"I will now, then," cried Dick. "Look sharp;" and he went and leaned his elbows on the window, to gaze out at the lovely opalescent mist through which, looking huge in proportion, a brown-sailed lugger came creeping over the steely sea, which shone and glanced wherever the sun passed through the heavy mist. The men on the lugger looked huge, and it was evident from the shouts from the pier and the responses that there was some little excitement going on about the new arrival, but what it was Dick was too distant to hear. "Oh, do make haste, Taff!" he cried, glancing back to see with satisfaction that his brother was now making good speed; "there's no end of fun going on. I've never seen a pilchard yet. There's Will Marion down there, and--oh, I say, what a shame to go down without us! There goes father!" Arthur's toilet proceeded by big strides now, and it was not long before, looking a good deal more amiable, he declared himself ready, and was in fact so ready that he raced with his brother down to the cliff-- rather a breakneck proceeding, considering the steepness of the way; but they got down to the harbour in safety, and to Dick's delight he found that the lugger was not yet in, the progress by means of her sweeps having been very slow, and now for the first time he noticed that she was extremely deep in the water. "A be glad you've come, Master Diehard," said a voice behind them; and there stood Josh. "_Grey Gull's_ coming in with 'bout the gashliest take o' pilchards as never was. Say they could have filled the lugger twice over." The little pier was pretty well crowded, and the men were in an unwonted state of excitement, but place was made for the boys, and they were soon after standing gazing down into the hold of the lugger, which seemed to be filled with silver whose dust had been scattered all over deck, bulwarks, combings, buoys, ropes, nets, for everything was specked and spangled with silvery scales. "Here, boys," said Mr Temple, "this is a fresh sight for you. What do you think of these?" Mr Temple was standing beside Will, who had been on board the lugger and returned with a little basket containing a dozen or two of the little oily fish, which looked like small large-scaled herrings, but richer and fatter and of tenderer skin. "Wonderful bait," said Will. "We can catch no end to-night with these." They waited to see the business begin--the said business being the rapid unloading of the pilchards, which were borne along the pier to one of the long low pilchard-houses to be regularly stacked somewhat after the fashion of drying bricks, and salted ready for packing in barrels and sending to the Mediterranean ports. But after the first inspection the sight of baskets full of silvery pilchard began to grow monotonous, and Dick exclaimed: "I say, father, it must be breakfast time now."