ni A BAD SEASON 167 



how it sold — once he can track it back among his 

 crowded memories. 



The truth seems to be, as regards this year's 

 glut of mackerel, that they have seldom or never 

 come so close to shore in such numbers, in one 

 vast shoal of no one knows what extent, instead 

 of broken up into schools. Something must be 

 allowed to the fact that the old man was not speak- 

 ing to a lifelong fisherman. And something on 

 the other side must also be allowed to the so 

 sudden, the almost dramatic appearance of the 

 mackerel after a season's scarcity, just when it was 

 being said along the beach: 'Aye! This year's 

 mackerel's done. They an't come an' they bain't 

 coming. They've got their own minds to please 

 so well as you an' me. See'd it aforetime, an't us?' 



Of May and June mackerel, which fetch good 

 prices, the drifters caught only dozens. Early in 

 July some of the nets were washed, barked, dried, 

 and put away; to be brought out again later in 

 the month, when a few hundreds were being 

 brought ashore by the remaining drifters. Not 

 till August was the first thousand caught, and at 

 that time of year they were worth very little, 

 because they are a fish which travels badly in hot 

 weather. It was worse with the hookers, who 



