“Yes,” said Captain John. “ Mr. Dixon gave me the worms. He says there are lots of perch between here and his landing-place. He says we’ll do better with minnows than with worms, and he says we’ll find the perch anywhere where there are weeds in the water.”
Breakfast was soon over, and while Mate Susan was tidying up, the others took the saucepan for a bait-can, and half filled it with water. Then they fished for minnows in the shallows, and caught a good lot of them. Then they unstepped Swallow ’s mast, and left it ashore with the boom and gaff and sail, so that there would be more room in the boat. Susan joined them, and got her rod ready too. Then they rowed across from the island into the bay below Dixon’s Farm. The Boy Roger was in the bows, keeping a lookout for weeds.
“Weeds,” he shouted, soon after they came into the bay. “Lots of them.” On either side of Swallow they could see the long green streamers of weeds under water.
“We ought to be just off the edge of them, and where it’s not too deep. Are you ready to anchor?”
Mate Susan told the boy: “Have the anchor over the bows, and drop it the moment I say, ‘Let go!’ ”
John was rowing a stroke at a time, and then looking down into the water, then rowing another stroke. “Can you see the bottom, anybody?”
“I can, now,” said Roger.
“All right. So can I. There’s grass on it. That means sand. And it’s close to the weeds. We couldn’t have a better place.”
“Let go!” sang out the mate.
Roger let go. Swallow swung slowly round. A moment later four red-topped floats were in the water, two on each side of the boat.