Sayfa 67 / 416

"This meeting, then, after due deliberation last night and

earnest supplication of the Almighty for guidance, has been

called to determine what course we shall pursue."

Mr. Bysshe, warm now and perspiring freely, retired to his seat

and mopped his face. Across the audience, which had listened

intently, there swept a murmur of low speech.

It is not given to most fisherfolk to know any more than the bare

comforts of life. Theirs is an existence of ceaseless toiling,

ceaseless danger, and very poor reward. Hardship is their daily

lot, and it requires a great incentive to bring them to a full

stop in consideration of their future.

Here, then, in Freekirk Head were three hundred fishermen with

their backs against the wall--mutely brave because it is bred in

the bone--quietly preparing for a final stand against their

hereditary enemies, hunger and poverty.