"It was all a mistake I assure you," Tom seemed to say. "I opened my mouth to yawn, you know, and——"
"Fred! Fred!" said Toddie, "tatch that naughty Tom and put him in the sea."
So Tom's doom was sealed at once.
He was caught, therefore, in the landing-net, carried away to the deeper water close by the rocks, and dropped into the sea.
And that was the last Toddie saw of her "dolly-fish."
"And now," said Frank, addressing Eean, "I know you have a story to tell. Do tell it, sir, and make it as dreadful as possible."
The fisherman laughed as he looked at Frank.
"I don't think," he said, "I must tell you anything very terrible; but if I tell you a story, I promise you it shall be a true one. And a true story is better than a terrible one. Ahem!"