The children came in among the trees till they could see the water that flowed beyond.

There lay the boat not far from them, and behind the bushes a slender thread of blue smoke rising into the air showed them where the fisherman's hut was.

A man was just going down to the edge of the water, and presently he began to hammer at something in the boat.

Emma ran towards him, and Fani followed.
"Are you the fisherman ?" asked Emma?
The man raised his head, and stopped hammering.
"Yes, I am; at your service," he answered, politely.

"Do you want to buy some fish ?" Emma explained that they only wanted to hire a boat, just for an hour or two; not to go far away from the shore at all.