“Oh, we’ll believe you; won’t we, Mas’r Harry?” said Tom grinning.
“Well, I shall,” I replied, and the sailor went on.
“When the water began to get low in that pool we used to see that there were fish in it, and at last there was a regular set out catching of them in the bits of holes where the water had left them.”
“Oh, I say, Mas’r Harry, don’t I wish we had been there!” cried Tom.
“Ay, it was fun, my lad, for we got scores of tench, some of ’em three and four pound weight, and there was six or seven carp ever so much bigger. One of ’em weighed nine pounds.”
“That was a fine un,” said Tom.
“But the biggest fish we got was a pike, and he was the only one there. That chap must have eat up all that had been before him, and he weighed three-and-thirty pound. He was close upon four foot long, and a gentleman there said if he had been in good condition he would have weighed five-and-forty, for he was as thin as a lath.”
“I should have liked to see that fish,” said Tom.
“Ay, it was a fine one. We boys daren’t tackle him, he was so big,” continued the sailor; “and then out of the mud they got bushels of great eels, some of the biggest I ever saw.”
“Did you though?” said Tom.