Page:Eekhoud - The New Carthage.djvu/244

216. Tradition allowed the assembled business men to punish a defaulting speculator in this fashion.

Between the arcades of the first floor, leaning upon the balustrades of the balcony, hanging over this veritable arena, the little messenger boys were making merry, not without evincing some astonishment at the sight of bearded and usually well-regulated personages playing pranks like rogues of their own age. And they were racked by a desire to go down into the crowd and participate in the savory sport. But, notwithstanding the fact that the placid policemen would not have granted them the immunity accorded to the brokers, a feeling of terror and pity found its way into the hearts of the boys; they still looked on, wide-eyed, but they had stopped laughing.

The rough boatmen, so prone to buffet each other, were petrified with amazement at the "fashionable gentlemen's" unchained fury, and forgot to puff at their short pipes or even to chew their quids.

None of Dupoissy's former friends, none of the hosts who had in other days entertained him at their tables, ran to his rescue. The more tender-hearted among them, seeing what a critical turn the altercation between Dupoissy and his creditors had taken, had prudently stolen away, either for fear of being mixed up in the scandal, or to spare themselves the sight of so painful a scene.

During a raging storm a fishing smack tries to thread its way through the narrow mouth of the harbor. The skiff vainly strives to make its way, but each time the helm bears it into the drift or threatens to break it against the sea-wall. The human hurricane ensnared the pitiable Sedanese in just such a fashion, and drew