Press Gang! by Anthony Barton

Author:Anthony Barton [Barton, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bulmer Press
Published: 2018-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

SHE DIPPED a bar of ash-and-fat laundry soap into the bucket of water and scrubbed her body furiously from head to toe. The rat bites and scratches on her legs smarted, but it felt wonderful to be free at last of the horrid stench of that bilge hole.

She tossed the bar of soap to Jim, emptied the bucket of seawater over her head and fetched up a fresh bucket of seawater for her brother. She watched as he emptied the bucket over himself. The blood from the welt on his head had matted his hair, but otherwise he looked fit and ready for more adventures.

I have a strong brother. He is recovering fast from what that brute Foster did to him.

‘That feels better,’ she said, shaking her head and looking around for towels. There were none. Their bodies would have to dry by themselves.

Corrie and Jim pulled on their new clothes as fast as they could. Corrie’s fingers fumbled several times with the unfamiliar buttons. She did not see why there had to be so many buttons on a sailor’s jacket. When they had finished dressing, they turned to look at one another and burst out laughing.

Corrie had chosen breeches with vertical blue and white stripes, and a dark blue jacket with a high collar that turned up. She looked like a slender and agile boy.

Jim had chosen an olive jacket with bright brass buttons. He looked like a Paris revolutionary.

‘What would Mrs. Demeter say?’ said Corrie.

‘She’d never let us go to the pub again,’ said Jim.

They both giggled.

Is my brother jealous? I think so. A little bit.

Corrie knew that Jim had ever really expected that his sister would join the navy. Now that they were both sailors, he was probably both envious of her and fearful for her. He knew as well as she did that the appalling master-at-arms would soon learn of their escape from the bilge hole, and that he was bound to come looking for them, possibly with murder on his mind. People like Sly never leave well alone. She could hardly blame Jim for wishing he did not have a sister to look after.

It hasn’t dawned on Jim that I may just end up looking after him, instead of the other way around. If that turns out to be the case, then I fear he is going to be hopping mad at me.

Grinning at the thought, she bundled together their discarded hornpipe dancing costumes, his and hers, and carried them at arm’s length to the laundry tub. ‘Thanks so much,’ she said, and she smiled at Norah.

‘No problem,’ said Norah.

‘They’ll be ready by morning,’ said Gladys.

‘May we have a drink of water?’ asked Jim. ‘I’m awfully thirsty.’

‘Help yourself,’ said Gladys, and she waved at the barrel of fresh water that was used for washing shirts. ‘You didn’t tell us your names.’

‘I’m Jim Harriman and this –’ he paused, confused. He had never had trouble introducing his sister before, but now that she was his brother he found himself tongue-tied.

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.