Bell for Adano, A - John Hersey [77]
At ten forty-five on the morning of the twenty-seventh the foreman had just finished making his speech of instructions to the workmen. There were about forty men. Some of them were good men and some were not so good. Things were going so busily in Adano that the labor supply was getting pretty low. Some of the men in these gangs were from out of town, and even the lazy Fatta was here, at work for the first time in years.
When the foreman finished his speech, he told the men that there would be a wait of about fifteen minutes before the donkey engines had enough steam to start hoisting the cargo.
Among the laborers there was one stranger to Adano who seemed above the average. He was a handsome man, and he did not have the pouches under his eyes which are usual among heavy lifters. He spoke good city Italian, too. He had a likable smile, and persuasive ways.
When the foreman was finished speaking, the stranger engaged four men in conversation. One of the four was the lazy Fatta.
“Did you hear the news?” the stranger said. “News about what?” one of the four said.
“About the German counterattack. I am uneasy this morning, because of what I heard.”
“What did you hear?” one of the four said.
“This sounds like the real thing. It started on the twenty-third, and it’s apparently reaching its peak this morning. The Germans are trying to throw the Americans into the sea.”
Fatta was not too lazy to wish to seem impressive. “Oh, I heard about that,” he said.
One of the others from Adano, who knew that Fatta. never knew anything, turned on him and said: “Where did you hear that, lazy Fatta?”
Fatta said: “Let me think. Oh yes, it was Mayor Nasta, before he was sent away. He said that the Germans would begin their attack on the twenty-third and that they planned to throw the Americans in the sea between the twenty-fifth and the twenty-eighth.”
One of the Adano men said: “Mayor Nasta was a liar. The Americans sent him to Africa.”
The stranger said: “Maybe the Americans sent him away because they knew that what he said was true, and they didn’t want him spreading fear in the town.”
Fatta, who was too lazy to think it through, said: “Yes, that may be so.”
But one of the others said: “How would the Americans know of the German plans?”
The stranger said: “They have spies. They have agents.”
Fatta said impressively: “It is possible. I heard about the attack several days ago.”
The stranger said: “You said between the twenty-fifth and the twenty-eighth? Today is the twenty-seventh. That checks with my information. Today is the big day, I guess.”
One of the men of Adano said: “What do you think will happen?”
The stranger said: “Well, that’s what makes me uneasy. I’d rather not talk about it.”
One of the men said: “Why not?” Another said: “Tell us.”
The stranger said: “No, it would not be fair to you, or to the Americans either. I would rather be uneasy by myself.” This stranger was a clever man, as you can see.
One of the men said: “We are uneasy now. Fatta has made us that way, and so have you. We would rather be uneasy about something specific. Tell us what you have heard.”
“No,” the stranger said, “it is too terrible.” The men insisted: “Tell us, tell us.”
The stranger, who was clever, and who had spotted the lazy Fatta as a fool and a potential rumor-monger, said: “Well, I will tell this man” - indicating Fatta - “Since he had heard the news previously.”
He took Fatta aside. The others saw the man whisper to Fatta, and they saw Fatta’s face go pale. Then they saw the stranger leave Fatta and move off into the crowd of workmen.
Fatta came over to them directly. He blurted out at once: “The Germans are going to put on an attack on the harbor of Adano at eleven o’clock - poison gas. It will come from a single plane.”
In a very few moments the crowd of men had begun to stir uneasily, and the rumor moved among them like a vapor: “Poison gas at eleven o’clock,... Gas at eleven... Gas, eleven, a plane... Gas, eleven... Gas... Gas... Gas...”
By two