"What a cut-throat game," ejaculated the would-be buyer. "If a man bought a place he'd have to watch it all the time, then?"
"Suah, sah."
"Thank you," was the reply, "I'll take some place in shallow water where I can build a house and hire some fellow to watch it and work it."
"Ain' no trouble hyeh," the boatman said, shrugging his shoulders, "ev'body wo'k his own patch."
"But how do you get the sponges?" was the query. "You have to dive for them, don't you?"
The boatman shook his head.
"Sometimes, if de wateh's mo' than fifty feet deep. Not of'en. See, Ah show you."
He reached under the forward thwart and pulled out a light three-pronged hook and fitted it to a jointed pole, screwing the two sections together so that it made one long pole of about twenty-four feet in length. He took the water glass and rowed the boat until it was directly over a sponge.
"Yo' all keep de boat dere a li'l while," he said to Colin, and the lad took the oars.