Rob had been conscious for some time past of sundry faint sensations;
now he knew that they meant hunger, and as they left the hut they had
made he did not look forward with any great feelings of appetite to a
meal of nuts.

But it soon became evident that Shaddy had other ideas, for he went to
the fire again to obtain a hardened piece of wood for fashioning into a
hook, when an idea struck Rob, and he turned to their guide eagerly.

"Did you ever sniggle eels?" he said.

"Did I ever what, sir?"

"Sniggle eels."

Shaddy shook his head.

"No. I've bobbed for 'em, and set night lines, and caught 'em in
baskets and eel traps after storms. Is either of them sniggling?"

"No," cried Rob eagerly, "and you might catch fish perhaps that way.
I'll show you; I mean, I'll tell you. You take a big needle, and tie a
piece of strong thin silk to it right in the middle."

"Ay, I see," said Shaddy.

"Then you push the needle right into a big worm, and stick the point of
the needle into a long thin pole, and push the worm into a hole in a
bank where eels are."

"Yes, I see."

"Then one of the eels swallows the worm, and you pull the line."

"And the worm comes out."

"No, it does not," said Rob. "As it's tied in the middle, it is pulled
right across the eel's throat, and you can catch it without being
obliged to use a hook."

"That's noo and good," said Shaddy eagerly. "I could fish for doradoes
that way, but I've got no needle."

"Wouldn't this do, Shaddy?" said the lad, and he took a steel
needle-like toothpick out of the handle of his pocket-knife.

"The very thing!" cried Shaddy, slapping his leg, and, after tying his
newly made line to the little steel implement in the way described, he
bound over it with a silken thread a portion of the refuse of the fish
they had previously caught. Going to his former place, he cast in his
line, and in five minutes it was fast to a good-sized fish, which after
a struggle was landed safely, while before long another was caught as
well.

"Man never knows what he can do till he tries," cried Shaddy merrily.
"Why, we can live like princes, gentlemen. No fear of starving! Fish
as often as we like to catch 'em, and then there's birds and other
things to come. You don't feel dumpy now, Mr Rob, do you?"

"I don't know, Shaddy. I'm very hungry and tired."

"Wait till we've had supper, my lad, and then we'll see what we can do
about making a bow and arrows."

As he spok