The Devil's Heart by Candace Osmond

Author:Candace Osmond [Osmond, Candace]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781988159508
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

After Henry’s warning, I desperately wanted to gain his trust. I had a sliver of it, but I wanted more. I needed it, especially if I were to convince him not to kill The Cobhams. I quickly adjusted to my new role aboard The Devil’s Heart and found comfort in duties.

I cooked and cleaned while constantly on the lookout for Henry, hoping to catch glimpses of him but he very rarely left his quarters. I daydreamed about what he must have been like in those early days after he’d finally escaped The Burning Ghost. Days went by in a blur and I was grateful we had planned to meet landfall soon because the meager food supply I started out with grew smaller by the day.

I found all the tools required to cook, but as far as food went… a bag of flour, a tub of butter, half a sack of stale oats, a few satchels of what I assumed were baking powder or something, a crate of old potatoes and carrots mixed together, and some dried fish was all I found. Most of that was gone in the first two days and I had a crew of a dozen men to feed.

On day three, I wracked my brain to think of something for lunch and found a near-empty jar of molasses at the bottom of a crate. Then it dawned on me. The perfect idea. And easy, too. I began to sift together the basic ingredients for an old bread recipe my mom taught me. One that didn’t need yeast.

I fired up the stove and placed a massive cast iron pan on top to heat up. It wasn’t long before I had a massive basket full of freshly made fried bread, an age-old Newfoundland favorite. Henry’s favorite, from what his journal told me.

There wasn’t enough molasses for everyone to share, but I doubted the crew would have anything to say about it. Before lunchtime rolled around, a few whose names I’d yet to learn came sniffing around and took their seats in anticipation. When the mess deck was full, I laid out a stack of plates on my counter next to the basket of toutans.

“Dig in, boys,” I said loudly.

They raced to the front, pushing one another out of the way, and grabbed handfuls of the dense pancakes. I felt a slight sense of pride that I managed to please a large group of men with such skimpy ingredients.

“These smell good enough to eat,” Finn told me with a wink. He had three in his hand and then stuffed one in his mouth. “Ye keep cookin’ like this and the crew will love ye in no time.”

“Thanks, Finn,” I replied and stuffed one for myself in the front pocket of my apron. Then I grabbed the tray meant for Henry and made my way up the ladder. I knocked on his door but didn’t get a reply. Thinking he was maybe asleep, I snuck in to place the tray on his desk.

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.