Chapter Two.

Zekle makes Hay.

At first sight nothing seems more frail than a herring or mackerel net, one of those slight pieces of mesh-work that, in a continuation of lengths perhaps half-a-mile long, is let down into the sea to float with the tide, ready for the shoals of fish that dart against it as it forms a filmy wall across their way. The wonder always is that it does not break with even a few pounds of fish therein, but it rarely does, for co-operation is power, and it is in the multiplicity of crossing threads that the strength consists.

Harry Paul, as he struggled in the water, was like a fly in the web of a spider, for every effort seemed only to increase the tangle. He could not break that which yielded on every side, but with fresh lengths coming over the lugger’s side to tangle him the more. Even if he had had an open sharp knife in his hand he could hardly have cut himself free, and in the horror of those brief moments he found that his struggles were sending him deeper and deeper, and that unconsciously he had wound himself still farther in the net, till his arms and legs were pinioned in the cold, slimy bonds, which clung to and wrapped round him more and more.

A plunge deep down into the sea is confusing at the best of times. The water thunders in the ears, and a feeling of helplessness and awe sometimes comes over the best of swimmers. In this case, then, tangled and helpless as he was, Harry Paul could only think for a few moments of the time when he swam into the sea-cave at Pen Point at high tide, and felt the long strands of the bladder wrack curl and twist round his limbs like the tentacles of some sea-monster; and he realised once more the chilling sense of helpless horror that seemed to numb his faculties. He made an effort again and again, but each time it was weaker, and at last, with the noise of many waters in his ears, and a bewildering rush of memories through his brain, all seemed to be growing very dark around him, and then he knew no more.

On board the lugger the fishermen were busily running the net from one compartment of the vessel into the other, still shaking the fish out as they went on, for a sudden squall at the fishing-ground had compelled them to haul in their nets hastily and run for home. The slimy net grew into a large brown heap on one side, and the little hill of brilliantly-tinted mackerel bigger on the other, and in the evening light it seemed as if the wondrous colours with which the water shone in ripples far and near had been caught and dyed upon the sides of the fish.

Mark Penelly came over from the other side of the lugger, where he seemed to have been busy for a moment or two, while the men were bending over their work, and seated himself upon the low bulwark close to the master.

“Has he got round?” said the latter, looking up for a moment.

“Whom do you mean?” said Penelly, who was rather pale.

“Young Mas’r Harry. Didn’t you see him?”

“See him?—no. I thought he had swum back.”

“Went round the other side,” said the master quietly. “Here, you Zekle, don’t throw a fish like that on to the heap; the head’s half off.”

The man advanced, picked the torn mackerel off the heap, where he had inadvertently thrown it, and the work went on, till as the master raised his eyes to where Penelly sat, he saw how pale and strange he looked.

“Why, lad,” he exclaimed, “you’ve been too long in the water. You look quite cold and blue. I’d lay hold of one of the sweeps if I were you. It will warm you to help pullin’. Here, hallo!” he shouted, “who’s let all that net go trailing overboard? Here’s a mess! we shall have to run it all through our hands again.”

Mark Penelly’s eyes seemed starting out of his head as, with a convulsive gasp, he seized hold of the net, along with the master and another, and they began to haul in fathom after fathom, which came up slowly, and as if a great deal of it were sunk.

“Why, there’s half the net overboard!” cried the master angrily. “How did you manage it? What have you been about?”

“There can’t be much over,” said the man who was helping; “she was all right just now. There’s a fish in it, and a big one.”

“Don’t talk such foolery, Zekle Wynn,” said the master. “I tell ’ee half the net’s overboard.”

“How can she be overboard when she’s nigh all in the boat?” said the man savagely.

“Zekle’s right,” cried Mark Penelly, who was hauling away excitedly; “there’s a big fish in it. Look! you can see the gleam of it down below.”

“Well, don’t pull a man’s nets in like that, Mas’r Mark!” said the other, now growing interested and hauling steadily in; “nets cost money to breed.” (Note. Cornish. Making nets is termed “breeding.”) “Why, it’s a porpoise, and a good big ’un too! Steady, lads; steady! She’s swum into the net