The Evangeline Read Online Free PDF

if you would: exactly how many survivors were there? How many people did you rescue from the sea?’
    ‘Six. There were six still alive.’
    Roberts raised an eyebrow. ‘Six still alive. Do you mean you found some who were not alive?’
    ‘Yes.’
    Roberts waited, expecting more.
    Balfour, with a look that almost seemed a warning, retreated into silence.
    ‘How many?’ Roberts asked with quiet insistence.
    ‘One.’
    Again Roberts waited, and again there was no response beyond that bare minimum one-word answer.
    ‘Captain Balfour, I realise that you come to this with a certain reluctance, and that you may have opinions of your own about what happened, but you’re here to tell us what you know. All we are trying to do is get at the truth.’
    Balfour raised his chin. He looked hard at Roberts. ‘The truth? The sea has a truth of its own.You can’t judge it from here. Marlowe there,’ he said, nodding with a kind of formal respect towards the counsel table where the defendant sat next to William Darnell, ‘he knows it, and so do I.’
    Roberts knew better than to argue the point. He let Balfour’s words echo into the courtroom silence and then started again. ‘Would you please describe for the jury the condition of the dead body you found?’
    ‘The condition? There was no condition.’
    ‘What was left of the body?’ asked Roberts, losing all patience. ‘Did it have a head?’
    ‘No, sir, it did not. Nor hands, nor feet either.’
    Roberts gripped the jury box railing. He peered intently into Balfour’s eyes.
    ‘The hands, the feet, the head—had all been severed?’
    ‘Yes, sir, so it appeared.’
    ‘What was left of the trunk? And what was the condition of that?’
    ‘Sir?’
    Roberts clenched his jaw. His eyes narrowed into a warning of their own.‘You’re under oath, Mr Balfour. Answer the question.’
    Balfour glared at him, and then relented. He nodded his head slowly, as if he had resigned himself to playing a part in a game he despised. ‘It had been cut open from the sternum to the navel, disembowelled.’
    Roberts walked the short distance from the jury box to the counsel table. He picked up a black folder and removed a three-page document. He asked Balfour if he recognised it.
    ‘It’s the list of what was found in the lifeboat. The names of the six survivors and…’
    ‘And the other name, the name that went with what was left of the body you were just describing?’
    ‘I wouldn’t know that. No one told me.’
    ‘No one told you? I see. Look at the list again, if you would. In addition to the names of the survivors, you also list the other things you found. How much food did you find on board?’
    ‘Food? There was no food. I mean…’
    ‘And water? How much water did they have left?’
    With a grim expression, Captain Balfour shook his head. ‘There was no water, not a drop.’
    ‘No food, no water. And no clothing, either, I assume—except what they wore?’
    The two men stared at each other. The silence was ominous, profound.
    ‘There was clothing other than that.’
    ‘Extra clothing they had brought with them?’
    ‘No, I would not think they had time to bring anything except what they wore. It belonged to the others, the ones who did not make it.’
    Roberts blinked his eyes, nodded quickly, and looked away. ‘You’ve listed it there,’ he said, gesturing with his hand as he began to pace back and forth.‘There was clothing for how many people?’
    ‘It would appear there were eight.’
    ‘Eight?’ said Roberts, as he stopped in mid-stride.‘Eight who did not make it? What kind of clothing?’
    ‘I don’t understand.’
    ‘Men’s clothing? Women’s clothing? Which?’
    ‘Both. Five jackets that, from their size and style, belonged to men; three coats that belonged to women.’
    ‘And what purpose did they serve?’
    ‘You mean to the survivors? It’s bitter cold at night in the south Atlantic, especially that time of year. July is winter