Donita K Paul [DragonKeeper Chronicles 03] DragonKnight (pdf)
Amber Kell [Hellbourne] Hellbourne [TEB MM] (pdf)
Ian Morson [William Falconer Mystery 05] Falconer and the Great Beast (pdf)
Ian Morson [William Falconer Mystery 04] A Psalm for Falconer (pdf)
Carol Lynne [Cattle Valley 27] Alone in a Crowd Ryan, Rio, Nate [TEB MM] (pdf)
Bulyczow Kiryl P,I. 2 PrzepaśÂć bez dna
Dali Salvador Dziennik Geniusza (etc.)
Hagen, Lynn Remembering to Breathe
Jacqueline Lichtenberg [Lifewave 01] Molt Brother
Edgar R Burroughs Tarzan i klejnoty
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
officers would have known he would not use them. They would have
seen it as an empty threat and defied it in a second. But what other
thing might he have done? He could think of nothing.
Captain Tobit wandered into the work yard and glanced at the oth-
ers with vacant eyes. After a minute he walked to Harrison s body and
stared at it.
See what your madness has done, Thomas growled at him.
The captain gave no sign that he had heard the lad and kept star-
ing at the body. Thomas turned from the captain in disgust and went
searching around the hut. He returned in a few minutes with two
earshells. One he tossed toward the mate, and with the other, he began
to scrape a hole in the soil and cinders of the work yard. Mr. Morgen
stepped over, kneeled, and dug silently at the opposite end of what
was to be the grave.
After several minutes, Thomas glanced up at the mate who kept
his eyes on his task. There was still a broad smear of Harrison s blood
in the center of his forehead. The sight of the carpenter s battered face
must have shocked him into sensibility. All in one moment, Mr. Mor-
gen must have seen Christopher s death as the result of Tobit s conceits,
bluster, and folly. That fact had to be apparent to the officer now while
he ruefully dug with his shell. His face certainly revealed no sign of
the surety and arrogance it had shown that morning.
Here Christopher was dead, and the sailor from the brig had prob-
ably died long since, expiring in a fever and terrible pain. Two more
men killed in addition to the crew of the Dove. So many had died as
a result of the captain s arrogance and wild fancies. Thomas looked up
and saw him wandering around the hut. He moved just as he had the
night of the wreck, with no purpose or will to his walk. At each ter-
rible event, the captain had drifted off into some strange dream, like
an opium-eater. With Tobit in that condition and the mate no longer
under his spell, Thomas would return to his little den, though he must
still be cautious. He could not imagine the mate now falling under the
sway of the captain again. The sight of Christopher s ghastly face had
314 MOTOO EETEE
broken that forever. The mate should want to quit the island as soon
as possible. Well, he was going to leave as soon as the chances of the
storms lessened. The officers might do what they pleased. Even if one
or the other changed his mind and asked to go with him, he would
refuse and could refuse as long as the canoe was hidden from them.
It was small for two men and would be impossible for three. If he
made it to the Middle Island alone, it would serve them justly if he
did not send relief. That would be good payment for the stripes he
had received that morning.
Thomas s temper burned as he remembered the flogging. He knew
he would have been dead at that moment if he had given over and lit
the train! His anger grew as he scooped up the soil with his shell and
flung it aside. He had time to dwell on it now that he was not strug-
gling across the slope of the volcano with Christopher s body. He
became furious and dug into the earth, attacking it as he wanted to
attack Tobit. What an officer! Haughty and sneering when all went his
way, so sure of all he said, speaking in words that brooked no denial,
yet hopeless and confused when everything went awry. He craved to
strike that jowly face, but there would be small satisfaction in thrash-
ing one so befuddled and helpless. Let him regain his senses, he swore
to himself, and he would serve Tobit as the captain had served the
poor sailor from the brig. He could bash his head in and feel no regret.
As the grave deepened, the wave of outrage in Thomas was sub-
siding. He and the mate were tiring. When it was hip deep, Thomas
ceased digging and crawled out of the hole. He stood at its edge and
looked down into the excavation. It should be deep enough, he
decided. There were no animals on the island that burrowed. The
bears took advantage only of the natural cavities, thus there was no
other reason to go deeper. But he could not allow Christopher to be
placed in that rough hole with nothing to shield him from the dirt to
be cast upon him. Some sort of coffin was needed. That meant mak-
ing planks, which was impossible. They could burn a log out as he
had done with the canoe, but the body would rot and stink before
one was ready. There must be a substitute, something to keep all the
MOTOO EETEE 315
rocks and lumps of cinders from pressing against his limp body and
his once-gentle face.
He left the mate, who was cleaning out the last of the loose earth,
and entered the hut. In a minute he came out carrying one of the
adzes. He walked into the bushes and returned several minutes later
bearing an armload of fern fronds. Then he jumped into the grave
and spread a layer of them on the bottom. The mate pulled Harrison s
body to the edge and, with his help, Thomas awkwardly lowered it
onto the fronds. The lad went for another batch of the greenery and
on his return dropped them at the edge of the grave and climbed into
the hole once more. He grasped Harrison s hand and held it for half
a minute.
Goodbye, old mate, he whispered to the unhearing ears. You
gave your life for me. I could not have asked for so much. Then he
placed the carpenter s hands flat on his chest and spread a covering
of fronds over the body. He smoothed Christopher s tangled, dirtied
hair and bloodied beard as best he could, then laid the last few fronds
over the face. When all was done, Thomas climbed out and began the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
