Chapter 11. Dick Temple Takes A Lesson...

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_ CHAPTER ELEVEN. 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. _

Read next: Chapter 12. The Catching Of Many Fish...

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