that seals make first-rate beef--leastwise to them as ain't partic'lar--
so we'll set about catchin' of 'em at once."

"But how?" asked Stubbs, becoming interested under the influence of his
comrade's earnest enthusiasm.

"This is how. Look there, d'ye see that small island lyin' close to the
shore with several seals' heads appearin' in the channel between?"

"Yes--what then?"

"Well, then, what I mean to do is to have nets made with big meshes, an'
set 'em between that island an' the shore, and see what comes of it."

"But where's the twine to come from?" objected Stubbs.

"Twine! Ain't there no end o' cordage swashin' about the _Water
Wagtail_ ever since she went ashore? An' haven't we got fingers? Can't
we undo the strands an' make small cord? Surely some of ye have picked
oakum enough to understand what that means!"

Stubbs was convinced. Moreover, the rest of the men were so convinced
that the plan promised well, when it was explained to them, that they
set to work with alacrity, and, in a brief space of time, made a strong
net several fathoms in length, and with meshes large enough to permit of
a seal's head squeezing through.

No sooner was it ready than the whole community went down to see it set.
Then, with difficulty, they were prevented from waiting on the shore to
watch the result. In the afternoon, when Grummidge gave permission,
they ran down again with all the eagerness of children, and were
rewarded by finding six fat seals entangled in the net and inflated
almost to bursting with the water that had drowned them.

Thus they were supplied with "beef," and, what was of almost equal
importance, with oil, which enabled them to fry the leanest food,
besides affording them the means of making a steadier and stronger light
than that of the log fires to which they had hitherto been accustomed.

It may be here remarked by captious readers, if such there be, that this
cannot appropriately be styled the beginning of that grand sealing, or,
as it is now styled, "swile huntin'," industry, which calls into action
every year hundreds of steam and other vessels, and thousands of men,
who slaughter hundreds of thousands of seals; which produces mints of
money, and in the prosecutions of which men dare the terrible dangers of
ice-drift and pack, in order that they may bludgeon the young seals upon
the floes.

As well might it be objected that a tiny rivulet on the mountain-top is
not the fountain-head