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The low murmur of awestruck conversation suddenly stopped, for

Squire Hardy, with his fringe of white whiskers violently mussed,

had risen to speak.

"Mr. Bysshe has just about got the lobster in the pot," he

declared, "but I want to say one thing more. Things were bad

enough up to a week ago, but since the fire they have been a

great deal worse. Mr. Nailor and Mr. Thomas, who owned the fish

stand that burned, have been cleaned out. They gave employment to

about twenty of you men.

"Those men are now without any work at all because the owners of

the other fish stands have all the trawlers and dorymen they

need. Even if they didn't have, there are hardly enough fish to

feed all hands on the island.