Blue-Eyed Slave by Marshall Highet

Author:Marshall Highet
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Koehler Books
Published: 2022-01-10T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

They came for him during the mid-day meal, an hour after Hannah had arrived to say her last goodbyes. Afterwards, all Hannah could think was, Those poor boys. Mealtime was their favorite, mainly because the stew at school was sometimes the only food they would get all day. And now it would be forever ruined. Lunchtime would remind them of this moment when the men showed up.

All the children had been gathered around the battered table or perched on overturned buckets, spoons poised over their steaming bowls, eyes wide in anticipation. Hannah had just handed Washington, a boy of twelve, his bowl of stew when a hammering started up on the door.

“Harry!” hollered a gruff voice. “Open up!”

In a minute, a bewildered Harry appeared at the bottom of the rickety stairs that led up to his living quarters, a book held against his chest. The hammering came again, so hard paint chips showered the ground at the base of the door.

Harry looked at his class, meeting Hannah’s eyes last. He mouthed, “Take care,” cutting his eyes toward the gathered students before placing his book down on the step behind him and walking to the door with rigid dignity.

He stood before the door and straightened his waistcoat before swinging it open. Two men immediately muscled their way through the frame. They dwarfed everyone else in the room. One had a bunch of dark red curls gathered at the base of his neck like a fistful of red flowers, and the dark-haired one limped. They glanced at the terrified students before stepping up to Harry, each of them grabbing an elbow.

“Hey!” Harry said, twisting out of their grasp with a yank. “Hey, what are you doing? This is a school, and I am the headmaster! You can’t maul me.” He straightened to his full height, eyes blazing. “This is my school.”

When the redhead went to grab him again, Harry danced backwards out of his reach.

“Now, listen here, we’re taking you to the hospital,” growled the redheaded man, revealing blackened teeth, “You’ve been acting mighty strange. There are folks who want to see you get better. You a little too cocky for some in town. Time in the hospital should fix you right up.”

Harry’s eyes darted around the room, weighing his options. Hannah thought he might make a break for the back garden, but that would leave these two men—the dark-haired one was leaning up against the door jamb cleaning his nails with a pocket knife—alone with two girls and fourteen school boys. She knew he wouldn’t do that. Who knew what these men would do to them in Harry’s absence?

“Who sent you? Why are you here?” Harry protested.

The redheaded ruffian scoffed. “We can make this painful or not. Which will it be?”

Harry ignored him. “Regardless of who sent you, there is nothing wrong with me, and I am not going anywhere until I have finished my duties here. I have no idea what this is about, but I won’t stand for it.

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