Page:Ruth Fielding at Lighthouse Point.djvu/117

Rh body is never a scallop. Why, a scallop is a firm, white lump"

"It's a mussel," said Heavy, laughing.

"It's only the 'eye' of the scallop you eat, Miss," explained Phineas.

"Now I know just as much as I did before," declared Madge. "So I eat a scallop's eye, do I? We had them for breakfast this very morning—with bacon."

"So you did, Miss. I raked 'em up myself yesterday afternoon," explained Phineas. You eat the 'eye,' but these are the bodies, and they are the reg'lar natural food of the tautog, or blackfish."

"The edible part of the scallop is that muscle which adheres to the shell—just like the muscle that holds the clam to its shell," said Heavy, who, having spent several summers at the shore, was better informed than her friends.

Phineas showed the girls how to bait their hooks with the soft bodies of the scallop, warning them to cover the point of the hooks well, and to pull quickly if they felt the least nibble.

"The tautog is a small-mouthed fish smaller, even, than the bass the boys are going to cast for. So, when he touches the hook at all, you want to grab him."

"Does it hurt the fish to be caught?" asked Helen, curiously.