FRESH AND SALT. 201 



for blanket. On deck the two lights prescribed by law have 

 been hoisted on the mizen-stay, and the watch has been set. 

 The two lanterns are a signal to trawlers and passing vessels 

 that the herring fishermen are out, and would prefer the gift 

 of a wide berth, lest their nets should be broken. The sea 

 seems alive with double warnings, and from some of the 

 boats turpentine lights— yclept " flare ups " — -are perpetually 

 flashed. 



Pitching and driving, you feel a queer sensation when a 

 full-rigged ship, phantom-like, seems to be bearing down 

 upon you, and somehow all the stories of collision you have 

 heard, read, or written, crowd in procession through your 

 mind, as you earnestly keep your eye on the approaching 

 monster, resolving, should the worst come to the worst, to 

 hoist yourself on board the destroyer by the bowsprit 

 rigging. The monster passes half a mile ahead ; but only 

 think what might have happened. Think of the Norihfleet t 

 And so on. 



The fishermen sailors sleep in their clothes, and are con- 

 tented with their lot. Theirs is a co-operative system ; they 

 are paid by results. The more fish the more pay. Called 

 up on deck at twelve, and again at two o'clock, they rub 

 their eyes and go, and return again if they are not immediately 

 wanted. At four o'clock, however, a genuine cry rings down 

 into the darkness. 



" Haul ho, boys ! Haul ho!" 



Now we turn out in earnest, for " Haul ho ! " means 

 herrings, and who knows but that it may mean herrings in 

 such quantities that to-morrow, instead of pitching and 

 driving tediously, we may be able to hurry to harbour ? 

 The men encase themselves from head to foot in oilskin, 



