Harold Bindloss

“ When a tide runs six knots an hour, a swimmer's strength does not count for much, but Ritson's luck was good. Belle had stranded near a spot where a burn comes down from the Scottish hills, and two salmon fishers were occupied at the pocket of a big stake-net. ”

“ Then all that man could take with beam and other nets did not count beside the havoc made by their natural enemies with tooth and claw. This, rudely stated, was the trawlers' firm persuasion, and they grumbled about the meddling of the Fishery Board. When fish were scarce, rules were broken; but one man talked about the risk boat-owners ran if they entered a bay that had recently been closed to the ground-net. At length Ritson heard something that interested him, and looked up. ”

“ The magistrates studied the chart. Luckily for Hartrod, one kept a yacht and another knew something about land surveying. When they had asked Ritson a few questions, Hartrod's lawyer remarked: "The witness's statement is plain, and since there are no grounds for doubting its accuracy, we are, I think, justified in assuming it was impossible for my client's boat to have occupied the position the Inspector indicates."
The Inspector looked puzzled, and a magistrate said: "It is admitted that there were two other boats in the neighbourhood. One has not been accounted for." ”

“ Edentown was on the English side, fifty miles off and some distance from the Firth. One could only enter the shallow Cumbrian harbour from which Ritson sailed for some hours each tide. Then there was no wind, and the ebb would carry him back across the Irish Sea. Ritson admitted this, but his resolution did not weaken, and it was characteristic that he meant to go by water. In some respects he and the others were strangely primitive, and they used the tools they knew. When one had a boat, one did not bother about trains. ”

“ Her owner declared he had not lowered his net on the wrong side of the line.
Ritson saw the Inspector was honest, and this was some relief. Moreover, he saw how the fellow had been deceived. The figure 6 is not unlike 9, when seen half inverted on the slack folds of a partly-lowered sail. All the same, his business was not to explain the mistake. Pate must not be cleared at a comrade's cost. ”

“ Besides, he was drowsy, and knew the arguments about the futility of the trawling laws.
The fish, the trawlers declared, needed no artificial protection from man, and throve by the thinning out of the numbers that sometimes overcrowded the inshore banks. ”