"Wait, my good woman, we have not paid you," said Frank. But there was no answer.
"We seem to have frightened her," said Dick.
Frank put a shilling under the door, and they went away laughing heartily. Their next proceeding was to look about the damp grass and pick up the lob-worms, which were about in great numbers. When they had each collected a large number they returned to the yacht, and by Frank's directions threaded the worms on to the worsted, lengthways, with the needle they had used for sniggling. In this way they made three large bunches of worm-covered worsted. These bunches they weighted with a stone, and tied strong lengths of cord to them.
"Now," said Frank, "we can begin to bob. This is the way, Dick:—let the bunch sink to the bottom and then keep the line taut. Let it lie there for some time, and when you feel some sharp quick tugs, it is the eels biting at it. Then haul it quietly on board and shake the eels off. There, I can feel them on my line now."
"And I at mine," said Jimmy.
"And I too," said Dick.
"Then wait five minutes, and haul on board."
At the end of five minutes they each hauled their lines quietly on board, and on Frank's were no less than six eels, their teeth entangled in the worsted. On Jimmy's there were two, and on Dick's three. They shook the eels on to the deck. Jimmy's two at once wriggled themselves off back into the water, and Frank and Dick had hard work to keep theirs from doing the same, until Jimmy got out the bucket they used for washing the deck, and in this they safely deposited their captives.
"This is not bad fun," said Dick, as he brought up three more eels, one of them a large one.
"No, is it?" answered Jimmy, as he followed Dick's example.