Arthur clung to the line with both hands in desperation; and it seemed to him that the great fish at the end of it was trying to draw his shoulders out of their sockets.

"It's too hard. It cuts my hands. It's horrible!"

"Let him go, then," said Josh laughing; "there's plenty of line. Let it run through your hands."

"It burns them," cried Arthur desperately. "Ah!" he exclaimed with a sigh of delight, "it's gone!"

"Haul in the line, then!" said Josh grimly, while Will, who knew what it meant, touched d.i.c.k on the shoulder so that he should watch.

Arthur began to haul in the slack line for a few feet, and then he shouted again:

"Here's another one bigger than the last!" he cried. "I cannot hold it."

"Let it go, then," said Josh; and Arthur once more slackened the line, which ran fast for a yard, and then fell loose.

"He's gone now!" said Arthur, hauling in the line; and then in a tone of voice so despairing that his brother burst into a hearty laugh: "Here's another at it now!"

"I say, what a place this is, Taff!" cried d.i.c.k. "Here, let me help you!"

"No, no," cried Josh; "you let him ketch the conger himself. Slacken, my lad."

As if moved by a spring, or disciplined to obey the slightest word of command, Arthur slackened the line.

"Now, then, haul again," cried Josh; and the boy pulled in the line eagerly, as if moved by the idea that the sooner he got the hook out of the water the less likelihood would there be of its being seized by one or other of the monsters that inhabited the rocky hole.

"He has got it again!" cried Arthur in tones of anguish; "he'll pull me in!"

"Oh, no, he won't; you're a-going to pull him out, if he don't mind his eye," said Josh st.u.r.dily. "You've got some brains, young gentleman, and he arn't."

"But there must be a swarm there after my bait," pleaded Arthur.

"Not there," cried Josh. "There's one got it."

"But I've had three or four on, and they've gone again."

"Oh, no! you haven't," said Josh; "conger eels often do like that. You pull hard; he pulls hard and tries to get to the bottom. You slack the line, and as there's n.o.body pulling up, he comes to see what's the matter. Now, slacken!"

Arthur let the line run.

"Now haul again."

The boy drew in the line, and gained nearly twice as much as he had let out before there was a tremendous drag again, and as Arthur held on with both hands his arms quivered.

"Ease him a little--now pull--ease again--now pull!" cried Josh, over and over, till, giving and taking like this, Arthur had drawn the heavy lead nearly to the surface of the water, and for a moment he thought the dark little object going here and there was the eel; but directly after he saw a great wavy blue-black line some feet down, and that all at once turned to one that was creamy white, then dark, then light again, as the conger writhed over and over.

"I've got one too!" cried d.i.c.k; and his attention, like that of Will, was taken from what went on upon the starboard side of the boat, leaving Arthur to the care of Josh.

"Josh!--please," faltered Arthur, as he clung to the line in an agony of dread, too much alarmed now even to let go. "Josh--pray--pray cut the line!"

"No, no, no! you don't mean that," whispered back Josh encouragingly.

"You mean get my little axe, and kill my gentleman as soon as he's aboard."

"Yes, yes. No, no," whispered Arthur. "Pray, pray, don't bring that horrible thing into the boat!"

"Not till he's dead, you mean," said Josh, in a low voice, so that d.i.c.k and Will could not hear. "You're not scared of a gashly old conger like that? You hang on to the line, my lad. You've got plenty of pluck, only you arn't used to it. Now, you see, ease him a bit."

Arthur involuntarily slackened the line, and the eel ceased its backward drag and swam up.

"Now, haul again--just a bit," said Josh, standing there with the gaff in his perfect hand, keen axe in the deformed.

Arthur obeyed and dragged the writhing serpentine creature close to the surface. Then, quick as thought, Josh had the great snaky fish by the head with his short sharp gaff-hook, drew it over the gunwale, and before Arthur could realise what was done the axe had descended with a dull thud, and Josh dragged the quivering half inert conger over the side and forward, clear of the line and away from Arthur.

"There!" cried Josh, as he cleverly extricated the hook with the disgorger; "you come and look at him, Master Arthur. He can't bite now, and I'm holding him down."

There was so much quiet firmness in the fisherman's words that Arthur felt himself constrained to go forward and look at the great snaky fish as it heaved and curved its springy body in the bottom of the boat.

"A reg'lar good fat one," said Josh. "She be a bit ugly, sure enough, and I've seen many a boy in my time scared by the gashly things. It was your first one, Master Arthur, and you caught him, and I say as you warn't a bit scared."

"I--I couldn't help being a little afraid," said Arthur slowly; "but look! look! it's biting the rope."

"Ay, but it has no strength to bite now," said Josh. "There, we'll put um in the well, and let um lie there. You caught um--fine eight-and-thirty pound if it be an ounce. Now you shall catch another."

"What!" gasped Arthur.

"I say, now you shall catch another," said Josh st.u.r.dily, as he leaned over the side and washed disgorger, axe, and hook. "You won't mind half so much next time, and then your brother won't be able to crow over you."

"I don't want to catch any more, thank you," said Arthur.

"Oh, yes, you do," said Josh, in his quiet stubborn fashion. "Don't you say you don't. It won't be half so startling ketching the next one, and I've got a tender well-beaten bit of squid for the next bait--one as will tempt the biggest conger that is in the hole."

"No, no!" whispered Arthur. "I don't want to fish any more; I don't indeed."

"Hush!" whispered Josh; "you'll have them hear."

Arthur was silent directly, and just then his fright was at its height with the conger that d.i.c.k had hooked, and that Will gaffed and hauled in. For as Will struck at it with the conger-bat or club, instead of there coming a dull thud as the blow fell, there was the sharp tap of wood upon wood.

Will had missed this time, and the conger was apparently starting on a voyage of discovery about the boat.

Arthur shrank back, but before the fish could come his way and tangle the lines Will caught d.i.c.k's about a yard above the hook, dragged the fish towards the stern, and gave it four or five paralysing blows in succession, disabling it, so that he soon had the hook out, and he and d.i.c.k stood looking at each other and panting with excitement.

"Hor--hor--hor!" laughed Josh quietly as he seated himself on the thwart and leisurely began to pa.s.s the hook through the grey piece of tough soft cuttle-fish. "Look at 'em, Master Rawthur, there be a fuss over a conger not above half as big as ourn."

"It was ever so much stronger," cried d.i.c.k indignantly.

"Hear him, Mast Rorthur!" cried Josh. "Hor--hor--hor! There, go on, you two. We're going to give you a startler this time. There you are, sir," he whispered, holding up the bait for Arthur to see. "That's one as'll tempt um, and you see we'll have another big one before they know where they are. I say, you won't be scared of the next, will you, now?"

"I'll--I'll try not to be," whispered Arthur, drawing a long breath.

"Then you won't be," whispered Josh. "That's the way: in with the lead.