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Page 78
"Dispepsy? Pshaw--too bad. We'll wait for the readin', an' then we'll
quit, an' catch the tide."
The widows--they were nearly all of that season's making--braced
themselves rigidly like people going to be shot in cold blood, for
they knew what was coming. The summer-boarder girls in pink
and blue shirt-waists stopped tittering over Captain Edwardes's
wonderful poem, and looked back to see why all was silent. The
fishermen pressed forward as that town official who had talked to
Cheyne bobbed up on the platform and began to read the year's list
of losses, dividing them into months. Last September's casualties
were mostly single men and strangers, but his voice rang very loud
in the stillness of the hall.
"September 9th. Schooner Florrie Anderson lost, with all aboard,
off the Georges.
"Reuben Pitman, master, 50, single, Main Street, City.
"Emil Olsen, 19, single, 329 Hammond Street, City. Denmark.
"Oscar Standberg, single, 25. Sweden.
"Carl Stanberg, single, 28, Main Street. City.
"Pedro, supposed Madeira, single, Keene's boardinghouse. City.
"Joseph Welsh, alias Joseph Wright, 30, St. John's,
Newfoundland."
"No--Augusty, Maine," a voice cried from the body of the hall.
"He shipped from St. John's," said the reader, looking to see.
"I know it. He belongs in Augusty. My nevvy."
The reader made a pencilled correction on the margin of the list,
and resumed.
"Same schooner, Charlie Ritchie, Liverpool, Nova Scotia, 33,
single.
"Albert May, 267 Rogers Street, City, 27, single.
"September 27th. --Orvin Dollard, 30, married, drowned in dory off
Eastern Point."
That shot went home, for one of the widows flinched where she
sat, clasping and unclasping her hands. Mrs. Cheyne, who had
been listening with wide-opened eyes, threw up her head and
choked. Dan's mother, a few seats to the right, saw and heard and
quickly moved to her side. The reading went on. By the time they
reached the January and February wrecks the shots were falling
thick and fast, and the widows drew breath between their teeth.
"February 14th. --Schooner Harry Randolph dismasted on the way
home from Newfoundland; Asa Musie, married, 32, Main Street,
City, lost overboard.
"February 23d. --Schooner Gilbert Hope; went astray in dory, Robert
Beavon, 29, married, native of Pubnico, Nova Scotia."
But his wife was in the hall. They heard a low cry, as though a
little animal had been hit. It was stifled at once, and a girl
staggered out of the hall. She had been hoping against hope for
months, because some who have gone adrift in dories have been
miraculously picked up by deep-sea sailing-ships. Now she had her
certainty, and Harvey could see the policeman on the sidewalk
hailing a hack for her. "It's fifty cents to the depot"--the driver
began, but the policeman held up his hand--"but I'm goin' there
anyway. Jump right in. Look at here, Al; you don't pull me next
time my lamps ain't lit. See?"
The side-door closed on the patch of bright sunshine, and Harvey's
eyes turned again to the reader and his endless list.
"April 19th. --Schooner Mamie Douglas lost on the Banks with all
hands.
"Edward Canton, 43, master, married, City.
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