“Three, sir.”
“You can’t have more than that for your lunch, you understand, unless you get more. Now don’t be in my way.” And again he doubled his corpulent body to work. But I was right in thinking that he could not keep himself in the same posture for another three minutes. Now I passed on to Tomo-chan. Poor Tomo-chan had only two! She was all but weeping for the bad luck. She, however, looked comforted to find that I did not fare much better. But what was her surprise when I threw all my clams in with hers!
“Keep them, Tomo-chan. I am going to fish with this net.” Her eyes looked gratitude. “Oh, thank you ever so much. But I’ll catch fish with you if I don’t fare any better.”
“All right.” And I went on thinking that if I could not get clams for my lunch, I should have fish to the envy of all. I looked among the rocks for some shadow of them. Surely I saw something shooting away now and then, without waiting for me to find out whether it was large or not. But anyway, they were all right if I could get a number of them, and so I fixed my net and tried to drive them into it, little thinking that the very whiteness of my net—I appropriated a net made for the purpose of keeping flies off—scared every fish. I got irritated with my ill-success, and finally splashed the water vigorously to punish them.
By this time my uncle had quit his work, as I predicted, and was engaging with hen-like anxiety to look after his flock. He kept his eyes on them, and would go like a shepherd dog to fetch any one who went too far away from the boat. He looked at his watch to see if the tide was not turning on, and went occasionally to the boat to see if anything was lost. He seemed to like this kind of work better than clam-fishing, for I could see even from a distance that he was pulling at his beard, as he was wont to do when his mind was occupied. Presently he heard me splashing the water far away, and started at once to bring me back. Time could not be lost, he must have thought, but I did not know anything of his approach till I heard a shriek behind me. Surprised, I turned round when I found him just recovering his balance and looking intently into the water.
“What’s matter, uncle?” I hastened toward him.
“Stop. A flatfish somewhere.” Seeing me with a net, he exclaimed, “Quick with your net.”
“A flatfish?” I queried in excitement.
“Yes, I stepped on him and he gave me a slip.... Oh, here he is; cover him quick!” And we covered him with my net without much ado. I was surprised to see how easily I could catch him compared with other fish that I had tried for. As I raised him, however, I found he was already crushed dead under my uncle’s weight!
But it was a large one, and I could have an honorable share at lunch.