86 ALONGSHORE n 



boats, not in them.' He would look up thought- 

 fully and defiantly, would look down, would go 

 away — or wait till I was gone away. 



Nevertheless, the idea stuck in his mind; he 

 realised that a fisherman's boy was not the same as 

 a kid from up on land. When a boat came in, 

 instead of grabbing the nearest plaything that 

 caught his eye, he began to try and do something 

 useful; to put a way under the bows or to string 

 up fish; and though pushed aside time after time 

 for bungling and told to get out of the light, he 

 would turn up as smiling as ever to seize the cut- 

 rope of the next boat in. At sea, he left off be- 

 having like a passenger. He looked round for a 

 job to do, and, if there was none, sat quiet. He 

 even cleaned up a boat before he had finished 

 being seasick. In house and along the beach his 

 questions followed one about: 'Be 'ee going to 

 sea? Baln't 'ee going fishing t'night? Well, be 

 'ee going t'morrow, then? Can I come? Coo'h I 

 you promised!' 



This year he took it into his head to shove off 

 by himself whenever he found a boat near enough 

 to the water's edge. Then he would row to the 

 other side of Broken Rocks and take aboard several 

 of his schoolfellows. A boat would be wanted. 



