He got out the sounding-line again, and Elsa steered the boat while Alec took soundings. Almost uniformly the depth continued at eighteen feet.
"We must have come five hundred yards," said Alec. "We'll try it here." He stopped the engine, and they strained twenty-five quarts of water from the bottom. When it had settled sufficiently, Alec worked the sediment out on a watch crystal. Then he began to count.
"Now what do you think of that!" he cried, when he had finished his count. "Only twenty-five larvæ I could be sure of in all that water! It's just as the book says. The fry are all collected in that slick. That bed of Hardy's must be one of the very best in the Bay. If only Jim still owned it!"
By this time it was long past the dinner hour, but the two had been so intent on their work that they had paid no attention to the time. Now, however, Alec suddenly awoke to the fact that he was ravenous. "I could eat a shark," he cried. "Let's go to the shore at once and have dinner."
He started the engine and they headed for the point where they had previously eaten. With the tide so well up, they had little difficulty in getting ashore. Alec gathered dry sticks and fixed the fireplace, while Elsa unpacked the basket Mrs. Rumford had given them. Among other things, there was a fine cut of beefsteak.
"Oh boy!" exclaimed Alec, when he saw it. "I'm so hungry I could eat it raw."
His fire was already ablaze. He let it burn down to coals, then added a few twigs at a time. Over this tiny flame Elsa cooked the steak in a little skillet. Alec, meantime, brought water from the Osprey and got the coffee ready to cook the instant the steak was done. He also placed a heavy blanket on the ground under the sheltering tree, and here they spread out all the good things Mrs. Rumford had given them. There were pickles and hard-boiled eggs, and sandwiches, and cakes, not to mention bread and butter and jelly, the steak and the coffee.
"Gracious!" said Alec, when the basket was at last empty. "Your mother must have thought she was packing lunch for a regiment."
"She has seen boys eat before," said Elsa mischievously.