“Ease him then, sir, and take it easy,” said Dick; “tire him quite out, and then haul in quickly.”
Bob Roberts obeyed, and to his intense delight, gradually hauled his fish to the surface, where he could not make out what it was by its shape, only that it was a blaze of blue, and gold, and silver, flashing in the sun.
“Hi, doctor! I’ve got such a beauty!” he shouted, dragging at the stout line, till with a rush he hoisted his fish on to the deck.
“Well, that’s a rum ’un, sir,” cried the sailor. “Why it’s a young sea sarpent.”
“What have you got?” said the doctor eagerly, as the lad hurried excitedly beneath the awning with his prize.
“I don’t know, doctor,” said the lad. “But look, Miss Linton—Miss Sinclair, isn’t it curious?”
The lad’s cheeks flushed, and his eyes sparkled with delight, as he held up by the line what seemed to be a good-sized fish, of five or six pounds’ weight, with a very long brilliantly-coloured eel twined tightly round and round it, in a perfect spiral, several feet in length.
“Why, you’ve caught a fish, boy,” said the doctor, examining the prize through his glasses, “and it has been seized and constricted by a sea snake. Dear me! bliss my soul! that’s very curious. Look here, Captain Smithers, and ladies. Gray, a fresh bucket of water. Most singular thing!”
“I thought he got precious heavy all at once, doctor,” said the lad, looking from one to the other. “That chap darted at him then.”
“Ye–es, I suppose so,” said the doctor. “Lovely colouring, to be sure! See how tightly it has constricted the fish, ladies. Just like a piece of woodbine round a stick, only the coils are more close.”