Dash by Kate Klimo

Author:Kate Klimo
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780385373401
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2014-07-21T17:00:00+00:00

LIONS IN THE NIGHT!

The hill where we will build our new home is high, but flat on top. It overlooks a salty marsh teeming with birds and a long stretch of coastline. While the colonists walk about, planning where the houses and other buildings will sit, Mercy and I follow our noses. We find human bones, some jutting up out of the earth. Skulls lie in plain sight, unburied. The bones are bleached white, and yet our noses tell us: the people here died of some dread disease. Perhaps that is why this place is so sad and empty and shunned.

Mercy and I remain onshore with a small party. The rest return to the Mayflower. The ship has followed us to this harbor and lies anchored offshore, close enough for us to see its lights twinkling at night. Tomorrow, more men will come ashore and start the building. But in the night, such a storm comes up as to nearly blow us all away. Mercy howls almost as loudly as the wind.

The gale continues to rage all through the following day. No building can be done. I rouse myself to go hunting with John Goodman, who is sickly but able to lift his musket.

The fire is barely hot enough to cook the fowl, and the men tear at it with their teeth. The meat is practically raw. They complain bitterly. There are bloody scraps aplenty for the big girl and me to feast upon. That night, we stare out to sea and watch the Mayflower buck the waves. It takes two anchors to hold her down.

Finally, the clouds flee before the wind and uncover a sun as pale as a winter egg yolk. Men come ashore. Their faces are long.

“We have lost three more to sickness,” one of them reports.

Later, more of the healthy ones leave the ship, including the lads and lass. The children run about, heedless of the cold. Francis Billington belongs to the pack now. We lead the children to our favorite places and show them the bones.

Francis rears back. “The Evil Eye watches this place!”

“Don’t even say that,” Remember says, clutching herself and gazing around uneasily.

Wrestling, however, seems to warm to this notion. Like Pirates, the Evil Eye will make a good game.

“Pishposh,” says Love. “God smiles upon this place. Our father says so.”

One of the colonists spies us in a huddle. “This is no time for idle play,” he says. “If you are healthy, you will work.”

We lose our playmates. All around us, there is a great hustle and bustle. The men cut down trees with axes.

“Watch out below!” they cry as the trees topple with an earth-shaking thud.

Teams of men rope the timber and haul it up the hill.

Mercy and I must scramble to stay out from underfoot.

Francis says, “It is Christmastime. Back home in London, they’ll be resting and feasting, but here it is nothing but work, from sunup to sundown.”

Night falls. The forests around us rise up, dark and cold. From their depths, we can hear the chanting of the natives.

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.