," he said sourly. "That comes o' having bad thole-pins;"
and he began to knock out the remains of the pin that formed the rowlock
and which had broken short off.
This brought the boat nearly to a standstill, and consequently down went
the lead to the bottom; but only to be dragged up again, Dick hauling
away excitedly as he felt a good tug, tug at his bait.
"I've got him again!" he cried.
"Then you can catch fish with such tackle as ours!" said Will, who
looked on highly amused at his friend's excitement.
"Oh, yes!" said Dick. "You see I didn't know. Why, what's this? Look
at him how he's going. Here, I've seen these chaps in the fishmongers'
in London too. I know: it's a gurnard."
"Gunnet," said Josh correctively.
"Why, you might catch these with a great meat hook," cried Dick. "Oho!
what a mouth!"
"Look sharp and put in again, and you may get a red one: this is a
grey," said Will. "Some of the red ones are beauties, and you'll hear
them grunt when you take them out of the water."
"Go along," cried Dick laughing. "None of your nonsense!"
"A mussy me!" muttered Josh to himself as he knocked in a fresh
thole-pin; "what a gashly little these Londoners do know!"
"They do make a grunting noise really," said Will; "just when you pull
them out of the water. You'll see."
The hook was already speeding towards the bottom, but no grunting red
gurnard took the bait, the boat being once more going easily along; and
for the next quarter of an hour Dick did not get a bite; but at last, as
they were rowing along by a rugged part of the coast where the waves
foamed and roared among the rocks, tossing the olive-brown sea-weed up
and dragging it back, Will bade him look out.
"You'll get a pollack along here perhaps."
For another five minutes, though, there was no sign, and Dick suggested
that the bait must be gone.
"Pull it in and see," said Josh.
The lad began to haul, but at the second pull there was a tremendous
snatch, the line was dragged from his fingers, and began to run rapidly
over the stern.
"Look out!" cried Will.
"I've got him!" cried Dick, snatching at the line again, and holding on
though it threatened to cut into his soft white hands. "My! don't he
pull! Oh! this is a monster."
"Pull! haul at him! get his nose this way!" roared Josh; and Dick
pulled, with the fish darting to right and left, sixty yards away from
the boat's stern; but the stress soon began to tell, and it came easier
after a time, nearer and nearer, till it was drawn close up, and then
Dick, who was boiling over with excitement as he gazed at the great
prize he had hooked, became aware that the boat was motionless and that
Will was leaning over him ready to deftly insert the new gaff-hook in
the fish's gills, and lift it over the side.
"What a beauty!" cried Dick. "Is it the setting sun makes it look like
that?"
"No, it's the natural colours," replied Will, taking out the hook and
then laying the magnificent fish down upon its side to be admired.
"What is it?" cried Dick.
"A rock pollack," replied Will.
"And she weighs ten pound if she weighs an ounce," cried Josh.
"No, not more than nine, Josh," said Will.
"Ah! well, you've handled her, my lad. Glad you've got such a good un,
squire. You see we want strong lines and snooding out here."
"I didn't know you got such beauties as this close to the shore. Oh! I
wish father and Taff were here to see it!"
"You must take it home and show them," said Will.
"May I?"
"Why not? You caught it."
"Oh!" cried Dick, who could say no more, and he even failed to think of
having a fresh bait put on, as he knelt in the bottom of the boat gazing
at his prize, whose sides were gorgeous with golden orange and bronze,
darkening off on the back to a deep olive-brown, like sea-weed, while
the lower parts of the fish seemed to have been rubbed with burnished
brass.
"Is it good to eat?" he cried at last.
"Almost as good as any fish that swims," said Will.
"But it's as beautiful as a gold-fish almost," cried Dick; "quite as
beautiful as a carp--more, I think--like those golden tench I once saw.
Why, where are you going now?"
"Right out," said Will; "you don't mind, do you? It won't be rough."
"No, I don't mind," said Dick stoutly. "I should not mind if it was
rough. At least I wouldn't say I did."
"Hor! hor! hor!" laughed Josh again. "That's right. But it won't be
rough. We're going out about two miles straight away now. We ought to
have been there by now on the ground."
"But how can you tell where the ground is?" said Dick innocently. "Does
it come above water?"
"Do what come above water?" said Josh.
"The ground."
"What ground?"
"Didn't you say you ought to be on the ground?" said Dick. "Of course
you mean the bottom of the boat."
"Get out!" said Josh. "The fishing-ground's five fathom under water."
"Then how can you tell when you get there?"
"Bearin's," growled Josh.
Dick looked helplessly at Will, while Josh muttered to himself about
"gashly ignorance."
"What are bearings?" said Dick at last.
"I'll show you," said Will, "when we get out there by and by. We have
to guide ourselves, you know, out at sea by--"
"Compass. I know," cried Dick.
"Ah! that's out of sight of land," said Will quietly. "Along shore we
sail by bearings that we take--hills and points and trees, so as to lay
the boat where we like."
"But I don't see how you can," cried Dick.
"Don't you?" said Will good-humouredly, while Josh went on growling to
himself and looking disgusted down between his knees. "Well, I'll try
and show you. Now, you look right behind you and you can see that we're
opening out that old chimney on the top of Toll Pen."
"Opening out!" said Dick. "I don't know what you mean."
"Well, beginning to see it come into sight."
"Oh! now I know," cried Dick. "I say, is there anything the matter with
him?" he added, for Josh was rumbling with indignation at their
visitor's "gashly ignorance."
"No, there arn't," growled Josh roughly. "Only they did ought to teach
you something at school."
"They do," said Dick, laughing merrily; "but they don't know anything
about bearings and openings out, and such things. It's all Latin, and
Greek, and algebra, and Euclid."
"And none o' them won't teach you how to lay a boat to her bearin's on a
bit o' good fishing-ground," said Josh; "and it's a good job for you, my
lad, as you've run acrost us. We will teach you something afore we've
done."
"Why, you have already," cried Dick. "I say, are you tired? Shall I
help you now?"
"Tired? No, lad, not us. No. There, you keep your eye on that old
chimney. Tell him, Will, how to find the ground."
"All right!" said Will. "Well, you see that pile of stones on the top
of the hill behind the chimney to the right?"
"What, a rough bit like a lump of sugar on a loaf of bread?"
"That's it!" said Will. "Now, you see those, as we row out, seem to
grow closer together?"
"Yes, I see, because you're getting them more in a straight line."
"To be sure!" said Will. "Well, then, when we get them exactly one in
front of the other, they give us our bearings one way."
"Oh!" said Dick.
"Now, look yonder at that church tower at Gullick," said Will.
"Yes, I see it."
"There's a big tree on the hill to the left of it."
"Six," said Dick.
"No, no, not that clump; but that one standing by itself."
"Yes, I see."
"Well, when the church is right before that tree it gives us the
bearings the other way."
"I think I see," said Dick dubiously; "but I'm not sure."
"It's easy enough," said Will. "You'll soon see. Now look out--the
mine chimney over the cairn, and Gullick church in front of the big
tree, and there we are right on our fishing-ground."
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.
Dick 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 fishing-ground, which they could
always find by these simple means.