44 THE SALT OF MY LIFE 



your arm into the wet sand up to the shoulder, 

 grip him firmly but lightly between your fingers 

 and draw him forth without even breaking his 

 tail, which comes away like a lizard's if roughly 

 handled. 



Another form of " sport " among those rocks 

 was the setting of " night-hooks/' A single hook 

 was attached by four feet of watercord to the 

 middle of a stick of firewood. The hook was 

 baited with a dab's head, and the stick buried a 

 foot deep in the wet sand near low-water mark. 

 Next tide, we were down there, waiting for the 

 water to uncover the grounds, that we might go 

 the round like Indian trappers, and occasionally 

 (very occasionally) hope told a flattering tale, for, 

 ere the tide was quite out, we could descry the 

 struggles of some tethered captive, pulling in vain 

 against the halter. I shame to say that on one 

 occasion a bass of nearly 10 Ibs. was taken by 

 this barbarous method. Boys will be boys, of 

 course, but they should be lightly caned when they 

 develop poaching tricks of this sort. 



With the exception of an uneventful outing 

 now and then in a boat, the only other fishing that 

 I recall at Hastings in those days was from the 

 East Groyne. From it we used to catch both 

 conger and freshwater eels, the latter, which breed 

 only in the sea, having no doubt found their way 

 westward from Rye harbour. Many doubt the 



