In the afternoon, as they were sitting under a shady tree, eating a
dessert of strawberries, Harry began to wish that it was tea-time, so as
to get started for the mill-dam, about which place his whole
conversation had been since Neddy had been returned to the stable.
"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 nobody 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 snatch 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.
And thus it kept on for about an hour, when the storm seemed to abate,
the lightning coming at longer intervals, and the thunder gradually
becoming more and more distant, till at last it subsided into a low
angry muttering; though the lightning still kept quivering and
flashing--making everything in the bedroom appear with the greatest
distinctness.
"Well," said Harry at last, "I've had enough storm, and I'm going to
bed; so out you go, Mr Fred, into your own room."
Mr Fred was too tired and sleepy to enter into any fun that night, so
he sleepily went into his own place; and before the thunder had ceased
muttering in the distance, the boys were all soundly asleep, breathing
heavily the soft cool air--rendered so fresh and pure by the late storm,
and so plainly perceptible in its difference from the heavy oppressive
atmosphere of the early evening.