Attached to the toothed plate, and to the sides of the frame was a net of very coarse fishing-twine, which Joe correctly surmised was there to catch the oysters raked loose by the teeth from the bottom of the bay.
A rope being made fast to each of the dredges, they were dropped overboard from either side of the _Dazzler_.

When they had reached the bottom, and were dragging with the proper length of line out, they checked her speed quite noticeably.

Joe touched one of the lines with his hands, and could feel plainly the shock and jar and grind as it tore over the bottom.
"All in!" French Pete shouted.
The boys laid hold of the line and hove in the dredge.

The net was full of mud and slime and small oysters, with here and there a large one.

This mess they dumped on the deck and picked over while the dredge was dragging again.