Bound to Sarah by Craig Brennan

Author:Craig Brennan [Brennan, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781908105868
Google: -WJrXwAACAAJ
Amazon: B005C5Z7JW
Publisher: Craig Brennan
Published: 2011-06-14T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

BOUND TO SARAH

Almost four months had passed since Pat had arrived in Hobart town and still his irons continued to chafe and bite into his ankles. Bruised and grazed with the constant movement and weight of the shackles and chains, they were a torture in their own right and made life even more unbearable. In the evening, once the shackles had been removed, he spent hours rubbing and soothing the soreness. His ankles were the worst, with so little flesh around the bone, cuts were inevitable. At times, Pat and the other prisoners could be seen silently weeping in despair. Joe, on the other hand, suffered the same as everybody else but did not seem to complain as much. He just sighed a great sigh of relief when his irons came off for the night.

Every morning, except Sundays, they were put back in their irons and taken from the gaol on Murray Street to the lumber yard at Maquarie Point, where they were worked all day in leg chains, though their wrist chains were removed. Joe was lucky enough to work alongside Pat - they always did their best to stay together, though sometimes they were separated. John and Charlie were being held in the prisoners’ barracks, not far from the prison, and were both assigned to separate duties during the day. John worked in the military stables, because of his experience with horses, and Charlie had been assigned to a local shipbuilder, as a general labourer. When they returned to the barracks for the night, they were allowed a limited amount of free time They had to be back at the barracks by eight o’clock in the evening, so they would spend their time around the town. Neither of them had seen Pat or Joe since leaving the Rupert almost four months earlier.

The day had started as any other, and Pat and Joe were getting used to the lumber yard routine. Joe was familiar with working around wood, so he was quite at ease in that environment. He had adapted well to the change and needed some structure in order to function. As the morning drew on, there appeared to be some sort of a commotion down at the harbour. The two of them looked on curiously at the gathering crowd from Maquarie Point, which overlooked the harbour, just north of Sullivan’s Cove.

‘What d’ye s’pose is goin’ on over there, Pat?’

‘Dunno, mate, but summin’s up.’

‘P’raps the king’s comin’,’ suggested Joe.

‘Don’t be daft, Joe, why the ‘ell would ‘e come ‘ere?’ Joe scratched his head in search of an answer.

‘Hey! I’ve told you two before, get on with ye work. I’ll not tell ye again,’ shouted the overseer.

With that, Pat and Joe lifted their axes and went to work once more chopping the giant log that lay next to them. A short time later their attention was turned to the harbour again, as a ship came into sight, and those at the harbour roared out a welcome. By now, other convicts working at the lumber yard also began looking towards the harbour.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.