IV A BERTH FOUND 243 



bow o' the boat a week, he did; an' kept hisself 

 warm cleaning up the boat out to sea — out to sea, 

 mind you. Us mostly leaves 'em dirty. 



'Us catched six or seven thousand thic night — 

 off Steep Head us found us was when the fog 

 lifted t' wards daylight; — an' next morning Jack, 

 my mate, was so wild as a conger. "Pretty 

 thing!" he says, "now you've a-took he out an' 

 fell across the fish. What be I to do? Can't 

 turn 'en out 'cause you've had a catch; 'twouldn't 

 look fitty; an' now I an't got a boat 't all. Better 

 'fit you'd stayed ashore." 



"Twould ha' been better; but as it happened 

 we wasn't the only boat what had an argument 

 over going out thic night. Bill Brimworthy an' 

 his mate, what never wasn't much good to 'en, 

 pretty nigh come'd to blows, an' separated; an' It 

 come'd into my mind to say to 'en: "Here's a 

 mate for thee. Bill. He'll clean up thy drifter for 

 'ee. Did for me last night, out to sea." 



' "That's what I wants," says Bill, being angry. 

 "Not no more o' they ****** what only snores 

 an' takes their share." An' he took 'en, an' he's 

 had 'en 'long wl' 'en ever since; an' an't heaved 

 the tiller at his head once, they says, for all Bill's 

 one o' they sort would so soon heave the tiller at 



