Indeed, when the people
had gone away there was not a fish left except a dozen that Rob
had put into a can of water, to be given to the grocer as part
payment for the loan of the ropes.
"What do you make it altogether?" said Neil to Rob, who was
counting the money.
"Three shillings and ninepence."
"Three shillings and ninepence! Man, that's a lot! Will you put
it in the savings bank?"
"No, I will not," said Rob. "I'm not satisfied with the net,
Neil. We must have better ropes all the way round; and sinkers,
too."
IV.
One afternoon, about ten days afterward, they set out as usual.
They had earned more than enough to pay their landlady, the
tailor, and the schoolmaster; and every farthing beyond these
expenses they had spent on the net.
Well, on this afternoon, Duncan and Nicol were pulling away to
one of the small, quiet bays, and Rob was idly looking around
him, when he saw something on the surface of the sea at some
distance off that excited a sudden interest. It was what the
fishermen call "broken water,"--a seething produced by a shoal
of fish.
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