Ghost Warrior Jimmy Morrill by Laurence Murphy

Author:Laurence Murphy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical, Fiction, Jimmy Morrill, Peruvian (ship), Murphy. Laurence, Australian Fiction, Australian Historical Fiction, Australian Romantic Fiction
Publisher: Thunderbolt Publishing
Published: 2017-11-14T00:00:00+00:00

13

Fourteen days had passed since the raft grounded itself on the sandy cove at Cleveland Bay, and the four survivors had settled into a dreary daily ritual of foraging for enough of the necessities of life to sustain a meagre existence. Their attempts at fishing weren’t always successful and they were distressingly aware that unless they could obtain sufficient nourishment to regain a reasonable degree of health, any hope they might have of being able to build a suitable boat to take them back to civilisation was out of the question.

The captain and Morrill had got into the routine of setting out early each morning in their efforts to discover edible plants or game that could be easily caught. They had quickly realised that the small thick-legged wallabies that seemed to be abundant were most active before the heat of the day forced them into their hiding places amongst the rocks. No matter what action they took, however, they found that the animals were too quick and agile to be caught in snares or felled by rocks and the few edible looking fruits they found were bitter to the taste. More often than not they returned to the cave-camp with just a few rock-oysters that were added to the infrequent supply of fish caught off the beach. Geordie would then use the lens from the spy-glass to start a fire and they would huddle over it and cook whatever paltry fare they had managed to gather between them.

James Wilson had been brave in his attempts at assuming his own role in the continual search for food, but the last few days had seen him deteriorate quickly. He’d had to spend the night before last more than a mile from the camp because of the reduced mobility that was the result of the boils that had again festered on his legs. The other three had been worried by his absence, but had decided it would be foolish to attempt to locate him in the dark, and they could only pray that he had found shelter and wait impatiently for his safe return. When he did arrive, tired but unharmed, he was ordered to remain in camp until further notice, a consequence he understood, but only grudgingly agreed to.

Betsy was only slightly better off than James, Geordie told Morrill when they were alone together. He felt that, physically she was coping, perhaps even better than he was, but mentally the pressure showed in her thin face, her slumped shoulders, the fatigued and listless response to attempted conversation and the constant wretchedness that issued from her hollow eyes. Her melancholy was his misery too, he admitted, but he felt powerless to break down the emotional barrier that she seemed to have put up between herself and her three companions.

Her efforts to preserve her modesty were becoming futile too as the fabric of the few rags of clothing she was forced to regularly wear deteriorated, and he could only stand by with his heart aching as she disengaged herself from the male company that surrounded her.

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