WITH A LOWESTOFT DRIFTER 129 



and if we want a dumpling we annex one with a fork- 

 plunge. All of us can reach with ease, for our sea-boots 

 are mixed up with the dishes. It is very crowded in the 

 cabin, and we are thrown against each other with the 

 lurches, and our lake of gravy partly mingles with the 

 cinders of the stove-pan, while our enamelled mugs over- 

 flow into our jumpers. 



George, with folded arms, gazes steadily upon me 

 from a corner near the oil-lamp, and at times he smiles. 



I know what is passing through his mind, and assure 

 him that I have been out on the North Sea many times 

 and have never yet been mastered by it, or by any other 

 stretch of water. " You're sure you aren't goin' to be 

 turned up, sir ? " he says, and the men laugh hilariously 

 but kindly. 



" Now," says the skipper at last, knocking his pipe 

 on the locker and clambering to his feet, " I reckon it's 

 gettin' pretty nearly time to shoot." So we climb on 

 deck, and just as the worshippers ashore are making 

 ready for evensong we shoot our nets. 



No confusion exists as to duty. The skipper controls 

 and takes the wheel. The hawseman has to be forward 

 to make fast the seizings of the warps ; amidships is the 

 whaleman, paying out the nets, while the net-ropeman 

 also pays out and hauls in, holding the net-rope ; the 

 work of the net-stower is to pay out the nets from the 

 net-room, which is a large chamber forward ; the younker, 

 being the man of all work, helps anybody who calls for 

 his assistance, while the boy has all sorts of odd jobs to 

 do, as well as the cooking and washing up. 



The nets are floating near the surface, indicated by a 

 mile-long line of bobbing barrels and buoys which mark 

 9 



