Read Online Belinda by Bryan Caine - Free Book Online

looking out for a family or group that might help her. But they were all incredibly rude. Some just swore and shoved her away roughly, whilst others were very coarse, loudly offering to take her on if she sucked them all the way to California, and then laughing uproariously. Belinda decided she would save those sort of options for last; there must surely be some decent people going west who would employ her as a servant on the journey.
    And then, after trudging around the mighty gathering of covered wagons all morning and half the afternoon, she saw a sight that gave her wretched soul an uplift. A very religious-looking group with four wagons, each apparently owned by stern faced men with beards and their equally solemn wives. They were all dressed simply in black. There were no children to be seen, except for a teenage boy on one wagon and a girl of similar age on another, and the group looked ready to be on the move. They were scanning the crowds, as if there was something they were seeking before they left. Belinda, with nothing to lose, but also without any hope in her heart, approached the nearest man of the group.
    â€˜Excuse me, sir…’ she said hesitantly, and trembled as he looked down fiercely from the wagon. The combination of her weariness, the abysmal behaviour of those Bostonians, and the thought of the enormous journey ahead had sapped her confidence.
    â€˜I… I’m English and I’m stranded and I have got to get to California.’
    The man looked at her coldly. ‘We are Danish and we are stranded and we have to get to California too. We are of the very strict Pandervest religion, and we do not permit any work on the Sabbath. This can be arranged when you are at home, but on a long arduous and perilous journey such as this there will be things to do every day. We had arranged for a good girl to help us but she has not arrived and we can only see blackguards all around us looking for work.’ He stared at her. He was a handsome man in a severe sort of way. ‘But now I see the Lord has sent us an honest looking girl who is desperate too. Does that mean you wish to travel with us as our servant – especially on the Sabbath?’
    Belinda could hardly believe her luck. Her eyes shone and her head nodded enthusiastically.
    â€˜Very well,’ he continued, ‘but we are a devout group and we have certain conditions for outsiders who are bound to break the Sabbath. I had better tell you them all…’
    But Belinda didn’t care. She was on her way to her uncle in California under the protection of a decent civilised group of families, and that was all that mattered.
    â€˜You can teach me as we journey!’ she cried out. ‘Whatever it is will be fine with me!’
    â€˜When can you leave?’ asked the man, and he almost smiled when Belinda shouted, ‘Now if you like!’
    â€˜If the good Lord likes, then now it will be,’ he said in a wise tone of voice. He indicated to her to climb aboard, and his unsmiling wife, seated beside him, helped her up as he turned and called out the news in Danish to his companions. They restricted themselves to a few grunts of approval and, with Belinda safely aboard with those strange but decent folk, the four wagons moved down to the waterside to board the next ferry. They were to make the river crossing that afternoon, and then set off in earnest at daybreak the next day – Tuesday.
    The first few days passed uneventfully; just a matter of trundling along all day, making as much progress as possible through the beautiful green and woody countryside and making camp at night. Belinda now felt that hell was far behind her and that everything would be all right from now on. She had been feeling that there must have been some innate wickedness in her soul that somehow showed through and made so many men want to defile her; she could think of no other reason for the strange reactions she inspired, both in