was a simple matter, and soon they were
putting a single reef in the mainsail and getting ready to weigh anchor.

Joe was curious. These were undoubtedly the oyster-beds; but how under the
sun, in that wild sea, were they to get oysters? He was quickly to learn
the way. Lifting a section of the cockpit flooring, French Pete brought
out two triangular frames of steel. At the apex of one of these triangles;
in a ring for the purpose, he made fast a piece of stout rope. From this
the sides (inch rods) diverged at almost right angles, and extended down
for a distance of four feet or more, where they were connected by the
third side of the triangle, which was the bottom of the dredge. This was
a flat plate of steel over a yard in length, to which was bolted a row of
long, sharp teeth, likewise of steel. Attached to the toothed plate, and
to the sides of the frame was a net of very coarse fishing-twine, which
Joe correctly surmised was there to catch the oysters raked loose by the
teeth from the bottom of the bay.

A rope being made fast to each of the dredges, they were dropped overboard
from either side of the _Dazzler_. When they had reached the bottom, and
were dragging with the proper length of line out, they checked her speed
quite noticeably. Joe touched one of the lines with his hands, and could
feel plainly the shock and jar and grind as it tore over the bottom.

"All in!" French Pete shouted.

The boys laid hold of the line and hove in the dredge. The net was full
of mud and slime and small oysters, with here and there a large one. This
mess they dumped on the deck and picked over while the dredge was dragging
again. The large oysters they threw into the cockpit, and shoveled the
rubbish overboard. There was no rest, for by this time the other dredge
required emptying. And when this was done and the oysters sorted, both
dredges had to be hauled aboard, so that French Pete could put the
_Dazzler_ about on the other tack.

The rest of the fleet was under way and dredging back in similar fashion.
Sometimes the different sloops came quite close to them, and they hailed
them and exchanged snatches of conversation and rough jokes. But in the
main it was hard work, and at the end of an hour Joe's back was aching
from the unaccustomed strain, and his fingers were cut and bleeding from
his clumsy handling of the sharp-edged oysters.

"Dat 's right," French Pete said approvingly. "You learn queeck. Vaire
soon you know h