Seldom Come By by Sherryl Caulfield

Author:Sherryl Caulfield
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adventure action, romance historical, love adventure, saga romance, war 1914 1918
Publisher: Sherryl Caulfield

41

One evening in mid-November after Samuel and Matthew had finished their rounds Samuel got to meet Matthew’s hero and friend, John McCrae. The two brothers were walking along through the Medical Camps, when a man with a large English setter came walking up beside them.

‘Evening, Jack.’

‘Hello Matthew.’ The man stopped, as did his dog. ‘Long day?’

‘Yes, but it’s over, thankfully. Hello Bonneau,’ said Matthew patting the dog who had moseyed forward for a sniff. ‘What about you?’

‘No, not too bad actually. I managed to finish my paper work and get away for a ride on Bonfire.’

‘Where’d you go?’

‘Along the waterfront to the pier where we went that day. When was that again?’

‘July before last.’

‘That long ago! Life is a blur here. Well now that you’re around we must go again.’

‘I’d like that.’ Turning to Samuel, Matthew placed his hand on his right shoulder. ‘Please let me introduce Samuel, my younger brother. Samuel, this is Lieutenant Colonel McCrae, Dr McCrae.’

‘The lost-at-sea brother? Hello Samuel,’ said the Colonel, extending his hand. ‘I’ve heard about you. Matthew told me you returned with him. Welcome here. I hope you are settling well into life at a military hospital. A bit of a change from Victoria hospital?’

Samuel shook his hand. ‘Yes, rather. Pleased to meet you, Dr McCrae. I’ve heard about you too.’ Samuel smiled. He knew about him all right. He was the McCrae from his first year Adami & McCrae pathology textbook, but more than that, was there an English speaking person anywhere in the world who did not know of him and his famous ‘In Flanders Fields’? Deferentially, Samuel said, ‘I was very moved by your poem, sir.’

‘Thank you,’ said Dr McCrae, ‘it was a moving time.’ He squinted his eyes a fraction. ‘In some respects, it still is.’

‘Have you written any more poems?’ asked Samuel.

‘Oh, I’ve got one I’m playing around with. Something similar.’

‘Samuel is a keen reader of poetry,’ said Matthew.

‘Is that so?’ asked Dr McCrae. ‘Would you two care for some tea? My sister Geillis has managed to send me some excellent supplies – not unappreciated may I add.’

Outside Dr McCrae’s modest quarters, they sat in canvas chairs around a brazier, drinking smoky Russian Caravan in metal mugs. ‘Tell me, Samuel,’ said Dr McCrae, ‘Byron or Coleridge?’

‘The Ancient Mariner is a great poem,’ Samuel replied.

Without hesitation Matthew said: ‘Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.’ After a short pause he added, ‘You’d know something about that, Samuel.’

‘How long did you go without water when you were adrift?’ asked the Doctor.

‘I stretched what I had over a week and then for the rest, another week, eight days, I didn’t have any.’

‘A week without water! Great Scott! I went two days without water once and I thought I’d fallen through the cracks into Hades.’

‘Where was that?’ asked Matthew.

‘In Africa, the Boer War – 478 miles of horse-riding through such dry, desolate country, you couldn’t even imagine it. At one

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