“All right, Cap’n, thanks,” said Jack. Then he climbed up on the wharf and went off in search of bait. Ten minutes later he returned and aroused his chum.
“All hands on deck!” he cried, popping his head through the companionway door. “Come on, George. I’ve got the bait. Let’s go get ’em!”
The mate needed no second invitation. In less than sixty seconds he was hauling on the mainsail halyards, and soon the sloop was standing down the harbor, a picture of grace as she glided through the smooth water. There was a gentle northwesterly breeze which gave a bare ripple to the surface and sent the sloop along like some beautiful lazy bird with the red hue of dawn staining its wings. Both boys were looking forward enthusiastically to this treat, which they had promised themselves for some time. As soon as they reached the open sea a hand-line with a good heavy lead was dropped astern, and while Jack stood at the helm George squatted on the deck, facing the trailing wake, in which the bait danced sixty feet astern.
“Yell out the second you get a strike, and I’ll luff,” said Jack, with one eye on the sails and another on the intent figure of his chum.
“Aye, aye,” replied George, his face set with grim determination; for fishing, and especially bluefishing, was the particular joy of his life.
Straight to the south they ran, for a couple of miles, without getting a bite. Then Jack headed in the direction of Four Fathom Shoal, with similar results. Round came the sloop once more, the captain taking her over all the most likely fishing-grounds, and both the lads were beginning to think that the fish among which the Greenport man had had such excellent sport the previous day must be miles away by now.
“Luff!” George cried unexpectedly, at the top of his voice, as, with both hands, he steadied the trailing line.
Up into the wind came the Sea-Lark, shaking her sails as though indignant at being thus checked in the midst of her career, and George, with his teeth clenched, hung on but was unable to draw in a foot of line.
“What is it? A whale?” Jack exclaimed with delight, watching the straining line.
“No. A sardine!” replied George, jerkily, his eyes aflame with excitement. “Get that boat-hook ready. We’ll need a crane to lift this fellow out of the water.”