"He's down; I can't stir him," said Smith. "He's down like a salmon!"
She linked her hands behind her back. "What is to be done?" she asked calmly.
"If you would gather a handful of those pebbles and throw one at a time into the pool where he is lying——"
Before he finished speaking she had knelt, filled her palms with golden gravel, and stood ready at the water's edge.
"Now?" she nodded, inquiringly.
"Yes, one at a time; try to hit him."
The first pebble produced no effect; neither did the second, nor yet the third.
"Throw a handful at him," he suggested, and braced himself for the result. A spray of gravel fell; the great fish sulked motionless.
"There's a way—" began Smith, feeling in his pockets for his key-ring. It was not there.