at all to be despised. We made quick work of our
lunch, however, being anxious to start off in the boat which was waiting
for us down by the jetty, where a bluff, jolly old fisherman was ready
with bait and sea-lines. Strange to say, it was the first time I had
ever been out in a rowing-boat. Although I had paid several visits to
the sea-side with Aunt Agatha and my cousins, we had generally kept to
the pier and promenade, and had never ventured upon the briny deep in
anything of less size than an Isle of Wight steamer. It was a delightful
novelty to find myself so close to the waves that I could hold my hand
in the rushing water, and could almost catch the long trails of sea-weed
and the great jelly-fishes which floated every now and then past our
boat. We rowed out a short distance into the bay, and then cast anchor,
as our boatmen assured us that it was a good spot to let down the lines,
and we should be certain of having plenty of bites. There was a stiff
breeze blowing, and the white caps on the distant waves looked like wild
sea-horses chasing each other over the foam; the tide was coming in
fast, and our boat swayed to and fro like a cork upon the heavy swell.

"Isn't it jolly?" said George; "I like to be 'rocked in the cradle of
the deep'. I mean to be a sailor when I grow up; there's no life like 'a
life on the ocean wave'. Hullo, Phil! You don't seem as though you were
enjoying yourself! Just look at her, Mater! Her face is the colour of a
boiled turnip!"

I certainly was _not_ enjoying myself, for the horrible swinging motion
had brought on that peculiar complaint which the French call "mal de
mer", and I could only gasp out an entreaty to be taken back anywhere so
that I might find my feet upon dry land again.

"Bless the child! I didn't think such a little would upset her!" said
the squire, whose own family were all excellent sailors. "Wind up the
lines, and we'll row back to the jetty and land her. She'll have to
amuse herself on the beach as best she can."

"You'll never make a fisherwoman after all!" laughed Dick, as he helped
me to jump out on to the narrow landing-place. "I vowed you should catch
at least ten flukes this afternoon, and you've given in before you've
had a single bite!"

"I don't care if I never see a fish again!" I said. "You're welcome to
my share of them all, and can eat them too, if you like. I'm only too
glad to be on terra firma once more, and I wouldn't stay in that little
w