17. A GLUT OF MACKEREL 



7 NEVER see'd the like o' it before, not all the 

 years I been out to beach.' 



'G'out! I have then; an' more o'em too, an' 

 bigger mackerel; gert schools o'em, when they 

 used to catch 'em in the seine by scores o' 

 thousands, an' pack 'em an' send 'em in wagons 

 to Exeter, afore anybody was troubled wi' thic 

 humbugging ol' railway, keeping o'ee waiting an' 

 not returning your empties. . . .' 



'Aye! gert schools o'em p'raps; but have 'ee 

 ever see'd 'em like now, all along touching the 

 beach from the eastern cliff to Western Bay, miles 

 o'em wl'out a break, so thick as the pebbles they'm 

 jumping out on?' 



'That may be. But I tell thee what I have 

 a-see'd: I've see'd 'em fetch their price, which this 

 lot won't never do, n'eet no fish never won't again 



165 



