15 Graves by Chris Thorndyke

Author:Chris Thorndyke [Thorndyke, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Burton Mayers Books
Published: 2023-06-22T23:00:00+00:00

23

The sun was rising over the harbour of Nogersund as Anna made her way towards the warehouse. Smiling, she was pleased to see that Nils and Gustav had started loading Erik’s fishing vessel. There was no sign of her brother Lars and thinking he might be busy onboard she called out to the two fishermen.

“Is my brother onboard?”

Shaking their heads, Nils called back, “No sign of him yet. Perhaps he’s waiting for instructions from your father. Looks like your father arrived back in the early hours. Can you check what boxes of fish need to be loaded, we’ve already brought the vegetables onboard.”

“Yes of course,” replied Anna, hurrying over to the warehouse.

Excitement surged through her as she marked the boxes of fish to be loaded, it was today she would meet James. All week she had been longing for this moment. Not a morning had passed, without her looking through her father’s telescope from the large window in the front of their house for a glimpse of what might have been James’ frigate setting out on an early morning patrol. She was pleased that Lars would be skippering the vessel, knowing he wouldn’t ask any questions when she announced she would leave them for a few hours to walk around the island alone. She would not mention anything about James to Lars, not yet anyway.

The weather looked fine for the day, a stiff breeze giving the water outside the harbour a slight swell. She could not wait to get the business with the supplies over and done with, and for midmorning to come, knowing James would be waiting for her on the quay. She would act normally, so as not to cause her brother to suspect anything.

Gustav had gone on board to prepare the fishing boat for departure, leaving Nils to carry the last boxes of fish down to the vessel. Anna checked that the tally documents were all in order and, placing them in a deep pocket of her gown, she closed the warehouse doors. Humming the tune of a love song that had been playing in her head all morning, she casually followed Nils along the quay. The sight of two shadowy figures approaching the fishing boat caused her to shield her eyes from the strong rays of sunlight streaming over the harbour. Quickening her pace, she suddenly stopped short as a wave of disappointment surged over her. Crestfallen, she gazed at the figures of her father and her uncle Olof hastening up the vessel’s ramp. Seeing his daughter standing on the quay, Erik beckoned her to hurry up on board. Trying hard to hide her disheartenment at the prospect of her date with James being quashed, she followed him up the ramp.

“I assume everything’s been loaded and ready for the garrison, Anna?” said Erik, looking at her questioningly.

“Yes papa,” replied Anna. “I thought Lars would be taking us over today.”

“No, I gave him the day off, Olof is skipper today. I had a long and tiring journey

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