19. FLOTSAM AND JETSAM 



Sou'wESTERLY wlnds rake the beach out. A south- 

 easterly gale — Benjie's Lord Runkiim, Lord of the 

 Longshore — piles up the shingle till all that the 

 common beachcomber values is buried deeply 

 underneath. But at the same time it blows from 

 the Channel into the bay, and scatters alongshore 

 the miscellaneous flotsam and jetsam of the sea, in 

 which, after prawns and lobsters, Benjie takes his 

 greatest delight. For Benjie is no ordinary beach- 

 comber. While these men are grubbing about on 

 the beach in front of the town, he stands on the 

 sea-wall and sniffs, digs his hands into his pockets, 

 turns his back on so pitiful a sight, and talks of 

 what was seen in the old times. 'They there 

 hain't fit for nort else,' he says with a shrug of the 

 shoulders. 'My senses ! I've a-see'd so much 

 picked up in one tide, up 'long or down under 

 cliff, as they there mumpheads '11 find if they 



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