The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-12-09
STBMARINE OFF SHORE
 CHAPTER \

CHATTER N
 They laid cid SiXtus in a plain unnainted coffin When 1t was well mtc. the evening, and the town was clustered, silent, in its war-darEeneo houses. rough, gray-coated crew gathered at Pastor Aalesen'S It see,red the whole village was there. Bu, not a man or woman entered the church Instead they nleu Through the parsonage and into a bedroom where on the bier stood one lighted candle; they looked at Inc body lying in its black suit then messed on and out the farther door When they were gone the carpen- ,er tacitlrn, uail-chewing fellow, hammered the coffin shut
 The clock in the church tower struck the curfew, nine, and the women and most of the men went nome But Lars Malken StaNed' So did Dr. Stenseard tthoueh no ,ne spoke to him, and Gunnar md his young cousin, who was ,lso fisherman and had gone o school under SiHtus. MS BraScgaard, who owned the can aing factory, and was past middle ace himself, stood in the shadow ot the porch in a black nat ana a rough fur collar, Near him stood Knrt Osterholm who now that lhev had stayed after the hour was keeping an eye out for the guard. Mortensen was there, anc Kierlof. and Kaare Jensen, the one-legged shoemaker, They shifted uneasily, anc picked up the long poles on whicf the coffin was to be carried. Gun nar Brogge and the carpenter brought the coffin endwise out o the house and laid it on the poles Then they started of.
 The night was very cold. Tht snoS crunched underfoot. They stayed close together and as que as they could, carrying the deat men between them. When the! pot under the trees and out O sight of the village, they laid th' coffin down minute to light then torches.
 It would have made old Sixtu happy, for he who had fought al his life for the little man was Dc ing carried to his grave like tn greatest of them all. The cotfii grew heavier as they climbed
 It was an hours trip, part o ihe way through deep snow tha 1ad drifted down onto the patf They followed the tracks of me who had gone ahead that after noon. their torches fiaring redll he pitch trailing out pillows c black smoke whenever the win rasped downward under the ser branches. Like a giant they car ried him, silent in the coffin, hundred steps for every one of hi years. an instant's silence to every word he had spoken.
 Each of them in that desolat hour had his separate thought Osterholm of the moment whe that afternoon. for the first tim he had struck his child, She Ina grown deathly white and said low voice. If mamma vel alive '" and stood there an looked at him with wide and teal struck eyes.
 Gunnar trudged upward und' the weight of the dead man. at wished he could talk to Solyei The strange awe he felt was som thing he could have told only his wife. Their little Gunda w sick in bed. wrapped in one
 his old coats. She had had iev that afternoon. There were othe! Some of the men, too, and the wives "A bad time to get slcf he thought.
 Their boots crunched in | hard snow. The wind cut at tht faces: sometimes a man stumble and his torch fared down like signal light. but other han reached for the poles. The con never wavered; they carried | old man like king.
 Just below the crest Of the h they laid the coffin down on | sncg and rested breathing heaWi The trees were thinner here. a! inc white moon high overhead ei all their shadows in sharp relief.
 Now that they were in the cle the moon gave plenty of light, they put out their torches beic they started toward the le' match of ground that jutted out sea. - .
 It was where Mortensen n wafched tgo nights before, a KlerIof the intervening night. fhe farthest lip Of land, there V still a hollow in the snow ~h' they had lain.
 A little to one side oi pla match of new-dug earth they set ccfFln down. The wind scared c. above them with rushing noi Am there on that lonely land tl hurled him. As the shovels poui ~lnds over the hollow boards. nastor began to pray in a Io' rnouot0nous voice. The doctor was stamping feet Mems coats were whippl ~sdewavs about their legs. T nast0r lifted his voice. our Fath wlso art iga heaven me vol were lost in the wina. Men tusu