V HAULING IN 313 



couple of rollers close together, parallel to that 

 on the gunwale and to each other, reached aft 

 from the foremast to the net-hold. Forming a 

 right angle with these there was a fourth and 

 shorter roller on the edge of the net-hatchway. 

 The whole piece of gear was like nothing so 

 much as a skeleton printing-press, for dealing 

 with nets instead of rolls of paper. 



The net, freed from the cable by men in the 

 bows, floated alongside, a few feet under water, 

 with the herrings, not enclosed within it, but, as 

 in all drift-nets, stuck through the meshes and 

 held fast there by their gills and fins. Two men 

 — one on the head-rope and one on the foot — 

 dragged it inboard over the gunwale roller. Two 

 other men stood behind them to help haul and 

 shake. Stretched wide and taut, the net passed 

 over the herring-trunks to the two central rollers 

 on the other side of which stood six men in a line, 

 their brown oilskin-clad figures very upright and 

 still, their gloved hands in ceaseless activity; for 

 it was their work to shake out the herrings while 

 they were crossing above the herring-trunks, toss- 

 ing the net like a blanket, and to pick out those 

 on the upper side of the net while it was going 

 over the rollers. The net itself fell at their feet 



