There was a glut of whiting. So many whiting, and going so cheaply that it was enough to make them bite their tails from sheer vexation. Small flat fish which slid away from their pile were carefully looked after and coaxed back with the toe of a sea-boot, but whiting slid away unnoticed until they vanished from mortal ken in the pockets of predatory urchins. In the small market, a short, red-faced man with a scrubby beard walked in a disparaging fashion from heap to heap, using a favourite briar in lieu of a hammer to knock down such fish as found bidders. The latter were few and wary, and turning a deaf ear to eloquence expressed opinions distasteful to an auctioneer’s ear in crude English. The sense of the meeting being against him, the auctioneer truckled to it, and coming to another heap consisting of a selection of the most undesirable fish that swim Britannia’s realm, gazed at it indignantly. There was a titter behind him, and he voiced his wrath impetuously. “That’s Joe Gubbs’s catch,” he bawled. “S’elp me, I’d know that man’s luck anywhere.” He turned the fish over scornfully with his foot, and, with a severe glance at the hapless Gubbs, moved away to something more saleable. “Where d’ye get ’em from, Gubbs?” inquired an aggravating voice. “We never get such things in our nets. I’ve never seen some o’ them things afore.” “There’s a lot you ain’t seen, Bob Tarbut,” said Gubbs, turning upon him, “and what you do see don’t do you much good.” “I’d be ashamed to bring home such a queer-looking lot,” jeered the other. “They mayn’t be up to much, but there’s none on ’em would care to change faces with you, I expect,” related Gubbs. “You leave my face alone,” said Tarbut, whose physiognomy was much used in the village for purposes of comparison. “A skate’s handsome to you,” said Gubbs, following up his advantage. He jumped back suddenly as the fist of the sensitive Tarbut shot suddenly out, and treading on a small fish, whirled round wildly with his hands in the air in the effort to retain his balance, and sat down heavily. The bystanders instantly separated into two groups, and two or three anxious sympathisers helped the fallen man to his feet, and indicated those parts of Tarbut’s frame which in their opinion were least adapted to offer resistance to his fist. “Stand up,” said Gubbs, sternly, as he shook himself free from these friends. “I am a-standin’ up!” said Tarbut, breathing hard. The two combatants approached each other stealthily, and manœuvring round the heaps of fish, struck safely at each other over these convenient barriers. “Get ’em in the road,” cried an excited voice, “they can’t ’urt each other here.”