CHAP, vi.] HOMEWARD BOUND. 267 



silvery with herrings so laden, in fact, that it took a long 

 time to haul them in. It was a beautiful sight to see the 

 shimmering fish as they came up like a sheet of silver from 

 the water, each uttering a weak death-chirp as it was flung 

 to the bottom of the boat. Formerly the fish were left in the 

 meshes of the nets till the boat arrived in the harbour ; but now, 

 as the net is hauled on board, they are at once shaken out. 

 As our silvery treasure showers into the boat we roughly 

 guess our capture at fifty crans a capital night's work. 



The herrings being all on board, our duty is now to " up 

 sail " and get home : the herrings cannot be too soon among 

 the salt. As we make for the harbour, we discern at once 

 how rightly the term lottery has been applied to the herring- 

 fishery. Boats which fished quite near our own were empty ; 

 while others again greatly exceeded our catch. " It is 

 entirely chance work," said our skipper ; " and although there 

 may sometimes be millions of fish in the bay, the whole fleet 

 may not divide a hundred crans between them." On some 

 occasions, however, the shoal is hit so exactly that the fleet 

 may bring into the harbour a quantity of fish that in the 

 gross would be an ample fortune. So heavy are the " takes " 

 occasionally, that we have known the nets of many boats to 

 be torn away and lost through the sheer weight of the fish 

 which were enmeshed in them. 



The favouring breeze soon carried us to the quay, where 

 the boats were already arriving in hundreds, and where we 

 were warmly welcomed by the wife of our skipper, who 

 bestowed on us, as the lucky cause of the miraculous draught, 

 a very pleasant smile. When we arrived the cure was going 

 on with startling rapidity. The night had been a golden one 

 for the fishers calm and beautiful, the water being merely 

 rippled by the land-breeze. But it is not always so in the 

 Bay of Wick : the herring-fleet has been more than once 

 overtaken by a fierce storm, when valuable lives have been 



