Drifting 



the drift net did not move except with the tide. There was no 

 opportunity for a press to develop, thousands of little fish huddling 

 together in the cod-end of either seine net or trawl, all trying 

 desperately to escape and crushing one another to death against 

 the inflexible stretched meshes : for the drift net was flexible and 

 each mesh could catch one and only one herring. It gave them all 

 individual treatment, taking account of their age and their condi- 

 tion, instead of doling out democratic mass murder. 



What always amazed Jan was how easy they were to shake out 

 of the nets. They came up living, a fluorescent miasma into the 

 yellow haze of the deck light, and the darkness glistened purple 

 on their shivering bodies. As though they were going to be tossed 

 in a blanket they would be held up over the fish hatch, their little 

 pointed heads facing the little pointed stars, their white bellies 

 shining toward the prow ; a couple of flicks up and the feel of air 

 would make them close their operculi in order to protect the 

 moist atmosphere round their gill filaments. But it had been by 

 the open flanges of its operculum that each had been enmeshed 

 and once it was shut tight it did not catch in the twine and they 

 would flop helplessly into the hold. 



That night's nets were heavy, though, and even a couple of flicks 

 was hard work after the strain of a haul. A lot of fish were still 

 meshed in the nets as they rolled them aside. But the swell was 

 lengthening and the white tops disappearing. Dawn slanted from 

 the curv^e of the horizon. Out there the waves looked flat. By 

 nine in the morning it was quiet enough for them to think of break- 

 fast. Twenty nets were still out but their bowls were riding high. 

 They were not in danger of being torn to the bottom by the weight 

 of their catch. Tadeusz had calculated two hundred and fifty cran 

 on the thirty-eight nets they had hauled since they left the ridge 

 behind them. Another three hours' work and they could turn for 

 market. They had been hauling for eight hours. In each of Jan's 

 main veins and arteries a little furry animal was breathing its warm 

 weariness into his bloodstream. 



'And wdll it have been worth it?' asked Tadeusz. 



219 



