Harrow Quay put 1,200 lamp-flies over Pier Six at 8:00 p.m. Thursday. The last lamp-fly dropped its light at 8:11. Form 14-H calls the interval a public harmony show for Bramwell Kee.
Kee is the ten. The quay sheets still set Little Ten under his picture. He left four seasons ago to take the Far Club's paper. He was on the club ground that evening, by the factor's letter. He was not on Pier Six.
The flies left their crates at the second bell. They made a face, a cup, and a number. At minute four the number reversed over Brine & Hide and stayed. Harbor Log 19-C notes three crane holds. It notes one tannery complaint. The cup matched a cup the Far Club struck from its list in the spring. Schedule D carries a box marked crest. The box was checked. No box on Schedule D says the crest is old.
Deputy Crown Liaison Oat Quill stamped Form 14-H at 4:40 p.m. in Room 1. Line 6 is printed in his hand: "Eleven minutes, likeness of the ten, public harmony." He used crown seal 4481 from the afternoon pouch. The pouch book shows 4481 returned at 6:05 p.m. Quill stood on the pier steps at 8:20 and spoke into a horn cone.
"The city required a visible harmony," Quill said. "Eleven minutes met the minute count on the form."
Dusty Verdict had ruled the likeness at noon. Desk 3. The card says, "Mark not licensed. Do not fly the face." Verdict set the card on the spindle. At 4:41 a filing clerk pinned it to Form 14-H with a black clip. The clip was on the form when the flies rose. Verdict kept the copy.
"I wrote it at noon," Verdict said. "The seal is on the other page. The line I wrote is the line that is there."
Reed Hoss reached the Quay Clerk at 2:15 p.m. with one sheet from the Far Club. Kee would stay with the club. Kee had given no license for the mark. The clerk stamped 2:15 on the corner and put the sheet in the Thursday book. Hoss stood at the rail until the number reversed.
"He is with the club," Hoss said. "That is the letter. They told me the sky was already paid."
Clover Margin holds the bit slip for Civic Display. The slip is stamped 3:10 p.m. and amended at 7:50. The draw is 86,400 bits. Hire is 1,200 flies at 60 bits, with oil and handlers past that. In the lower corner Margin wrote, "Pier wick stock, 40 short." The spare oil for the flies came off the Pier Six and Pier Seven lamp list. The Friday sheet shows no wicks put back.
"The numbers sit on one slip," Margin said. "Eighty-six thousand four hundred bits for the display. Forty wicks short on the pier. I file them as they are."
Ness Calder was fifth on the Board Room 2 list for 5:00 p.m. She keeps the night locker on Pier Seven. Her paper asks for the forty wicks and for a hoist pin filed in March. At 4:52 the list took a red stroke. The stroke reads, "Room released to harmony briefing." A continuance card sends her to the 14th, same room, same hour.
"I was fifth on a written list," Calder said. "They gave the hour to the sky. The locker lamp is out on the side where the wick goes."
By 7:40 the rail was full. Paper tens went for two bits at the stair. A banner on the east post carried the old crest. Quill read Line 6 at 7:58. The cone failed on the last word. He folded the form and did not read the line again. The harbor bell started the flies.
The shutoff flag came down at 8:11. Most of the flies returned to the crates on Pier Six. Forty-six did not. The last line of Harbor Log 19-C places those forty-six on the tannery roof, "still part of a face." Brine & Hide sent a runner at 8:27. Chit 19 asks who pays for one hide marked with oil. The chit is in Margin's tray.
The tray order at 9:10 was the noon card, then the bit slip, then Calder's continuance, then Chit 19. Form 14-H lay under them, marked closed at eleven minutes. Seal 4481 was already back in the pouch.
