"Oh yes, I daresay. Just as if I didn"t know there"s only one place where you can hold on."
"Where"s that?" said Bigley.
"With your hand in his mouth. You come and put yours in."
Of course Bigley did not respond to the invitation, and the banging and rattling went on for a few minutes longer.
"Why don"t you chaps stand away from the light? I can"t see," cried Bob. "That"s better: now I can tell. Look out, boys, look out! Here he comes."
"Catch him in the net, Bob," I shouted.
"Yah! Don"t talk stuff," was the answer. "Look out! Is he coming your way?"
"No!" we both shouted, and then "Yes!" for there was a quick movement in the channel between the two pools, and the next instant a large eel was splashing and writhing in the water and sea-weed of the pool which we had baled.
"Here he is, Bob!" we shouted; and, as we finished the struggle which resulted in our getting the eel into one of the nets, and then out on the open rocks, and in a position to make it cease its writhings, Bob Chowne backed out to look on and help us gloat over our capture, which proved to be a plump young conger of a yard long.
"Well, that"s something," said Bob. "Now I"m going after the prawns.
No, you go, Sep," he said. "I don"t see why I should do all the work."
I went into the dripping grotto nothing loth, and by careful search among the wet weed I found first one prawn and then another, till I had thrown out six, the work being tolerably easy, for the little h.o.r.n.y-coated fellows made known their presence by their movements, flipping their tails sharply and making a noise that betrayed their hiding-places.
The grotto-like place, shut in by some rocks overshadowed by others, was so gloomy that it was hard to make out everything, but twice over I noted a bit of a rift on my left all fringed with sea-weed and slippery with anemones, where it was not rough with limpets and barnacles.
"Was it down here, Bob, down on the left, that you found the conger?"
"No," he shouted, "on the right."
I looked round, and found the crack where the conger must have been, and then came a summons from without.
"Well, can"t you find any more?"
"No," I said; "but there"s a big hole here. Perhaps there"s another conger."
"Put your hand in and pull him out, then," cried Bob with a sneer.
I did not answer, for I felt now very plainly how much easier it is to give orders than to obey them. But a little consideration taught me that there was nothing to fear, for if there was a conger in the hole the chances were that he would have thrust his head into the farthest corner, and that it would be his tail that I should touch.
"Now, then," cried Bob. "Ar"n"t you going to find any more prawns?"
"I don"t know," I said, as I carefully introduced my hand and arm, going down on one knee so as to get closer, and so by degrees hand, arm, and shoulder had nearly disappeared, as I touched the far end of the cleft.
"Nothing," I said to myself, as I felt about with my cheek touching the wet slippery sea-weed. Then I uttered a loud "Ugh!" and started away.
"What"s the matter?" cried my companions.
"I don"t know," I cried. "Here"s something alive in a hole here."
"Well, why don"t you pull it out?" cried Bob.
"I--I don"t know," I said. But I"m afraid I did know. The feeling, though, that my companions were laughing at me was too much, and with a sudden burst of energy I thrust my hand right into the rift again, felt down cautiously till my hand touched, not the slimy serpentine form of an eel, but the hard back of a sh.e.l.l-fish, and as I touched it, there was a curious scuffling down beneath my fingers that told me it was a crab.
"Hooray, boys!" I shouted. "Crab!"
"Have him out, Sep! Mind he don"t nip you!" they shouted; and after a minute"s hesitation I plunged my hand into the hole again, knowing that I must feel for a safe place to get hold of the claw-armed creature, so that I should not have to suffer a severe pinch or two, from its nippers.
I was pretty quick, but the crab was quicker, and as I caught it the left claw seized tight hold, but only of my sleeve.
My natural instinct was to start back, and this had the effect of dragging the crab out of its lurking place, and I ran to the opening holding out my arm, just as the crab dropped with quite a crash into the little channel, and then began running sidewise back towards me and the darkness.
I stopped my prisoner with my foot, and he scuffled back and into the little empty pool, where he tried hard to hide himself under the sea-weed fronds, but Bigley worked him out, and by clever management avoided the pincers, which were held up threateningly, and popped him into one of the baskets.
"It"s my turn now," said Bigley. "Think there"s anything else?"
"I don"t know," I said. "Try."
"What"s the good of saying that?" said Bob laughing. "He couldn"t get in."
"Oh, couldn"t I?" cried Bigley. "You"ll see. Mind that eel don"t slip out. Now you"ll see."
He rolled up his sleeves nearly to the shoulder, and picking out the widest spot began to crawl in, dragging himself slowly through, and at last drawing his legs in after him, and standing in a bent position right under the rock.
"There!" he cried triumphantly. "Who can"t get in? Now then, where are these cracks?"
"Right up at the other end," I cried; and he groped on into the narrower part, Bob and I looking into the slippery grotto-like place enjoying his slow c.u.mbersome manner, and paying no heed to the fact that the tide had turned, and that already a little water had run into the little pool where we had baled.
"Found anything, Big!" we shouted, though he was only a couple of yards away.
"N-no. Nothing here. I"m going to try this other hole. Oh, I say, isn"t it deep?"
"Mind! Mind!" shrieked Bob, and Bigley scuffled back.
"What--what is it?" he panted.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha!" roared Bob. "Did he bite you?"
"What a shame!" grumbled Bigley in his gruff voice. "I didn"t try to scare you. I don"t care though. You won"t frighten me again."
He crept back, and we could hear him grunting and panting.
"I say, it is deep," he said. "I"ve got my arm in right to the shoulder and there"s nothing here. Stop a minute; here"s a crack round this corner where I can get my hand. It"s quite a big opening with water in it, and slippery things in the rock, and--Ugh!--oh!--ah!"
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
A TERRIBLE DANGER.
Bigley dragged his arm out of the crack and came scuffling back to us, and as soon as he reached the opening we could see that he looked quite pale.