traight while he slowly turned the staff round and round.

No one paid any heed to the imperious "Here!" so the lad shouted again:

"Hi! Here! You, sir!"

Josh looked up very deliberately, saw that the eyes of the stranger were
fixed upon Will, and looked down again.

"He's hailing o' you, my lad," he said in a gruff voice, just as the
stranger shouted again:

"Hi! Do you hear?"

Will looked up, took in the new-comer's appearance at a glance, and
said:

"Well, what is it?"

The new-comer frowned at this cool reply from a lad in canvas trousers
and blue jersey, which glittered with scales. The fisher-boy ought to
have said "Yes, sir," and touched his straw hat. Consequently his voice
was a little more imperious of tone as he said sharply:

"What are you doing?"

Will looked amused, and there was a slight depression at each corner of
his mouth as he said quietly:

"Baiting the line."

No "sir" this time, but the new-comer's curiosity was aroused, and he
said eagerly:

"Where's your rod?"

"Rod!" said Will, looking up once more, half puzzled. "Rod! Oh, you
mean fishing-rod, do you?"

"Of course--" _stupid_ the stranger was about to say, but he refrained.
"You don't suppose I mean birch rod, do you?"

"No," said Will, and he went on baiting his hooks. "We don't use
fishing-rods."

"Why don't you?"

"Why don't we!" said Will, with the dimples getting a little deeper on
either side of his mouth. "Why, because this line's about quarter of a
mile long, and it would want a rod as long, and we couldn't use it."

"Hor--hor--hor!" laughed Josh, letting his head go down between his
knees, and so disgusting the stranger that he turned sharply upon his
heel and strutted off, swinging a black cane with a silver top and silk
tassels to and fro, and then stopping in a very nonchalant manner to
take out a silver hunting watch and look at the time, at the same moment
taking care that Will should have a good view of the watch, and feel
envious if enviously inclined.

He walked along the pier to the very end, and Josh went on slowly
turning the staff, while Will kept baiting his hooks.

The next minute the boy was back, looking on in an extremely
supercilious way, but all the while his eyes were bright with interest;
and at last he spoke again in a consequential manner:

"What's that nasty stuff?"

"What nasty stuff?" replied Will, looking up again.

"That!" cried the stranger, pointing with his cane