Fled by Meg Keneally

Author:Meg Keneally
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781948924283
Publisher: Arcade
Published: 2019-05-21T16:00:00+00:00

But someone else had a similar idea.

A crew of five men, most of them from the second fleet, sailed by moonlight down the river from the government farm on a punt. They exchanged it for one of Dan’s fishing boats and slid unseen between the arms of the harbour entrance. No one in the settlement knew in which direction they had turned, although those who’d worked with the ringleader, Richard Tallow, on a government farm later said he was intending to head for Otaheite.

Very few thought Tallow would get there. The boat the men had taken was not in the best repair, and it was generally assumed they had drowned.

Their departure prompted a renewed vigilance. No one was watched more closely than two convicts with their own hut, and with seafaring skills. Surely, though, there could be no objection to Jenny and Dan entertaining a friend.

While Dan was still unsure about Jenny’s idea as a whole, he had at least agreed to think about it. Then, one evening, he brought John Carney to the hut.

Carney was among the least brutish of the men here. He simply wanted to be on the ocean and have enough to eat, and he wanted to marry a girl named Ann who had come on the Lady Penrhyn. But he was denied permission as there was a wife at home, and his protestations that she was probably dead by now did not count for anything. He was also never allowed to take a share of the catch, and he lived under constant threat of losing the ocean – of being sent to the saw pits or brick mills, or up to the new government farm.

And, as Carney told Jenny, he was very, very bored. ‘I understand you’re considering a bit of a journey, missus,’ he said.

‘Not I, no. I would never consider such a thing.’

‘Nor I, of course. But I have met those who would. I’ve spoken to those who have done it.’

‘How might that be?’

‘When he first arrived, I slept next to Richard Tallow.’

‘I’m sure you would’ve reported him to the authorities had you any idea what he was about,’ said Jenny.

‘Of course I would have, straight away. He raved like a madman – I barely listened. Still managed to hear quite a bit, though.’

The details came: how far away Otaheite was, in what direction, how long it might take a crew of convicts – non-existent convicts, of course, because everyone in this hut was far too upstanding to consider such a venture – to reach it, what provisions they would need. Most importantly, where they would find a vessel equal to the voyage.

‘Do you know, if anyone was dishonest and foolish enough to consider such a venture,’ Carney said, ‘they would need a navigator. Vincent Langham – you remember him, from the Charlotte? Irritating man, but knows a fair bit about navigating and doesn’t seem to be enjoying his life here.’

‘I suppose there could be no harm in having a conversation with him,’ said Jenny.

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