Grandfather lived in a large town, a little way beyond the farm where
the twins lived. He did not often have a holiday, because he carried
milk to the doors of the people in the town, every morning early. Some
time I will tell you how he did it; but I must not tell you now,
because if I do, I can't tell you about their going fishing.

This morning, grandfather carried his rod and the lunch-basket. Kit
and Kat carried the basket of worms between them, and their rods over
their shoulders, and they were all three very happy.

_On the Dyke_

They walked along ever so far, beside the canal. Then they turned to
the left and walked along a path that ran from the canal across the
green fields to what looked like a hill.

But it wasn't a hill at all, really, because there aren't any hills in
Holland. It was a long, long wall of earth, very high--oh, as high as
a house, or even higher! And it had sloping sides.

There is such a wall of earth all round the country of Holland, where
the twins live. There has to be a wall, because the sea is higher than
the land. If there were no walls to shut out the sea, the whole
country would be covered with water; and if that were so, then there
wouldn't be any Holland, or any Holland twins, or any story. So you
see that it was very lucky that the wall was there. They called it a
dyke.

Grandfather and Kit and Kat climbed the dyke. When they reached the
top, they sat down a few minutes to rest and look at the great blue
sea. Grandfather sat in the middle, with Kit on one side, and Kat on
the other; and the basket of worms and the basket of lunch were there,
too.

They saw a great ship sail slowly by, making a cloud of smoke.

"Where do the ships go, grandfather?" asked Kit.

"To England, and America, and China, and all over the world," said
grandfather.

"Why?" asked Kat. Kat almost always said "Why?" and when she didn't,
Kit did.

"To take flax and linen from the mills of Holland to make dresses for
little girls in other countries," said grandfather.

"Is that all?" asked Kit.

"They take cheese and herring, bulbs and butter, and lots of other
things besides, and bring back to us wheat and meal and all sorts of
good things from the lands across the sea."

"I think I'll be a sea captain when I'm big," said Kit.

"So will I," said Kat.

"Girls can't," said Kit.

But grandfather shook his head and said:

"You can't tell what a girl may be by the time she's four feet a