Chesapeake by James A. Michener

Author:James A. Michener [Michener, James A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Adventure, Classics
ISBN: 9780307430793
Google: NRzsJ73feUAC
Amazon: B0012DZ32O
Barnesnoble: B0012DZ32O
Goodreads: 9211491
Publisher: Random House LLC
Published: 1978-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

If Matt Turlock was disgruntled when he sailed away from Penelope Grimes, her nervous laughter rankling in his memory, he was enraged when he left George Paxmore. He had sailed directly to the boatyard to inspect repairs to the Ariel, but found the clipper back in the water without having been touched.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked gruffly.

‘Everything,’ Paxmore said, and when he showed no signs of further explanation, Matt grabbed him harshly and asked, ‘Where’s the carpenters?’

‘They’re not working. They won’t be working.’

‘And why not?’

‘Because they went below, Matt. We all went below.’

‘And what happened below?’

Paxmore called one of his workmen, a Quaker mechanic of noted skill and piety. ‘Tell Captain Turlock what thee saw, Lippincott.’

‘I saw the cramped hold of a slave ship,’ Lippincott said. He stared defiantly at the red-headed captain and walked away.

‘Matthew, thee’s become a slaver.’ Before Turlock could respond, Paxmore said with deep resentment, ‘Thee took the finest clipper I ever built …’

‘And what are we going to do about it?’ Turlock asked as if issuing a challenge.

‘I have this proposal, Matthew. If thee will allow my men to board thy clipper and tear out those slave quarters, we’ll do the work for nothing and then make the other repairs. If thee refuses to quit the slave trade, we’ll never touch our vessel again, even if she were sinking of the worm.’

Twice rejected in as many days was too much for Turlock. Shoving Paxmore aside, he growled, ‘I’ll have her mended by carpenters of courage—who know what the world is and how damned difficult it is to find a cargo and an open port.’

But Paxmore would not be so easily repulsed. Returning to where Turlock stood glowering at the Ariel, he said quietly, ‘Matthew, I would to pray with thee. And so would Elizabeth. Come to our home.’

‘I need no prayers. I need a carpenter.’

‘We all need prayers.’

‘Get away from here, Paxmore. You make me sick.’

‘Then I shall do the praying.’

‘Don’t bother to pray for me. I need it no more.’

‘I shall not pray for thee. I shall pray for myself. I shall ask for forgiveness for having built the clipper. You have defiled … it’s no longer a vessel of mine.’ Gravely he looked at the beautiful clipper, the epitome of his family’s tradition, and with an awkward movement of his left hand, erased it from the harbor. It was contaminated and would never again enter the Paxmore yards.

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.