Read Online A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla - Free Book Online

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Historical Note
    On June 2, 1609, the Sea Adventure , with eight other ships, sailed from Plymouth, England. The small fleet was bound for Virginia, then an English colony in the New World. Two years before, settlers had founded the village of Jamestown there. Now many were ill, they faced starvation, and they were at war with the natives.
    The ships from England were bringing help and supplies. For weeks they sailed together, but on July 23 a storm drove them apart. Three days later the Sea Adventure was wrecked off an island in the Bermudas, about six hundred miles from Virginia.
    There were men, women, and children on board. All landed safely. In the nine months they lived there, they built two ships, and in May, 1610, they sailed to Virginia. They brought food from the friendly island—salt fish and pork, palm cabbage, cactus pears, and the pickled eggs of wild birds.
    They found Jamestown almost deserted. After the winter of 1609-10, known as the Starving Time, only a few settlers were left. The colonists from Bermuda fed and cared for them. Before the food was gone, three ships came from England with more supplies and new settlers, and Jamestown was saved.
    Stories of the Sea Adventure were published in England. Some of them were read by a man who wrote plays for the London theater, and he wrote a play about a storm at sea and a shipwreck on an enchanted island. The play was The Tempest . The man was William Shakespeare.

Excerpt from The Sword in the Tree

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WELDON CASTLE

1
    The boy sat up in bed. A sound in the night had wakened him.
    His room was so dark he could see nothing, but he could hear steps outside his door. He held his breath and listened.
    â€œShan!” said a voice.
    He let his breath go. It was his mother, calling his name.
    â€œYes?” he said. “What is it?”
    Lady Marian came into the room. She had a candle in her hand, and the light moved over the stone walls.
    â€œShan, I’m glad to find you here,” she said. “I was afraid you had gone with your father.”
    â€œWhere has my father gone?” asked Shan.
    â€œOne of the servants just wakened him and they went away together,” she said. “I heard them speak of a wounded knight.”
    â€œA wounded knight?” said Shan.
    â€œYes,” said Lady Marian. “Shan, what does it mean? Is someone making war on us? Are there enemy soldiers outside?”
    â€œDon’t be afraid, Mother,” said Shan. “Our good King Arthur has beaten all our enemies. And even if there were enemies, we would be safe here. There is no stronger castle in England than ours.”
    He went to the window. A light was moving in the courtyard below.
    â€œMother, I’m going down there,” he said.
    â€œI don’t think you should go,” said Lady Marian.
    â€œNo one is fighting,” he said. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
    He put on his clothes. He ran down the stairs and into the courtyard. There was a light near the castle gate. He went toward it.
    At the gate he found his father. Some of the servants were there, too. One of them had a lighted torch in his hand.
    â€œFather—” Shan stopped. On the stones at his father’s feet lay a man. A long, black beard hid his face. Two of the servants were taking off his armor.
    â€œWho is he?” asked Shan.
    â€œNo one knows,” said his father. “He beat on the gate. We let him in, and he fell in a faint.”
    â€œMy lord, I have found his wound,” said one of the servants.
    Shan’s father looked at the wound in the man’s side. “Bring him into the castle at once,” he said.
    The servants lifted the wounded man. They carried him into a bedroom in the castle.
    â€œHas he lost much blood?” asked Shan.
    â€œI think so,” said his father. “The wound is deep.”
    â€œShall I bring Nappus?” asked Shan.
    â€œNappus?”
    â€œYes. Nappus is