“Shall we have an ice-cream?” suggested Dick as they came to a grocer’s shop with an ice-cream sign outside it.

“No,” said Julian firmly. “We’ve just had an enormous lunch, and we’ll save up ice-creams for tea-time. We shall never get down to the sea if we sit and eat ice-creams half the afternoon!”

It was a lovely walk, down violet-studded lanes, and then over a heathery common with clumps of primroses in the hollows — and even a few very very early bluebells, much to Anne’s delight.

“There’s the sea! Oh, what a dear little bay!” said Anne, in delight. “And isn’t it blue — as blue as cornflowers. We could almost bathe.”

“You wouldn’t like it if you did,” said Julian. “The sea would be as cold as ice! Come on — let’s get down to the little jetty and have a look at the fishing-boats.”

They went down to the sun-warmed stone jetty and began talking to the fishermen there. Some were sitting in the sun mending their nets, and were very willing to talk.

“How nice to have a bit of friendliness shown us instead of the stares and rudeness of the fair-folk!” said Dick to Julian, who nodded and agreed.

A fisherman took them on his boat, and explained a lot of things they already knew and some they didn’t. It was nice to sit and listen to his broad speech, and to watch his bright blue eyes as he talked. He was as brown as an oak-apple.

“Could we ever hire a boat here if we wanted to?” asked Julian. “Is there one we could manage by ourselves? We are quite good at sailing.”

“Old Joseph there has a boat he could hire out if you wanted one,” said the man they were talking to. “He hired it out the other day, and I expect he’d hire it out to you too if so be you can really manage it.”

“Thanks. We’ll ask him, if we ever decide to go out,” said Julian. He looked at his watch. “We’d better go and get some tea somewhere. We want to be home before dark. We’re camping over at Faynights Castle.”

“Oh ay?” said the fisherman. “You’ve got the fair-folk there now, haven’t you? They were here two weeks since. My, that fire-eater is a fair treat, he is! And that rope-man — well! I tell you this — I tied him up in my fishing-line — you can see it here, strong as two ropes it is! I tied him up with all the knots I know — and in under a minute he stood up and the line fell off him, knots and all!”

“Ay, that is so,” said the old fellow called Joseph. “A wonder he is, that man. So is the rubber fellow. He called for a drain-pipe, narrow as this, see? And he wriggled through it, quick as an eel. Fair scared me, it did, to see him wriggling out of the other end.”