Living Silver 



taking in whatever loose pieces of wing came to hand and some- 

 body forward had been doing likewise. 



Goldie and Finch now marshalled everything that could stand 

 on two legs along the port side of the vessel. Sometimes the sea 

 merely sprayed them with salt ; sometimes it swirled green high 

 up on their legs threatening to swamp their thigh-boots. 'We 

 take the head-rope first, get these damned floats up ; then it's just 

 a matter of pulling in the slack. ' Some of the floats were already 

 aboard, as they had been attached to those parts of the wings that 

 had already been taken in. So Jan reached over the side and grab- 

 bed the head-line close to another float. The sea moved up to 

 meet him and the ship carried him down. He lifted it easily over 

 the rail and relaxed. A moment later he was thrown against 

 the gunwale, his hand caught between it and the head-rope he 

 was holding. He felt that a bone must break. Finch and another 

 man were dragging him back from the bulwarks. Otherwise he 

 would surely have been catapulted overboard. Quite as suddenly 

 the pressure relaxed. Finch dumped the head-line on the deck and 

 stood on the lint behind it. Then the ship lurched upwards and 

 the sea beside it dipped. The lint of the square grew taut as the 

 sea tried to suck the head-rope back into it. Jan saw where the 

 pressure against his hand had come from. 



The lesson once learned was easily remembered, and his hand 

 was really only a little bruised. He joined the others at the hauling, 

 taking in the slack when the ship dipped downwards, treading 

 hard on the gains he had made when she rose to ride a wave. He 

 now understood why he had heard the sea referred to as the 'lazy 

 deckie'. Not only did she provide the catch but she also hoisted 

 the load nets aboard. The men had nothing to do but hold on to 

 what the sea gave them. That was their only job. 



As they progressed the job became steadily harder. They were 

 reaching the narrower, more heavily meshed, portion of the net, 

 where the brine gave less support, but still, with the ship's move- 

 ment to help them, it was never very difficult considering the 

 weight of a net soaked with water and the power in the sinking 



40 



