Then followed hake, haddock, more dog-fish, another skate, and then three more fine cod—one of them weighing at least ten pounds. By this time both the boat and the boys were wet and slimy so that Paul consented to have the dog-fish killed and sent to feed and fatten the future prey of the trawl. While the younger boys made way with the skates and other useless fish, Fred and the Captain continued to overhaul the trawl and rebait the hooks when necessary.
Suddenly, a rebellious thrashing and struggling attended the hauling in of one of the hooks and the boys saw a wriggling mass of coils being brought up from the blue-green depths.
“Jiminy crickets! It’s a sea-serpent!” yelled Dudley, his eyes as big as saucers.
“Is it, Captain?” shivered Paul, deliciously.
“We-ll, I shouldn’t wonder if it was,” answered the Captain, preparing to help Fred disengage the hook from an immense conger eel.
They tried to perform this operation outside of the boat but the resistance of the strong wrestler was so powerful that half of its length slid over the side into the boat even while the Captain and Fred worked to free it.
The new passenger had things his own way for a time after he shipped so that Mr. Remington had to join in the fray to assist in dispossessing the unwelcome stranger.
By the time the conger eel was disentangled from Bill’s legs, Paul and Dudley had laughed themselves so weak that they sat down upon the slippery mess of cod and haddock. They had laughed all too soon, however!
The eel, cut free from the hook, redoubled upon itself and lovingly entwined the two helpless boys in a close embrace. Well indeed was it that Mrs. Remington had insisted upon their wearing the rag-tag and bobtail attire that day!