five o'clock in the morning
The spears were in many cases `` gully-knives , '' fastened to staves with twine and resin , called `` rozet . '' The torches were very rough-and-ready things -- rope and tar , or even rotten roots dug from broken trees -- in fact , anything that would flare . The black-fishers seldom journeyed far from home , confining themselves to the rivers within a radius of three or four miles . There were many reasons for this ; one of them being that the hands had to be at their work on the farm by five o'clock in the morning ; another , that so they poached and let poach . Except when in spate , the river I specially refer to offered no attractions to the black-fishers . Heavy rains , however , swell it much more quickly than most rivers into a turbulent rush of water ; the part of it affected by the black-fishers being banked in with rocks that prevent the water 's spreading . Above these rocks , again , are heavy green banks , from which stunted trees grow aslant across the river .