Seek the Fair Land by Walter Macken

Author:Walter Macken [Macken, Walter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Chapter Seventeen

THE SUN went down. They couldn’t see its end because on the other side of the river the land rose a little. But they saw its death in the sky all around them. The smooth water became multi-coloured, and in the middle where the current broke the smooth flow the change of light and colour was dazzling. The birds started their night calling, and from upstream two wild duck came whistling down towards them, splashed the water near them and swam into the rushes. The drake quacked twice, contentedly, and then settled down.

Dominick felt Peter’s worry, now and then saw the white of his eyes as he raised them to book at his father’s face.

She will be all right, he told himself. They couldn’t have associated her with him so quickly. It would take them time to find out his name and the fact that there were two children with him. Whatever delayed her had to be good.

‘You know Man,’ he said to Peter. ‘She gets talking to people.’ So she did too, even to the wrong kind of people, that was the trouble. If a person was friendly to her, Man would be friendly to him, soldier or sailor. She would even talk to Coote if he was friendly to her. At this thought, Dominick broke out in a cold sweat. ‘Wait,’ he said then. ‘I will go back a little and see if there is sign of her.’

He raised himself. His limbs were stiff. He walked through the path in the rushes, cautiously emerged from them and climbed to the high ground. He looked. He could see the bulk of the town, a dark mass against the green sky. He could see the heads and shoulders of the patrolling sentries on the walls where the dark bulk of buildings behind them did not make them vanish. He could see the gleam on the waters of the many streams that were swallowed by the fortifications and the mills. But there was no sign of the little girl. He wondered if he would go back in and find her. That would be foolish. It would mean three of them separated and he thought how Peter might feel if he was caught. No, for once have faith in goodness, in the name of God, he told himself. He went back to Peter.

‘The boatman may have held her for a reason,’ he said to Peter. That was a sensible idea, if it was true. ‘When he brings the boat he will bring Mary Ann.’

He held on to that thought. It was sensible. He thought of Tom Tarpy. Such a big jolly happy man. Ah, they said, but you should have seen him before the troubles came on us. Death was very fleet. One second you were here, and the next your mind was standing in front of a different judge from the ones provided here. Be merciful, Lord, to Tom, he thought. He was hurt at the things that were happening all around him.

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.