146 ALONGSHORE m 



Five or six dozen in two-thirds of a mile of 

 nets! 



'Hauls in hard, 't do,' said Jim, 'when thee 

 casn't see no macker coming in 'long wi' it.' 



'Bain't thic t'other boat in?' inquired Richard, 

 nodding towards the next berth. 



'No. — Not eet. — Time her was !' 



We waited on, all of us together, wet and dry. 

 The rain pelted down. We took refuge in the 

 shelter and stood on the seats looking out to sea. 

 "Tis lulling a bit,' Benjie observed. Almost as 

 he spoke a squall from the sou'west made the 

 shelter itself rock. It blew for a few minutes 

 violently; then backened back to the south-east. 

 In spite of the rain we went down under beach. 



At last the other drifter came ashore, looming 

 up suddenly and staggering like a drunken man, 

 because the small mizzen which she had hoisted 

 in place of her mainsail was not enough to keep 

 proper steerage-way on her among the breakers. 

 'An' lucky, too,' said one of her two men, 'that us 

 had got thic mizzen to the mast. You wouldn't 

 ha' see'd us else — not afore the crabs had picked 

 holes in us. As 'twas, thic sou'westerly squall 

 struck us all aback an' pretty near capsized us. 

 Couldn't see nort.' 



