`` Look here , Sara , '' I said , `` there 's something about that ring -- something you know . '' `` I told you once there was a story growing but you would have to wait until it was fully grown , '' she answered . `` Is Miss Reade going to marry anybody -- anybody we know ? '' I persisted . `` Curiosity killed a cat , '' observed the Story Girl coolly . `` Miss Reade has n't told me that she was going to marry anybody . You will find out all that is good for you to know in due time . '' When the Story Girl put on grown-up airs I did not like her so well , and I dropped the subject with a dignity that seemed to amuse her mightily . She had been away for a week , visiting cousins in Markdale , and she had come home with a new treasure-trove of stories , most of which she had heard from the old sailors of Markdale Harbour . She had promised that morning to tell us of `` the most tragic event that had ever been known on the north shore , '' and we now reminded her of her promise . `` Some call it the ` Yankee Storm , ' and others the ` American Gale , ' '' she began , sitting down by Miss Reade and beaming , because the latter put her arm around her waist . `` It happened nearly forty years ago , in October of 1851 . Old Mr. Coles at the Harbour told me all about it . He was a young man then and he says he can never forget that dreadful time . You know in those days hundreds of American fishing schooners used to come down to the Gulf every summer to fish mackerel . On one beautiful Saturday night in this October of 1851 , more than one hundred of these vessels could be counted from Markdale Capes . By Monday night more than seventy of them had been destroyed . Those which had escaped were mostly those which went into harbour Saturday night , to keep Sunday . Mr. Coles says the rest stayed outside and fished all day Sunday , same as through the week , and HE says the storm was a judgment on them for doing it . But he admits that even some of them got into harbour later on and escaped , so it 's hard to know what to think .
But it is certain that on Sunday night there came up a sudden and terrible storm -- the worst , Mr. Coles XXXXX , that has ever been known on the north shore .
admits began come find fished forget heard persisted says stayed