IV BENJIE'S SEARCH 223 



of sprat or mackerel had been sighted by means of 

 the deep blue shadow or the oily patch that they 

 make when the sea is clear and fairly calm. 'Poor 

 young feller!' he said. 'I been down 'long to 

 Steep Head, an' / can't see nort o'en. There was 

 his clothes, right 'nuff, lying on the beach under the 

 height o' the hill, an' he wasn't inside o'em, an' 

 hadn't been for some time, looked so. Had those 

 'laskit things for to hold up his socks. Why 

 can't 'em wear stockings, same as I always done, 

 if they can't hold up their socks wi'out they things? 

 Ah! 'twas stockings they there ol' women, what's 

 gone, used to knit. Poor young feller! He 

 won't do nort no more. He's finished. He 

 must ha' giv'd out suddent, like, when he was 

 swimming, or been took wi' the cramp p'raps, or 

 else one o' they stinging fish got at 'en, an' the 

 more he struggled the farther the water carried 

 'en out, like it always do whichever way the 

 wind an' tide is, when you only struggles an' 

 don't swim. Well, / can't do no more, not till the 

 flood tide makes, unless the wind goes up easterly.' 

 Therefore Benjie talked. First one, then 

 another, came up to question him, and stayed to 

 stand on the sea-wall gazing out to sea; their 

 conversation very subdued, except when they got 



