156 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



and hail him. I stand high in the Cap'n's con- 

 sideration just now that is, as high as any 

 land lubber can ever expect to stand, for I have 

 placed at the side of my writing-desk one of 

 his eel-pots which I use as a scrap-basket. I 

 got the Cap'n to make it for half a dollar, and 

 as I couldn't quite make him understand for 

 exactly what purpose I wanted it, as a waste- 

 basket is something he had never heard of, he 

 made me a perfect eel-pot, and having put it in 

 place I called him in and showed him how 

 admirably its served its purpose. It was nauti- 

 cal, ichthyological, and harmonizes with the 

 room full of nets, poles, and guns. The Cap'n 

 was so much pleased with the sight of his eel- 

 pot half full of the waste from my desk that I 

 can scarcely get him to accept pay for bait, and 

 some day I think that he will show me a few of 

 the places in the bay where weak-fish are really 

 caught, instead of many places where they are 

 not, as is the custom with professional fisher- 

 men. Sure enough, the Cap'n has a bushel of 

 clams in his boat which he is taking over to the 

 beach for a friend, and it is not hard to divert 

 the store to our own purposes. The children 

 come down to the shore and I pull the basket 



