212 ALONGSHORE iv 



does as he is minded, whether to his own dis- 

 advantage or not, he has earned a certain amount 

 of respect. Certainly he is chaffed : 'Hullo, you ! 

 How do 'ee seem? Can 'ee keep yourself warm? 

 Be 'ee empty inside, like? Wouldn' 'ee like a 

 couple o' roast ducks sot down before 'ee? Could 

 make short work o' they, cousn' ? Just as an 

 appetizer for more, like. . . .' But he is seldom 

 asked in seriousness what has brought him to 

 where he is, or how he succeeds in keeping himself 

 alive from day to day. And then, if he does not 

 with a stare turn upon his heel and walk off, he 

 may reply in the well-worn words, 'Aye ! when 

 you'm down, what they does is to keep 'ee down,' 

 That is all; it is less a complaint than the state- 

 ment of a fact; and nobody laughs it out of court 

 as a lazy man's excuse because everybody on the 

 beach knows that so far as it goes it is quite true. 

 Down is down. Beautiful Onionhead represents 

 each man's downward possibility standing before 

 him in the flesh. His fantastic nicknames do not 

 now raise a smile, except when, during slack times, 

 fishermen are chattering together on the sea-wall, 

 and are turning round, as it were, to look at them- 

 selves. 'Bee-utiful Onionhead — Lord, what a 

 name! Do 'ee know what his proper name is? 



