THE OYSTEE. 49 



week. It was towards eyening that he bethought him- 

 self, as the tide was out, that if he meant to reach 

 Billingsgate by the next morning, it would be wise to 

 reship his oysters before turning in for the night. The 

 boat was lowered ; but, as he attempted to land, he was 

 warned oif by the owner of the soil, who stood there T\dth 

 several fierce looking fellows, anned with cutlasses and 

 fowling-pieces, evidently anticipating the Comishman's 

 intention, and determined to frustrate it at all hazards. 



" What do you want here ?" he asked of Tyacke. 



*' The oysters I put down to feed," was the reply. 

 " They were placed there by your permission, and now 

 I am anxious to reship them, to be in time for to-mor- 

 row's market." 



" True," replied the Kentishman, " I gave you leave 

 to lay down the oysters and feed them, but not a word • 

 was said about reshipping them. "Where they are, there 

 they stay ; and if you persist in trespassing, I shall know 

 what to do." 



Poor Tyacke found himself much in the predica- 

 ment of many a flat who has been picked up by a sharp. 

 A century ago law was not justice, nor justice law. 

 Perhaps it may not even be so now ; and the story of the 

 lawyer who ate the oyster in dispute, and gave each of 

 the disputants a shell, may hold as good in our day as it 

 did in that when the author of the '^ Beggar's Opera" 

 put it into verse. 



The demand for oysters, wherever it exists along our 

 coasts, creates a profitable source of employment to a 

 class of men who necessarily become experienced sea- 



