He had not connected this visit with his transgression.
"And you caught three fish," said Erebus in a sterner voice.
"Oh?
Then it was one of you who called 'Cave!' from the wood ?" said Sir James.
"Yes; we didn't want old Glazebrook to catch you," said the Terror.
"Oh--er--thanks," said Sir James in a tone of discomfort.
"That wouldn't have been any use to us," said the Terror.
"Of use to you ?" said Sir James.
"Yes; if he'd caught you, there wouldn't be any reason why we should fish your water," said the Terror.
Sir James looked puzzled: "But is there any reason now ?" he said.
"Yes.

You see, you were poaching," said the Terror in a very gentle explanatory voice.
"And you caught three fish," said Erebus in something of the manner of a chorus in an Athenian tragedy.
Sir James sat bolt upright with a sudden air of astonished enlightenment: "Well, I'm--hanged if it isn't blackmail!" he cried.
"Blackmail ?" said the Terror in a tone of pleasant animation.

"Why, that's what the Scotch reavers used to do! I never knew exactly what it was." "And we're doing it.

That is nice," said Erebus, almost preening herself.
"But this is disgraceful! If you'd been village children--but gentlefolk!" cried Sir James with considerable heat.
"Well, the Douglases were gentlefolk; and they blackmailed," said the Terror in a tone of sweet reason.
"Poaching's a misdemeanor; blackmailing's a kind of stealing," said Erebus virtuously, forgetting for the moment her mother's fur stole.
"Poaching's a misdemeanor; blackmailing's a felony," said Sir James loftily.
The distinction was lost on the Twins; and Erebus said with conviction: "Poaching's worse." Sir James hated to be beaten; and he looked from one to the other with very angry eyes.

The Twins wore a cold imperturbable air.