"I don't understand how you could find just this spot when it's impossible to see anything," Sidney said wonderingly, and Captain Eph replied in a tone of satisfaction:
"I reckon comin' out from the ledge has become what you might call second nature with me, seein's how I've been knockin' about here so long; but there ain't anything very astonishin' in findin' a shoal that stands close by a buoy, for a man's ears ought to be as good as his eyes. Howsomever, we're here, an' now it's our business to catch as many fish as we can. I'll bait your hook, Sonny, an' you're to let it down until you feel that the lead strikes bottom, then pull her up four or five feet an' wait till you get a good, strong jerk. After that it's a case of landin' your fish, or losin' it, cordin' to the amount of common sense you bring into play."
In less than five minutes Sidney had caught his first fish, and as he hauled it over the rail after considerable labor, during which Captain Eph watched him keenly, but without giving any advice, he decided that deep-sea fishing went ahead of any sport in which he had ever indulged.
"You're a born fisherman, an' no mistake, Sonny," Captain Eph said as he took the fish from the hook, and put on fresh bait. "Uncle Zenas couldn't have done any better, an' he kind'er prides himself on bein' a master hand at handlin' a hook. You've taken the first fish, an' I'm lookin' to see you come out high-line on this 'ere voyage."
After this, but little conversation was indulged in during the half hour which followed. The fish bit well, and it seemed to Sidney that they had taken all the light-house crew could eat in a month, when he saw Captain Eph raise his head suddenly as he peered into the fog.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Don't you hear anythin,' Sonny?"
"If you mean that pounding, I've been hearing it quite a while, and it sounds louder every minute."
"It's the paddle-wheel of a steamer, lad, an' what a craft of that kind is doin' 'round here beats me. She's comin' straight for us, countin' to leave the buoy to starboard, I reckon, an' if we only had my report here, what a great chance this would be to send it ashore!"
Now that he knew the cause of the thud-thud-thud which came across the waters, Sidney wondered why he had been so dull in recognizing it. He had often heard similar sounds when on the deck of his father's vessel, but then they were not so distinct or threatening as now, when he was nearer the surface of the sea.