_ CHAPTER TEN. A TRIMMERING EXPEDITION
A stormy time ensued, lasting about a fortnight, during which the draining business was hindered; but, upon the whole, the progress made was steady, for a number of men were now employed, and the fen people, who visited the outfall now and then, began to realise what kind of dyke it was that would run across the great swamp.
At last one evening, as the lads had wandered down to Hickathrift's, and were talking to the great bluff wheelwright as he worked away with his axe at roughly shaping the shaft of a sledge, Dave came silently up, followed by the little decoy-dog; and the first knowledge of his presence was given by an attack made upon Hickathrift's big lurcher, which, after showing its teeth angrily, settled down, and seemed to look scornfully at the little animal, before closing its eyes as if to go to sleep.
"Hallo, Dave!" cried the lads together; "want us?"
"Nay, I don't want you, my lads."
"Well, then, we want you," cried Tom.
"Eh?"
"To take us out after the pike, as you promised."
"Nay, it would be too cold, and you wouldn't like it."
"How do you know, Dave?" cried Dick. "Come, when shall we start?"
"Well," said Dave, looking about him as if in search of a good piece of wood which might prove useful, "I dunno. You lads do as you likes; but if I wanted to go, I sud say as the weather was nicely sattled, and start to-morrow morning."
The hour was settled, as well as the weather, and after obtaining the requisite permission the lads were punctual to their time, and found Dave waiting in his punt, upon whose thwart he was seated gravely tying a hook on to a stout piece of twisted horse-hair.
"Got everything ready, Dave?" cried Dick.
"Ay, lad; all ready."
"So are we. Look, Dave," cried Dick, swinging up the big basket he carried, "pork-pie, bread and cheese, and a lump of bacon, and--"
Dave's face twitched as he listened, but he did not speak, only waited; till, after waiting awhile to whet the man's anxiety, Dick added:
"And a big bottle of beer."
"Oh, I don't want no beer!" grumbled Dave. "Watter's good enough for me."
"Let's leave it behind, Tom," said Dick archly. "It will only be heavy in the boat."
"Nay, put it in," said the man with a dry look. "Mebbe the fish would like a drop. Mak' 'em bite."
The boys laughed, and stepped into the punt, which was soon gliding over the dark waters that lay in pools and winding lane-like canals, Dave, in his fox-skin cap, standing up in front and handling the pole, the boys carefully examining the contents of the boat.
"What's in that bucket, Dave?"
"Never mind; you let it alone," said Dave gruffly; and Dick dropped the net he was raising from the pail.
"Well, let's look at the basket, Dave."
"Nay; I wean't hev my hooks and lines tangled up just after I've laid 'em ready. Yow two wait and see when we get acrost to wheer the pike lays."
"Oh, very well!" said Dick in a disappointed tone. "I would have shown you what we've got in our basket."
"I know what you've got yow telled me," retorted Dave. "I don't want to look at vittles; I want to taste 'em."
There was a pause, while Dave worked steadily away with his pole.
"I shall be glad when the summer comes again," said Tom.
"So shall I," cried Dick.
"Theer, I towd you so," cried Dave. "I knowed you'd find it ower cowd. Let's go back."
"Go on with you!" cried Dick; "who said it was cold? I want the summer, because of the sunshine, and the reeds and rushes turning green again, and the birds."
"There's plenty o' birds," said Dave.
"Yes, but I mean singing birds, and nesting, and flowers, and the warmth."
"Theer, I towd you so. You are cowd," cried Dave.
"When I'm cold I'm going to use the pole," said Dick. "I say isn't it deep here, Dave?"
"Ay, theer's some deep holes hereabouts," said the man, trying in vain to reach the bottom with his long pole. "They wean't dree-ern they in a hurry, Mester Dick."
"Good job too, Dave! We don't want our fishing spoiled. Now, then, how much further are you going?"
"Strite across to wheer we saw that big pike rise, my lad."
"Shall we catch him, Dave?"
"Mebbe yes; mebbe no, my lad. If he wants his dinner, and we sets it down by his door stoop, he'll tek it. If he's hed his dinner he wean't touch it."
"Then let's make haste and get there before dinnertime," cried Tom. "Pole away, Dave."
"Nay, we've got to go quiet-like, my lad. We don't want to scare the fish, and send 'em to the bottom to lie sulky. Nice wisp o' duck yon."
He nodded to a long string of wild-fowl flying low over the melancholy-looking water, and they were watched till they disappeared.
"Caught any more in the 'coy, Dave?" asked Dick.
"Few, lad, few. Not enew to tek' to market. Me and John Warren sent 'em wi' the rabbits."
"Ah! he promised us a day with the ferrets. Let's stir him up, Tom. Now, Dave, do let's begin."
The man shook his head and smiled as if he were enjoying the tantalising process he put the boys through, and kept on poling till they were quite a couple of miles from the Toft, when he suddenly laid down his long pole, and seated himself in the boat by the big basket.
"Now," he said, "if you want to see you shall see;" and he began to take out carefully so many short fishing-lines, the hook in each case being carefully stuck in between the osiers so as not to catch. To every one of these lines was attached a bladder, save and except four, which were bound to as many black and compressed pieces of cork, which looked as if they had been washed ashore after doing duty as buoys to some fishermen's nets.
"Theer we are: ten of 'em," said Dave smiling as if he were anticipating the pleasure he would feel in getting some monster tyrant pike upon the hook. "You, young Tom Tallington, pass me that theer boocket."
Tom lifted the bucket, which stood at the side, covered over with some old pieces of netting, and placed it between Dave's knees in the spot from which he removed the basket.
"Now you can both hev a look," he said with a sly glance from one to the other. "Hey, little boys, then; hey, little boys: back yow go!"
This was to a couple of frogs, which had been in the water the bucket contained, but had climbed up the side, to try and get through the meshes of the net, but only to force their heads through and hold on with their claws.
Dave poked one of the frogs with his finger, but the little reptile swelled itself out, and took hold more tightly of the net.
"Here, let go, will you!" cried Dick, taking the frog between his fingers gently enough; but the little creature clung more tightly, and began to squeal loudly, till it was dislodged and dropped into the pail, the other being shaken free, and falling with a splash beside his fellow, when there was a tremendous commotion in the pail; for, beside a couple more frogs, there were about a dozen small fishes scurrying about in the water.
"Theer," cried Dave, looking up; "what do you say to them for bait, eh?"
"Why, they're gudgeons, Dave!" cried Dick.
"Ay, lad, gudgeons."
"Where did you get them?" asked Tom. "There are no gudgeons in the fen waters."
"Not as I iver see," said Dave with his quiet laugh. "I went right across to Ealand, and then walked four mile with my net and that boocket to Brader's Mill on little Norley stream and ketched 'em theer, and carried 'em all the way back to the boat--four mile. For, I says, I should like they boys to ketch a big pike or two, and gudgeons is best baits I know."
"Better than roach and rudd, Dave?"
"Ay, or perch, or tench, or anything. Carp's a good bait; but you can't always ketch carps."
"You are a good chap, Dave!" cried Tom.
"Ay, that I am, lads. I say, though, talk 'bout ketching; hev the squire and Farmer Tallington ketched the chap as sat fire to Grimsey stables?"
"Nobody set fire to Grimsey stables," said Tom. "It was to the stacks."
"Nay, lad, I knows better than that," cried Dave, shaking his head. "Why, didn't I see with my own eyes as roof weer all bont off the top o' stable, and doors gone."
"Yes; but the stable caught fire from the stacks," said Dick.
"Yah! how could it? Why, it's reight the other side o' the house."
"Well, couldn't the sparks and flames of fire float over and set light to the thatch?" cried Dick.
"Set fire to the thack!" said Dave. "Ah, well, I warn't theer! But hev they ketched him?"
"No, and not likely to. There, never mind Tallington's stacks; let's try for the pike."
"Ay, lads, we will," said Dave, and, plunging his hand into the bucket, he took out a transparent gudgeon, whose soft backbone was faintly visible against the light; then carefully passing the hook through its tough upper lip, he dropped it over the side of the boat into the water directly.
"Theer, lads," he said; "now over with that blether."
Dick seized the line, and as the gudgeon swam off he dropped the bladder over the side, and it was slowly towed away.
"I wish fishing wasn't so precious cruel," said Tom, as he watched the bladder dance upon the surface, while the punt was slowly thrust away from the neighbourhood of the reed-bed, where the big pike was supposed to lie.
"'Tisn't cruel," said Dick.
"'Tis. How should you like to be that gudgeon with a hook in your mouth, or the pike when he's caught?"
"Sarve him right for killing all the little fishes," growled Dave, punting gently along.
"Why did you come fishing?" said Dick sharply.
"'Cause I like it," said Tom frankly; "but it's cruel all the same. Oh, look! Look!"
They were about fifty yards from where the line with its buoy had been put over the side, and as Tom had casually looked back he had seen the bladder give a bob, and then begin to skim along the surface.
"Well, I can see," said Dick, "it's the gudgeon swimming fast."
"Nay," said Dave, ceasing to pull; "something's got it. I shouldn't wonder if it's the big pike."
The lads breathlessly watched the bladder go skimming along. Every now and then it gave a bob or two, and then on it went farther and farther from them toward a patch of reeds all broken down and shattered by the wind and lying by itself quite a hundred yards from where the bait had been dropped in.
"Is it the big pike, Dave?" said Dick eagerly.
"Dunno," was the laconic reply. "Mebbe 'tis, mebbe 'tisn't."
"You'll give it time, Dave," cried Tom excitedly, forgetting all his previous qualms.
"Ay, we'll give him time," said Dave with his face tightened so that the ruddy portion of his lips had disappeared, and his mouth was represented by what seemed to be a scar extending right across the lower portion of his countenance. "Who's going to hook him out?"
"I will," cried Dick quickly. "No, you shall have first go, Tom."
"May I?" cried the lad, flushing.
"Yes; go on. Where's the big hook, Dave?"
"Why, s'pose I forgot it," said Dave slowly.
"You haven't," said Dick. "There's the stick," and he picked up a short staff.
"Ay, lad, bud there be no hook."
"Now, none of your old games, Dave," cried Dick; "just as if we didn't know! Come, out with it! You've got it in your pocket."
Dave chuckled, and produced a hook made by bending round a piece of thin iron rod and sharpening the point.
This hook he inserted in the staff and handed to Dick, who immediately passed it to Tom, the latter standing up ready to hook the line when the time should come.
But that was not yet, for the floating bladder was more than a hundred yards away, and still skimming along.
"Be a long time making up his mind to swallow it," said Dave, slowly and softly reducing the distance between them and the buoy, and then pausing while they were still fifty yards away.
"He has stopped now," said Dick in a hoarse whisper as the bladder gleamed quite white a few yards away from the reeds, and gently rose and fell in the ripple caused by the wind.
"Why, he's gone!" said Tom in a disappointed tone.
_Bob_ went the bladder as if to contradict him, giving one sharp movement, and then remaining still once more.
"Nay, he hasn't gone," said Dave. "Give him a bit more time. We'll set another while we're waiting."
As he spoke he laid the pole across the head of the punt, and quickly baiting another of his hooks, dropped it over the boat side away from the direction in which they had to go; and after checking it once or twice till the bait took the right course, he let it go.
Meanwhile, the lads were impatiently watching the bladder, which now remained perfectly still; and in imagination they saw a monstrous pike swallowing the unfortunate gudgeon which bore the hook.
"Theer!" said Dave, rising and taking up his pole. "He've hed plenty time now. Get the basket ready, young squire Dick. Think it'll hold him?"
"If it won't we'll curl him round, Dave," said the lad, laughing. "Now Tom, don't miss."
The boat approached slowly, and Tom was awkwardly placed; but Dave was prepared for this, and after giving the little vessel a sharp impulse he thrust down the pole to the bottom, and checked the head, so that the stern swung round and gave Tom a fair chance, which he stood ready to seize as the boat drew nearer.
They were soon only about ten yards away, and the bladder remained so motionless that the lads' hearts sank with disappointment, for it seemed as if the bait had been left.
"Look out, lad!" said Dave, however, for his quick eyes had detected what was about to happen, and he gave the boat a tremendous thrust just as the bladder glided rapidly away.
Tom bent down and made a dart with his hook, and so earnestly that he would have gone overboard had not Dick caught him in the nick of time.
"Missed him," he cried.
"Here, this awayer," cried Dave. "You was a chap!" and he held up his pole with the line over it. For when Tom missed, his opportunity came, the boat gliding so near that he dropped the pole down over the line, and a tremendous disturbance of the water began.
Tom rushed forward, leaned over the side, and deftly hooked the line which ran through to the bladder as Dave drew away his pole.
"It's a monster! Oh Dick!" cried Tom, as he drew the bladder in. "Now, then, catch hold of the line as I draw it in."
"Yah! Why yow make as much on it as if it weer one o' they long studggins, or a big porpus pig," growled Dave, laughing, as Dick secured the line. "Haul him in."
"I say! 'Tisn't a very big one, Tom; but he's strong," said Dick, pulling the captive to the side, for his companion to gaff and lift into the boat. "Why, it's a perch!"
A perch it was--a fine one with ruddy fins and boldly-barred sides, and, though fine for his kind, less than three pounds in weight.
"I thowt that was what he was," said Dave, laughing, "when I sin him skim that theer blether along. Pop him in the basket, lads, and let's get all the rest of the liggers out, or we shall make a poor time of it."
He plied the pole vigorously and soon stopped to let the boat glide towards an opening in the reeds, where a long water-way ran in. Here another buoyed bait was left, and then they went on to lay another and another, the old decoy-man, with the knowledge bought by very long experience, selecting choice spots till the whole set were disposed of in the course of an hour, over a space far exceeding a mile.
"We shall never recollect where they were all set, Dave," said Dick at last, as he stood up looking back along the side of one of the big pools to which they had made their way through what resembled a little river running among the reeds and joining two great pools together.
"You wouldn't," grumbled the man; "but p'raps I may. Now let's go reight back, and see if theer's any on, or--don't you think, lads, it's 'bout time to try and ketch me?"
Dick stared.
"He means he wants you to try if he'd take a corner of the pie, Dick, if you offered it to him as a bait," cried Tom laughing, while Dave's yellow visage developed into something like a grin.
"Ay, that's it, lad--I feel as if I could coot a loaf in two, and eat half wi'out winking. Nay, wait and I'll throost the boat up to yon trees. Hey, look at that!"
He shaded his eyes, and gazed at a large flock of birds flying as closely together, apparently, as starlings, and hundreds upon hundreds in number. They were flying swiftly at a good height, when all at once, as if by a signal, they changed their direction, and, with the accuracy of drilling, darted down in a great bird stream straight for the earth, disappearing behind a low patch of willows.
"Golden plovers!" cried Dick, excitedly. "Oh, Dave, if you were there with a gun!"
"Ay, lad, and I'm here wi' a pole," said Dave. "Niver mind, I may get a few perhaps wi' my net. Now, then, never mind the pie-wipes; let's wipe that theer pie."
He rapidly thrust the boat along till it was close to the side of the mere, where he anchored it with his pole and then leaned over and washed his hands, which he dried upon a piece of rag.
"Are your hands fishy, Tom?" said Dick.
"No--I washed them."
"Well, then, cut some bread."
The next minute the pie was falling to pieces, the bread undergoing a change, and the ale sinking rapidly in the stone bottle. After which the basket was found to contain a certain number of apples, which were converted into support for the active human beings in the boat, with the result that the basket was tapped upside down on the edge to get rid of a few crumbs before the empty pie-dish and stone bottle were replaced, and the whole tucked away so as to leave all clear.
"Now, lads, I think we ought to do some wuck," cried Dave, seizing the pole. "I thought so," he added; "I knowed there'd be something here."
"Eh!" cried Tom.
"Don't you see?" said Dick. "There, that bladder's fifty yards from where it was laid down."
"Hundered," said Dave, plying his pole. "'Fraid it's another peerch."
Dave was wrong, for as they approached the bladder it went off with a swift dart, and there was a swirl in the water which indicated that a big fish must be on.
A good ten minutes' chase ensued before Dick was able to hook the line.
"I've got him," he cried: "a monster!"
It certainly was a large pike of probably ten or twelve pounds, but in spite of its struggles it was drawn close in, with Dave smiling tightly the while, and ending with a broad grin, for as, in the midst of the intense excitement connected with their capture, Tom took the line and Dick leaned forward to gaff the pike, there was a struggle, a splash, the fish leaped right out of the water, and was gone.
"Hey, but why didn't thou whip the hook into him?" cried Dave.
"I was trying to," said Dick ruefully; "but just as I touched his side he wagged his tail and went off!"
"Niver mind, lad," cried Dave. "Let's look at the line. Ah, I thowt as much! Hook's broke."
"Any chance of catching him if we threw in again?" said Tom.
"Nay, he isn't worth trying for. Mebbe he'd bite; mebbe he wouldn't. He's gone the gainest [nearest] way to his hole. Let's try the next."
The buoy attached to this was not in the place where it had been left, and for a few minutes the lads looked round in a puzzled way, till, with a grim smile, Dave thrust the boat close up to a reed patch, when, just as the punt began to rustle against the long crisp water-grass, a splashing was heard inside somewhere, and after parting the growth with his pole Dave stood aside for his companions to see that the bladder attached to the line had been drawn in for some little distance, and then caught in the midst of a dense tangle, beyond which a good-sized fish was tugging to get away.
It needed some effort to force the boat to where the fish was churning up the water; but at last this was effected, and this time, by leaning forward and holding Tom's hand as a stay, Dick managed to gaff the captive and lift it into the boat.
"A beauty!" said Tom, as they gazed at the bronze, green-spotted sides of the ferocious fish, whose fang-armed jaws closed with a snap upon the handle of the gaff, from which a strong shake was needed to detach it.
"Yes, but not a quarter as big as the one which got away."
"Nay," growled Dave, "there weren't much differ, lads."
Whatever its size, the pike, a fish of several pounds weight, was placed alongside of the perch, upon which, by hazard or natural ferocity, it at once fastened its peculiarly hooked back-teeth, making it almost impossible to loosen its hold when once its jaws were closed; but the discussion which followed upon this was interrupted by the sight of the next bladder sailing away into the broadest part of the pool which they now entered.
"There's a big one howd o' that bait, my lads," said Dave, "and he'll give us a race. Shall we leave him?"
"Leave him! no," cried the lads together.
"Ah, you heven't got to pole!" said Dave thoughtfully, as he gazed at the bladder skimming along a couple of hundred yards away.
"Then let me do the poling," cried Dick eagerly, "I'm not tired."
"Nay," said Dave quietly, "neither you nor me can't do no poling theer. Watter's nigh upon twenty foot deep, and a soft bottom. Pole's no use theer."
"What shall we do then?"
"I weer thinking, lad," said Dave, following the direction taken by the bladder. "He's a makkin for yon way through the reeds into next pool."
"Then let's go there and stop him, Dave," cried Dick.
"Ay, lad, we will. Round here by the side. Longest way's sometimes gainest way."
Dick looked blank upon seeing the boat's head turned right away from the fish that was caught. Dave saw it, and handed him the pole.
"Give her a few throosts, lad," he said.
Dick seized the pole and thrust it down into the water lower and lower till his hands touched the surface.
He tried again and again, but there was no bottom within reach, and the lad handed back the pole.
"Why, you knew it was too deep here!" he cried.
"Ay, I knowed, lad," said Dave, taking the pole; "but yow wouldn't hev been saddisfied wi'out trying yoursen."
He proceeded to row the punt now for a few yards, till, apparently knowing by experience where he could find bottom, he thrust down the pole again, gave a few vigorous pushes, and was soon in shallow water.
It was a bit of a race for the river-like opening, but Dave sent the punt along pretty merrily now, while the bladder came slowly along from the other direction till it was only about fifty yards away, when there was a series of bobs and then one big one, the bladder which gleamed whitely on the grey water going down out of sight.
Dave ceased poling, and all watched the surface for the return of the bladder, as whale-fishers wait for the rising of the great mammal that has thrown his flukes upward and dived down toward the bottom of the sea; but they watched in vain.
A minute, two minutes, five minutes, then quite a quarter of an hour, but no sign of the submerged buoy.
"Yow two look over the sides," said Dave. "I'll run her right over where the blether was took down."
Dave sent the punt along slowly, and the lads peered down into the dark water, but could see no bladder.
"She'll come up somewheers," said Dave at last, sweeping the surface with his keen eyes, and then smiling in his hard, dry, uncomfortable way, as he looked right back over the way by which they had come, and nodding his head, "There she is!" he said.
Sure enough there lay the bladder on the surface forty yards behind them perfectly motionless.
"Yow take howd o' this one, young Tom Tallington," said Dave; and the lad prepared to hook the line as the punt was carefully urged forward.
"Take care, Tom!" whispered Dick excitedly. "Now, now! Oh, what a fellow you are!"
Tom did not dash in the hook when his companion bade him, but all the same he managed to do it at the right time, catching the line just below the bladder, and then stooping to seize it with his hand ready for the struggle which was to ensue.
Both boys were flushed with excitement, and paid no heed to the grim smile upon their companion's face--a smile which expanded into a grin as the line came in without the slightest resistance, and the lads looked at each other with blank dismay.
"Clap the line in the basket, Mester Dick," said Dave; "he's took the bait and gone."
"Why, what a big one he must have been!" cried Tom.
"Ah, he would be a big one!" said Dave with a chuckle, as he urged the punt rapidly on; "them as gets away mostlings is."
"Didn't you feel him a bit, Tom?" asked Dick.
"No, he had gone before I touched the line," was the reply.
It was very disappointing; but there were the other trimmers to be examined, and though it would have puzzled a stranger, Dave went back with unerring accuracy to the next one that had been laid down.
This did not seem to have moved; and as it was drawn in, the bait was swimming strongly and well.
"Let him go, Dick," said Tom.
"Well, I was going to, wasn't I?" was the reply. "There you are, old chap, only got a hole in your gristly lip."
He dropped the gudgeon into the water, and it lay motionless for a moment or two, and then darted downward as the punt glided on.
Another trimmer, and another, and another, was taken up as it was reached, all these with the baits untouched, and the disappointed look grew upon the boys' faces.
"I thought we should get one on every hook," said Tom. "Ar'n't we going to catch any more?"
"Why, you've got two," said Dave.
"Well, what are two, Dave?" cried Dick.
"More'n I've got many a day," said the man. "I often think I'd like a pike to stuff and bake; but lots o' times I come and I never get one. There's one for you yonder."
"Is there--where?" cried Tom.
Dave nodded in the direction of the little bay they were approaching, and it was plain to see that the bladder had been drawn close in to the boggy shore.
"Oh, he's gone!" cried Tom. "I don't believe there's one on."
Tom was wrong, for upon the spot being reached the bladder suddenly became, as it were, animated, and went sailing along bobbing about on the surface, then plunging down out of sight, to come up yards away.
"There's a niste one on theer, lads," said Dave. "Yow be ready with the hook, Mester Dick, and yow kneel down ready to ketch the line, young Tom Tallington."
It was quite a long chase; the bladder bobbing and dancing away till Dave forced the punt pretty near, and by a back stroke Dick caught the line, drew it near enough for Tom to seize, when there was a tremendous splash and plunge, and Tom fell backwards.
"Gone!" cried Dick in a passion of angry disappointment.
"Gone!" said Tom dolefully, "and I'd nearly got him over the side!"
"Ay, that's the way they gooes sometimes," said Dave, sending on the boat. "Put the band in the basket, lads. Better luck next time."
"Why, the line's broken!" cried Dick, handing it to its owner.
"Sawed off agen his teeth," said Dave, after a glance. "Theer, put 'em away, lad. He's theer waiting to be ketched again some day. Theer's another yonder. Nay, he hesn't moved."
This one was taken up, and then others, till only two remained, one of which was set where the great pike had been seen which took down the duck. One had not been touched, but had had the bait seized and gnawed into a miserable state; another bait was bitten right off cleanly close to the head; while another had been taken off the hook; and one bait had probably been swallowed, and the line bitten in two.
"We are having bad luck," cried Dick dolefully. "I thought we should get a basket full."
"I didn't," said Dave. "Nivver did but once. Here, we'll tak' yon last one up first, and come back along here and tak' up the big one, and go thruff yon reed-bed home."
"Big one!" said Tom.
"You don't think he's on, do you?" cried Dick.
"Hey, lad, how do I know! Mebbe he is."
"Then let's go at once," cried Dick excitedly.
"Nay, nay, we'll try yon one first," said Dave, for both the remaining trimmers were in sight, and though not where they had been laid down, they seemed to be no farther off than a lively bait and the wind might have taken them.
"Theer, lads, yow'll hev to be saddisfied wi' what yow've got. No more to-day."
"Oh, very well!" said Dick; "but I wish we'd got something more to eat."
"There's one on," said Tom excitedly, as they neared the most remote of the two trimmers.
"How do you know?"
"Saw it bob."
"Yah! It doan't move."
Dick glanced at Dave, whose face was inscrutable, and then the bladder seemed to be motionless, and as if Tom's "bob" was all imagination. Once more it seemed to move slightly, but it was nothing more than the bait would cause.
"In wi' it, lads," cried Dave. "You, young Tom. I wean't stop. Ketch it as we go by."
Tom reached over and thrust in the hook, just catching the line as the trimmer seemed to be gliding away.
"Something on," he shouted, as he got hold of the line with his hands, and threw down the hook into the boat. For there was a strong sturdy strain upon the cord; and but for the progress of the boat being checked, either the line would have been broken, or Tom would have had to let go.
"Why, you've got hold of a stump!" cried Dick. "What shall we do, Dave--cat the line?"
"Howd on, lads, steady! Ah, that's moved him!"
For just then, in place of the steady strain, there were a series of short sharp snatches.
"Eel, eel!" cried Dick; and at the end of a few minutes' exciting play, a huge eel was drawn over the side of the boat, tied up in quite a knot, into which it had thrown itself just at the last.
"Coot the band close to his neb," [mouth or beak] said Dave, and this being done, and the line saved from tangling, the captive untwisted itself, and began to explore the bottom of the boat, a fine thick fellow nearly thirty inches long, and the possibility was that it might escape over the stern, till Dave put a stop to the prospect by catching it quickly, and before it could glide out of his hand, throwing it into the basket, where the pike resented its coming by an angry flapping of the tail.
"That's better," said Dick, placing the trimmer in the other basket. "I say, Dave, would a fellow like that bite?"
"Nigh tak' your finger off: they're as strong as strong. Say, lads, shall we go home now, or try the other ligger?"
"Oh, let's get the last!" cried Dick; "there may be something on it."
Dave nodded, and poled steadily over to where the last trimmer lay off the reedy point, and perfectly motionless, till they were within ten yards, when there was a heavy swirl on the water, and the bladder dived under, reappeared a couple of dozen yards away, and went off rapidly along beside the reed-bed.
"Is that another perch?" cried Tom, as Dave began to ply his pole rapidly, and the boat was urged on in pursuit.
"Nay, that's no perch," cried Dave, who for the first time looked interested. "It's a pike, and a good one."
"Think it's that monster that took down the duck?" cried Dick.
"Nay, lad, I d'know," said the decoy-man; "all I say is that it be a girt lungeing pike o' some kind."
Dave plied his pole, and the boys, in their excitement, turned each a hand into an oar, and swept it through the water as the pursuit was kept up, for the bladder went sailing away, then stopped, and as soon as the punt drew near was off again. Sometimes it kept to the surface, but now and then, when in places where Dave's pole would not touch the bottom, no sooner did the punt glide up, than there was an eddying swirl, and the bladder was taken down out of sight.
Once or twice Dick made a dash at it with the hook, but each time to miss, and they were led a pretty dance.
"He's a girt big un, lads, a very girt big un," said Dave, as he rested for a moment or two with the end of the pole in the water, waiting for the bladder to reappear, and then rowed the punt softly in the direction in which it was gliding. "Says, shall a give 'em up?"
"No, no," cried Dick. "Here, lend me the pole. I'll soon catch him."
Dave smiled, but did not give up the pole.
"Nay, lad, I'll ketch up to un. Wait a bit; fish'll be tired 'fore Dave Gittans."
The pursuit continued in the most exasperating way, and to an onlooker it would have been exceedingly absurd, since it seemed as if the man and his companions were off oh the great mere with its open spaces of water and islands of reeds, and lanes through them like so many little crooked canals, in pursuit of a white pig's-bladder tied round the middle to make it double. There it would lie till the boat neared, and then off it went with a skim that took it twenty, thirty, or forty yards. Next time the boat neared, instead of the skim it would begin to dance as if in mockery, bobbing down whenever Dick reached over with his hook, and always keeping out of his reach, just as if a mocking spirit directed all its movements and delighted in tantalising them. Again, after a long run over the deep water, it would be quite still, and the punt would be sent forward so cautiously that the capture seemed to be a moral certainty; but so sure as Dick crept to the extreme end of the punt and reached out, there was a tremor for an instant visible on the water and the bladder disappeared.
"He must be a monster!" cried Dick, whose face was scarlet. "Oh, Dave, do go more quietly this time!"
"Let me try!" cried Tom, making a snatch at the hook.
"No! I'll have him," said Dick. "I wouldn't miss this chance for the world!"
"Ay, I'll goo up quiet-like," said Dave, pausing to give himself an opium pill before resuming his task. "Yow be quicker this time, lad--a bold dash and you'll get him!"
The double-looking bladder seemed now to be quite divided in two, for the string had grown tighter in being drawn through the water, and as it lay quite still, about forty yards from them, it looked a task that a child might have done, to go up to it softly and hook the string.
"Now!" said Dave as he propelled the boat stern foremost by working the pole behind as a fish does its tail.
"Oh! do get it this time, Dick!" panted Tom as he knelt in the boat.
"One quick dash, Mester Dick, and you hev it!"
Dick did not answer, but lay prone upon his chest well out over the stern of the boat, holding on with one hand, the hook stretched out over the water, ready, his heart beating and his eyes glittering with excitement.
As the punt glided on Dick's face was reflected in the dark amber-tinted water--for there was not a ripple made--but he saw nothing of the glassy surface; his eyes were riveted upon the gleaming white bladder, into which the string had cut so deeply.
Another moment or two and he would be within striking distance, but a glance at his hook showed that, perhaps from looseness in its socket, the point was turned too much away.
He had barely time to turn it, as the moment arrived to strike, and strike he did, just as the bladder was plunging down.
A yell came from behind him from Dave!
A groan from Tom!
Dick rose up in the boat with a feeling of misery and disappointment, such as he had never before experienced, for he was perfectly conscious of what he had done. The bladder had been snatched under so quickly, that when he struck, instead of the hook going beneath and catching the string, the point had entered the bladder. He had even felt the check, and knew that he had torn a hole in the side.
"Hey, but yow've done it now, Mester Dick!" said Dave, laying the pole across the boat and sitting down.
"I couldn't help it, Dave. I did try so hard!" pleaded the lad.
"And you wouldn't let me try--obstinate!" grumbled Tom.
"Deal better you'd have done it, wouldn't you!" cried Dick in an exasperated tone.
"Done it better than that!" cried Tom hotly.
"Nay, yow wouldn't, lad," said Dave coolly. "It's a girt big un, and he's too sharp for us. Well, it's getting on and we may as well go home. He's gone! Blether wean't come to the top no more!"
"But will he take a bait again, Dave?" said Dick; "I mean, if we come another time."
"Will yow want any dinner to-morrow, lad?" said Dave, laughing. "Ay, he'll tek a bait again, sure enough, and we'll hev him some day! Theer, it's getting late; look at the starnels sattling down on the reeds!"
He pointed to the great clouds of birds curving round in the distance as he stooped and picked up the pole, ready to send the punt homewards, for the evening was closing in, and it would be dark before they reached the shore.
"What's that?" cried Tom suddenly, as he swept the surface of the water, and he pointed to a faint white speck about twenty yards away.
"Hey? Why, it is!" cried Dave. "Tek the hook again, Mester Dick, lad; there's a little wind left yet in th' blether, and it's coom oop!"
"Let me!" cried Tom.
"Shall I do it, lad?" said Dave.
"No, let me try this once!" cried Dick. "Or, no; you try, Tom!"
Tom snatched at the staff of the hook, but offered it back to his companion.
"No, Dick," he said; "you missed, and you've a right to try again!"
"No, you try!" said Dick hurriedly, as he thrust his hands in his pockets to be out of temptation.
"Nay, let Mester Dick hev one more try!" cried Dave; and the lad took the staff, went through all his former manoeuvres, struck more deeply with the staff, and this time, as he felt a check, he twisted the hook round and round in the string, and felt as if it would be jerked out of his hand.
"Twist un again, mun! Get well twissen!" cried Dave; and as the lad obeyed, the punt, already in motion, was for a short distance literally drawn by the strong fish in its desperate efforts to escape.
"Let me come this time, young Tom Tallington!" cried Dave.
"No, no; I'll help!" cried Tom.
"But I shouldn't like you to lose this un, lads. Theer, go on and charnsh it. You get well howd o' the band while young squire untwisses the hook. He's 'bout bet out now and wean't mak' much of a fight!"
Tom obeyed, and Dick, who was trembling with excitement, set the hook at liberty.
Meanwhile the fish was struggling furiously at the end of some fifteen feet of stout line; but the fight had been going on some time now, and at the end of a few minutes, as Dave manoeuvred the punt so as to ease the strain on the line, Tom found that he could draw the captive slowly to the surface.
"Tak' care, Mester Dick, throost hook reight in his gills, and in wi' un at onced."
Dick did not reply, but stood ready, and it was well that he did so, for as Tom drew the fish right up, such a savage, great, teeth-armed pair of jaws came gaping at him out of the water, that he started and stumbled back, dragging the hook from its hold.
But before he could utter a cry of dismay there was a tremendous sputter and splash, for Dick had been in time, and, as the fish-hook was breaking out, had securely caught the pike with the gaff.
The next moment, all ablaze in the evening light with green, and gold, and silver, and cream, the monster was flopping on the floor of the punt, trying frantically to leap out, and snapping with its jaws in a way that would have been decidedly unpleasant for any hand that was near.
The monster's career was at an end, though. A heavy blow on the head stunned it, and a couple more put it beyond feeling, while the occupants of the boat stood gazing down at their prize, as grand a pike as is often seen, for it was nearly four feet long, and well-fed and thick.
"Look at his teeth!" cried Tom excitedly; "why, there's great fangs full half an inch long."
"Yes, and sharp as knives!" cried Dick.
"Ay, he've hed nice games in his time here, lads!" said Dave, grinning with pleasure. "I'm straange and glad you've caught him. Many's the time I've sin him chase the fish and tak' down the water-rats. One day he hed howd of a big duck. He got it by its legs as I was going along, and the poor thing quacked and tried to fly, but down it went d'reckly. Big pike like this un'll yeat owt."
"And if he got hold of them with these hooked teeth, Dave, they wouldn't get away."
"Nay, lad, that they wouldn't. He'd take a pike half as big as hissen, if he got the charnsh."
"Well, he won't kill any more," cried Dick triumphantly. "Oh, Tom, if we had lost him after all!"
"I'd reyther hev lost a whole tak' o' duck, lads," said Dave, shaking each of his companions' hands warmly. "There'll be straange games among all the fishes and birds here, because he's ketched. Look at him! Theer's a pike, and they're a trying to dree-ern all the watter off from the fens and turn 'em into fields. Hey, lads, it'll be a straange bad time for us when it's done."
"But do you think it will take off all the water, and spoil the fen, Dave?" said Tom.
"Nay, lad, I don't," said Dave with sudden emphasis. "It's agen nature, and it wean't be done. Hey and we must be getting back."
He plunged the pole into the water as he spoke, and it seemed to grow blacker and blacker, as they talked pike over their capture, till the shore was reached, and the prize borne to Hickathrift's workshop, where a pair of big rough scales showed that within a few ounces the pike weighed just what Dave guessed, to wit two stone and a half old Lincolnshire weight of fourteen pounds to the stone, or thirty-five pounds. _