ned, with the ready smile that crinkled the
corners of his eyes. "That is a compliment indeed."

The surf only moaned to-day over Gull Rocks, for there was little
ground swell. The waves heaved in, with an oily, leisurely motion and,
it being full sea, merely broke with a streak of foam marking the ugly
reef below.

A little to the seaward side of the apex of the reef Betty, at a word
from Lawford, cast loose the sheet and then dropped the anchor.

"Mussel beds all about here," explained the young man to his guest.
"That means good feeding for the blackfish. Can't catch them anywhere
save on a rock bottom, or around old spiles or sunken wrecks. Better
let me rig your line, Miss Grayling. You'll need a heavier sinker than
that for outside here--ten ounces at least. You see, the tug of the
undertow is considerable."

Betty Gallup, looking every whit the "able seaman" now, rigged her own
line quickly and opened the bait can.

"Land sakes!" she exclaimed. "Where'd you get scallop bait this time
o' year, Lawford? You must be a houn' dog for smellin' 'em out."

"I am," he laughed. "I know that tautog will leave mussels for scallop
any time. And we'll have the eyes of the scallops fried for lunch.
They're all ready in the cabin."

The pulpy, fat bodies of the scallop--a commercial waste--were
difficult to hang upon the short, blunt hooks; but Lawford seemed to
have just the knack of it. He showed Louise how to lower the line to
the proper depth, advising:

"Remember, you'll only feel a nibble. The tautog is a shy fish. He
doesn't swallow hook, line, and sinker like a hungry cod. You must
snap him quick when he takes the hook, for his mouth is small and you
must get him instantly--or not at all."

Louise found this to be true. Her hooks were "skinned clean" several
times before she managed to get inboard her first fish.

She learned, too, why the tackle for tautog has to be so strong. Once
hooked, the fish darts straight down under rocks or into crevasses, and
sulks there. He comes out of that ambush like a chunk of lead.

The party secured a number of these dainty fish; but to lend variety to
the day's haul they got the anchor up after luncheon and ran down to
the channels there to chum for snappers. Lawford had brought along
rods; for to catch the young and gamey bluefish one must use an
entirely different rigging from that used for tautog.

Louise admired the rod Lawford himself used. She kn