The Dutch Twins | Page 5

can't tell you about their going fishing.
This morning, Grandfather carried his rod and the lunch-basket. Kit and
Kat carried the basket of worms between them, and their rods over their
shoulders, and they were all three very happy.
They walked along ever so far, beside the canal. Then they turned to
the left and walked along a path that ran from the canal across the green
fields to what looked like a hill.
But it wasn't a hill at all, really, because there aren't any hills in
Holland. It was a long, long wall of earth, very high-- oh, as high as a
house, or even higher! And it had sloping sides.
There is such a wall of earth all around the country of Holland, where
the Twins live. There has to be a wall, because the sea is higher than
the land. If there were no walls to shut out the sea, the whole country
would be covered with water; and if that were so, then there wouldn't
be any Holland, or any Holland Twins, or any story. So you see it was
very lucky for the Twins that the wall was there. They called it a dyke.
Grandfather and Kit and Kat climbed the dyke. When they reached the
top, they sat down a few minutes to rest and look at the great blue sea.
Grandfather sat in the middle, With Kit on one side, and Kat on the
other; and the basket of worms and the basket of lunch were there, too.

They saw a great ship sail slowly by, making a cloud of smoke.
"Where do the ships go, Grandfather?" asked Kit.
"To America, and England, and China, and all over the world," said
Grandfather.
"Why?" asked Kat. Kat almost always said "Why?" and when she
didn't, Kit did.
"To take flax and linen from the mills of Holland to make dresses for
little girls in other countries," said Grandfather.
"Is that all?" asked Kit.
"They take cheese and herring, bulbs and butter, and lots of other things
besides, and bring back to us wheat and meat and all sorts of good
things from the lands across the sea."
"I think I'll be a sea captain when I'm big," said Kit.
"So will I," said Kat.
"Girls can't," said Kit.
But Grandfather shook his head and said:
"You can't tell what a girl may be by the time she's four feet and a half
high and is called Katrina. There's no telling what girls will do anyway.
But, children, if we stay here we shall not catch any fish."
So they went down the other side of the dyke and cut onto a little pier
that ran from the sandy beach into the water.
Grandfather showed them how to bait their hooker. Kit baited Kat's for
her, because Kat said it made her all wriggly inside to do it. She did not
like it. Neither did the worm!
They all sat down on the end of the pier, Grandfather sat on the very

end and let his wooden shoes hang down over the water; but he made
Kit and Kat sit with their feet stuck straight out in front of them, so they
just reached to the edge, "So you can't fall in," said Grandfather.
They dropped their hooks into the water and sat very still, waiting for a
bite. The sun climbed higher and higher in the sky, and it grew hotter
and hotter on the pier. The flies tickled Kat's nose and made her sneeze.
"Keep still, can't you?" said Kit crossly. "You'll scare the fish. Girls
don't know how to fish, anyway."
Pretty soon Kat felt a queer little jerk on her line. She was perfectly
sure she did.
Kat squealed and jerked her rod. She jerked it so hard that one foot flew
right up in the air, and one of her new wooden shoes
went--splash--right into the water!
But that wasn't the worst of it! Before you could say Jack Robinson,
Kat's hook flew around and caught in Kit's clothes and pricked him.
Kit jumped and said "Ow!" And then--no one could ever tell how it
happened--there was Kit in the water, too, splashing like a young whale,
with Kat's hook still holding fast to his clothes in the back!
Grandfather jumped then, too, you may be sure. He caught hold of
Kat's rod and pulled hard and called out, "Steady there, steady!"
And in one minute there was Kit in the shallow water beside the pier,
puffing and blowing like a grampus!
Grandfather reached down and pulled him up.
When Kit was safely on the pier, Kat threw her arms around his neck,
though the water was running down in streams from his hair and eyes
and ears.
"O Kit," she