106 THE SALT OF MY LIFE 



object of giving George, who has a nestful of beaks 

 to fill, a chance with the more marketable fish, we 

 go for the silver whiting on the edge of the last- 

 named ground. So precisely has he learnt the 

 marks on shore that by regulating the length of 

 cable between us and the anchor, he can put us, 

 when at Martin Vane, on pollack or whiting as we 

 wish. The worst of these shallower grounds is 

 the trouble we have some days with the chad. The 

 chad is a small red bream, giving excellent sport 

 in the adult stage, or even when of intermediate 

 size, when it is known as a ballard, but in extreme 

 youth as exasperating as schoolboys in their play 

 hour. I remember one day, on a ground known 

 as Australia (why, nobody either knows or cares), 

 the chad were so unremitting in their attention 

 to our hooks, that we simply beat an ignominous 

 retreat. The little vermin could not have driven 

 us away more effectually had they been the largest 

 of sharks ! Now and then we were able to turn 

 the enemy to account, for a slab of chad makes a 

 good bait for pollack when these are really hungry, 

 and it has the advantage of being about the tough- 

 est bait of all those in general use. There was 

 another small and insidious, though rarer, spoil- 

 sport on those grounds. Of a sudden, your rod 

 top would begin to twitch, and no amount of 

 striking, and no small hook, would catch the in- 

 truder. One day the mystery was solved, for 



