ha ! they will eat you , and we will eat them ; '' and the otter laughed such a wicked cruel laugh -- as you may hear them do sometimes ; and the first time that you hear it you will probably think it is bogies . `` What are salmon ? '' asked Tom . `` Fish , you eft , great fish , nice fish to eat . They are the lords of the fish , and we are lords of the salmon ; '' and she laughed again . `` We hunt them up and down the pools , and drive them up into a corner , the silly things ; they are so proud , and bully the little trout , and the minnows , till they see us coming , and then they are so meek all at once , and we catch them , but we disdain to eat them all ; we just bite out their soft throats and suck their sweet juice -- Oh , so good ! '' -- -LRB- and she licked her wicked lips -RRB- -- `` and then throw them away , and go and catch another . They are coming soon , children , coming soon ; I can smell the rain coming up off the sea , and then hurrah for a fresh , and salmon , and plenty of eating all day long . '' And the otter grew so proud that she turned head over heels twice , and then stood upright half out of the water , grinning like a Cheshire cat . `` And where do they come from ? '' asked Tom , who kept himself very close , for he was considerably frightened . `` Out of the sea , eft , the great wide sea , where they might stay and be safe if they liked . But out of the sea the silly things come , into the great river down below , and we come up to watch for them ; and when they go down again we go down and follow them . And there we fish for the bass and the pollock , and have jolly days along the shore , and toss and roll in the breakers , and sleep snug in the warm dry crags . Ah , that is a merry life too , children , if it were not for those horrid men . '' `` What are men ? '' asked Tom ; but somehow he seemed to know before he asked . `` Two-legged things , eft : and , now I come to look at you , they are actually something like you , if you had not a tail '' -LRB- she was determined that Tom should have a tail -RRB- , `` only a great deal bigger , worse luck for us ; and they catch the fish with hooks and lines , which get into our feet sometimes , and set pots along the rocks to catch lobsters . They speared my poor dear husband as he went out to find something for me to eat .
I was laid up among the crags then , and we were very low in the world , XXXXX the sea was so rough that no fish would come in shore .
along as for from if in into that till to