All this took up the best part of the afternoon; for he had to
hunt about before he could get a couple of stout poles; and he
had to bargain with the blacksmith for a lump of lead. Then he
walked along to the point where the other MacNicols were busy
fishing.
They had been lucky with their lines and bait. On the rocks
beside them lay two or three small codfish, a large flounder, two
good-sized lythe, and nearly a dozen saithe. Rob washed them
clean, put a string through their gills, and marched off with
them to the village.
He felt no shame in trying to sell fish: was it not the whole
trade of the village? So he walked into the grocer's shop.
"Will you buy some fish?" said he; "they're fresh."
The grocer looked at them.
"What do you want?"
"A ball of twine."
"Let me tell you this, Rob," said the grocer severely, "that a
lad in your place should be thinking of something else than
flying a kite."
"I don't want to fly a kite," said Rob, "I want to mend a net."
"Oh, that is quite different," said the grocer. So Rob had his
ball of twine--and a very large one it was.
Pages:
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155