lapping its
tail and opening and closing its pincers, held aloft in the most
aggressive way.

"Ah!" said the master thoughtfully, "that won't do. We must have gone a
little too near the tail of the rocks when we tacked."

"I thought you was going pretty close," said Josh, "but I said as you
know'd best."

The boxes were dragged forward again, and soles and plaice were thrust
in, flapping and springing in their captors' hands. Then the whiting
were sorted into their home, the sundry fish that were worth saving
placed in another box, and once more the visitors were allowed to have
their turn in the heap, till, amidst such an embarrassment of riches, as
the French call it, Dick stopped short with a laughing, puzzled face, to
rub his ear.

"There's such a lot," he cried. "There's so much to see, I don't know
what to take first, and what to leave."

It resulted in nearly everything going overboard,--tiny fish entangled
in sea-weed, curious stones, dog-fish, and skates' eggs, barnacles,
pieces of hard English sponge, bones of cuttle-fish, and scallop and
oyster-shells; but one basket was set aside for Mr Temple by Will, who
stored in it a fair number of delicious oysters and scallops, whose
beautiful shells were bearded with lovely weeds like ferns or plumes of
asparagus, while one that gaped open showed his flesh to be of the most
brilliant orange scarlet hue.

And so it went on hour after hour, the fresh breeze making the trawling
most successful, and at every haul there were so many treasures that at
last Dick gave up collecting in despair, confiding his opinion to his
brother that the happiest life anybody could lead must be that of the
master of a trawler.

Towards four o'clock they were sent ashore with Josh and Will, loaded
with bucket and basket of the treasures they had found, including a
handsome lot of fish for Mr Temple, with the master's compliments.

"Why, Taff," said Dick suddenly, "you were going to be sea-sick, weren't
you, when we started off?"

"Yes," said Arthur uneasily, and then smiling, he added, "I forgot all
about it."

"Forgot all about it!" said Dick. "I should think so. Why, it wouldn't
matter how bad a fellow were: a day's trawling would make him well."

CHAPTER THIRTY.

TAFF OBJECTS TO EARLY RISING AND BEING TREATED AS A SEAL.

It wanted a perfectly calm day for the visit to the seal-cave, and this
was long in coming. There were plenty of fine days when the sun shone
b