266 HAULING IN THE NETS. [CHAP. vi. 



but as yet uncertain where to cast : they wait till they see 

 indications of fish in other nets. By and by we are ourselves 

 ready, the sinker goes splash into the water, the " dog" (a 

 large bladder, or inflated skin of some kind, to mark the far 

 end of the train) is heaved overboard, and the nets, breadth 

 after breadth, follow as fast as the men can pay them out 

 (each division being marked by a large painted bladder), till 

 the immense train sinks into the water, forming a perforated 

 wall a mile long and many feet in depth ; the " dog" and the 

 marking bladders floating and dipping in a long zigzag line, 

 reminding one of the imaginary coils of the great sea-serpent. 

 Wrapped in the folds of a sail and rocked by the heaving 

 waves we tried in vain to snatch a brief nap, though those 

 who are accustomed to such beds can sleep well enough in a 

 herring-boat. The skipper, too, slept with one eye open ; for 

 the boat being his property, and the risk all his, he required 

 to look about him, as the nets are apt to become entangled 

 with those belonging to other fishermen, or to be torn away by 

 surrounding boats. After three hours' quietude, beneath a 

 beautiful sky, the stars 



"Those eternal orbs that beautify the night" 



began to pale their fires, and the grey dawn appearing 

 indicated that it was time to take stock. On reckoning up 

 we found that we had floated gently with the tide till we 

 were a long distance away from the harbour. The skipper 

 had a presentiment that there were fish in his nets ; indeed 

 the bobbing down of a few of the bladders had made it 

 almost a certainty ; at any rate we resolved to examine the 

 drift, and see if there were any fish. It was a moment of 

 suspense, while, by means of the swing-rope, the boat was 

 hauled up to the nets. "Hurrah!" at last exclaimed 

 Murdoch of the Isle of Skye, " there's a lot of fish, skipper, 

 and no mistake." Murdoch's news was true ; our nets were 



