this. I'm not sure but our best plan is to stay
right here."

Trot wasn't sure, either, when she thought of it in that light. After
awhile she made her way back to the sands again, and Cap'n Bill
followed her. As they sat down, the child looked thoughtfully at the
sailor's bulging pockets.

"How much food have we got, Cap'n?" she asked.

"Half a dozen ship's biscuits an' a hunk o' cheese," he replied. "Want
some now, Trot?"

She shook her head, saying:

"That ought to keep us alive 'bout three days if we're careful of it."

"Longer'n that, Trot," said Cap'n Bill, but his voice was a little
troubled and unsteady.

"But if we stay here we're bound to starve in time," continued the
girl, "while if we go into the dark hole--"

"Some things are more hard to face than starvation," said the
sailor-man, gravely. "We don't know what's inside that dark hole: Trot,
nor where it might lead us to."

"There's a way to find that out," she persisted.

Instead of replying, Cap'n Bill began searching in his pockets. He soon
drew out a little package of fish-hooks and a long line. Trot watched
him join them together. Then he crept a little way up the slope and
turned over a big rock. Two or three small crabs began scurrying away
over the sands and the old sailor caught them and put one on his hook
and the others in his pocket. Coming back to the pool he swung the hook
over his shoulder and circled it around his head and cast it nearly
into the center of the water, where he allowed it to sink gradually,
paying out the line as far as it would go. When the end was reached, he
began drawing it in again, until the crab bait was floating on the
surface.

Trot watched him cast the line a second time, and a third. She decided
that either there were no fishes in the pool or they would not bite the
crab bait. But Cap'n Bill was an old fisherman and not easily
discouraged. When the crab got away he put another on the hook. When
the crabs were all gone he climbed up the rocks and found some more.

Meantime Trot tired of watching him and lay down upon the sands, where
she fell fast asleep. During the next two hours her clothing dried
completely, as did that of the old sailor. They were both so used to
salt water that there was no danger of taking cold.

Finally the little girl was wakened by a splash beside her and a grunt
of satisfaction from Cap'n Bill. She opened her eyes to find that the
Cap'n had landed a silver-scaled fish weigh