The Swan And Her Crew Part 22

"We are yachting, sir, and we are windbound, without any change of clothes. We should have been ashamed to come to church if we had thought we should meet anyone we knew."

"I am very glad to have met you. You and your friends must come and dine with me," was Mr. Rose's reply.

So, in spite of their slimy-covered clothes and fishy smell, they were welcomed, and had a pleasant day. Edith Rose was so very pretty and nice, that Frank began to think d.i.c.k was not quite such a goose for being spoons on his sister, as he had previously thought him.

About ten they returned to the yacht, and found that the wind had risen, and was blowing tolerably hard. As they were anxious to get back in time to be with Mr. Meredith on Monday morning, they resolved to sit up until twelve o'clock and then start homeward. The night was starlight, and light enough for them to see their way on the water; and as the hands on their watches pointed to twelve they hoisted sail and glided away through the grey stillness of the night, beneath the starlit blue of the midnight sky, with no sound audible save the hissing of the water curling against their bows, the flapping of the sails as they tacked, and the occasional cry of a bird in the reeds; and about five o'clock they arrived home, and turned in on board the yacht for a couple of hours' sleep before breakfast.

CHAPTER XXII.

Calling for Landrails.--Landrail Shamming Death.-- Yellow Under-wing Moth and Wasp.--Dragon-Fly and b.u.t.terfly.-- Stink-horn Fungus.--Sundew.

On a stile under the shade of a chestnut Frank sat, calling for landrails. Every now and then he rubbed an instrument on his thigh, which made a noise so like the cry of the corncrake that one could not have distinguished it. This instrument was very simple, and he had made it himself. It was a piece of hard wood, with a stock to it like the letter _y_. Between the p.r.o.ngs of the _y_ was a wooden wheel, with its circ.u.mference cut into cogs. A slip of wood was screwed to the stock, and pressed against the cogs. When the wheel was turned by being pressed against the leg, a grating noise was produced, which answered the purpose admirably. Frank sat with his gun upon his lap and called away most patiently, but not hurriedly. A landrail was answering him from the further side of the field, and was approaching nearer. At last, just as its note seemed further off, he caught sight of its long neck and head peering above the gra.s.s, which, although it was only the aftermath, had grown a good height. Frank gave another creak, and the bird ran on a few yards nearer. Frank raised his gun to his shoulder and took aim, and as the bird took fright and began to run away a report rang through the summer stillness. The corncrake ran on with one wing trailing. The distance had been too great, or Frank would not have done so little damage. Just as it seemed that the bird would get away, d.i.c.k and Jimmy appeared over the opposite hedge. The corncrake seeing them, immediately fell down and lay apparently dead. They picked it up and brought it to Frank, who laid it on the ground by his side, and went on with his calling, while the others lay on the gra.s.s and talked.

A heap of hay had been left by the side of the hedge, and d.i.c.k lazily stirred it with his foot. A large yellow under-winged moth (a moth with grey upper-wings and bright yellow under-wings bordered with black and very common in our hay-fields) arose, and d.i.c.k ran after it with his hat. Another entomologist, however, was before him. A wasp pounced upon the moth, and the two fell fluttering to the ground, and d.i.c.k caught them both, and afterwards mounted them in the att.i.tude in which he caught them.

"It was a pity to kill the wasp," said Jimmy. "It was doing just the same as Frank here. I dare say that corncrake would like to see him killed."

[Ill.u.s.tration: DRAGON-FLY.]

"It is the law of nature," said Frank; "and see, there is a dragon-fly following the wasp's example."

A large dragon-fly had seized a white b.u.t.terfly, and then as it flew in the air, it was depriving it of its wings, which fell fluttering to the ground.

Jimmy happening to cast his eyes upon the corncrake, saw it cautiously lift its head, then gather itself together, looking about, and evidently preparing for flight.

"Look, Frank," he said, "the corncrake was only shamming death!" The corncrake was on its legs and running away by this time, but Frank fired and killed it.

"I would have let it go for its cunning," he said, "but it would only die with a broken wing. It could not live the winter here, and of course it could not migrate. I have known the water-hen sham death in the same way, and many insects do it. I wonder if that is instinct or reason. How does it know that if it seems dead you will not touch it, and therefore it may get an opportunity to escape?"

"It is very wonderful," said Jimmy; "but you will get no more birds to-day after two shots. They will be too wary. Come with me, and I will show you something equally wonderful."

"What is it?"

"I will not tell you. Wait and see."

They followed him to the shrubbery of Mr. Meredith's garden, and he led them to a laurel-bush, and pointed out to them an upright fungus, creamy white in colour, but not by any means handsome. d.i.c.k and Frank bent forward to examine it, when suddenly they clasped their noses between their fingers, and ran away, followed by Jimmy exulting.

"How terrible," said d.i.c.k, blowing his nose.

"That is the vilest smell I have ever smelt," said Frank, doing likewise. "What is it?"

"The common stink-horn fungus," answered Jimmy; "I thought you would like to see it."

"We might have liked to see it, but not to smell it. Have not you a nose, Jimmy?"

"Yes; but I wanted you to share my pleasure."

"It was uncommonly kind of you, I must say."

Mr. Meredith came up smiling and said,

"Now, if you will come with me, I will show you a plant much more interesting, and a plant which is like d.i.c.k, in that it catches flies."

In a small marsh near the end of the garden were some plants of the sundew. It is some years since I gathered one, and I have not one before me to describe, so I quote from a little book called _Old English Wild Flowers_:--

"Of all the interesting plants which grow on marsh-lands, the most singular is the sundew. Those who have never seen its white blossoms growing, can form but little idea of its singular appearance. Round the root it has a circle of leaves, and each leaf has a number of red hairs tipped with pellucid glands which exude a clear liquid, giving the leaves a dew-besprinkled appearance as it glistens in the suns.h.i.+ne.

These have proved a fatal trap to numbers of insects. The foliage and stem are much tinted with crimson, and the plant is small."

CHAPTER XXIII.

Setting Night-lines.--An Encounter with Poachers.

Old c.o.x met Frank one day, and said to him in his broad Norfolk, which would be unintelligible to you were I to render it faithfully,--

"I wish you would give me some more fish, Mr. Merivale. You catch plenty, and if you would give me some that you doesn't want, I would take them to Norwich market and sell them. I sorely want to buy a pair of blankets for the old woman and me afore the winter comes."

"Well, c.o.x, you shall have all we catch and don't want," said Frank; and when he saw his friends he said,--

"Let us make a mighty night-line, and set it like the long lines the Cromer fishermen set for cods, and lay it in the broad for eels, and give all we catch to c.o.x. Two or three nights' haul will set him up for the winter."

So they made a long night-line. They bought a quarter of a mile of stout cord, and at distances of a yard from each other they fastened eel-hooks by means of short lengths of fine water-cord. c.o.x himself got them the worms, and then one fine night they rowed the punt to the middle of the broad, and set the night-line in the deep water of the channel.

"Well," said d.i.c.k, "this is the longest and most wearisome job I have ever done, and old c.o.x ought to be infinitely obliged to us. We have been two hours and a half setting this line."

Early in the morning they went out, and took up the night-line, but to their great surprise they found but very few eels on it, and plenty of bream, which they did not want. They were much disappointed at this, and went to Bell, and asked him the reason, for there were plenty of eels in the broad.

"Where did you set the line?" he asked.

"In the deep water of the channel."

"Then that is just the place where you ought not to have set it. At night the eels make for the shallow water to feed, and if the gra.s.s is wet they will even wriggle out among it. I have seen them myself many a time. You must set your line along the edge where the water is about a foot or two feet deep, and you will have as many eels as you can carry."

They tried again, and set the line as Bell had directed them, and the next morning they began to haul it in. The first hook came up bare. So did the second, and the third. As they hauled in the line their faces looked very blank, for every hook was bare.

"We are not the first," said Frank savagely, "some other fellows have been here before us, and have taken up the line, and robbed it. They must have watched us laying it. Now I'll tell you what we will do. We will set it again to-night, and watch in the yacht, and if we see any fellows touching it we will give them a drubbing. Are you game?"

"Yes," answered both d.i.c.k and Jimmy readily, "we are."

So the third time they set the line, and then as soon as it got dark they crept quietly on board the yacht. They had set the line within 150 yards of the _Swan_, and as there was a glitter on the water from the reflection of the stars, they could see if anyone approached it.