Read Online In The Wreckage: A Tale of Two Brothers by Simon J. Townley - Free Book Online Page B

treasures.” A flash of a smile, but she turned and strode ahead up the gangplank before he could ask any further.  
    On deck the crew were busy loading supplies, stacking hay and straw, piling boxes of vegetables outside the galley. But they seemed unnaturally quiet. Faces turned towards him, looking away if he caught their eye. A tension hung in the air. The captain stood on the rail at the edge of the poop deck, surveying the work, his face stern.  
    Jonah strode towards them and spoke to Mrs Hudson, whispering something Conall couldn’t catch. Then Jonah stepped in front of him, expression serious, face set hard, eyes unblinking, gripping his cane. “Placing you under arrest, young Mr Hawkins.”  
    “Why, what have I done?”  
    “Take him to the brig boys.”  
    “Not with his brother, keep them apart,” the captain shouted from the poop deck.  
    Jonah conferred with Bagatt. “Lock him in the laundry for now,” Jonah said. “It’ll be secure until we can deal with him.”  
    Conall looked towards Erica for help. She put a hand on his shoulder, but said nothing, pushing him gently towards Jonah, telling him he had to go.
    “What’s this about?”  
    “You’ll find out soon enough.”  
    Faro. Faro had done something, and Conall was getting blamed. The map. It had to be. Faro had been caught, and now they’d both be left behind in Tromsø.
    The door to the cramped laundry room slammed shut and he squeezed in beside three large sinks filled with socks and underwear, left there to soak. It smelt musty, the air humid and heavy. The carpenter’s toolbox rattled on the other side of the door as he knelt to fix a lock. The sound of screws in wood told Conall he was now a prisoner.  
    There was no chair, no bed in the room, so Conall sat on the floor, knees up to his chin, arms wrapped around them, wondering what to say when the captain called him to be questioned. He could insist on his innocence and betray Faro. Or stand by his brother, take whatever punishment came his way.  
    But there was no choice. If they put Faro off at Tromsø, then Conall had to stay with him. They had set off together, had always been together. The two of them would make it to Svalbard, and find their parents, dead or alive. They’d do this together. They were brothers, a team. Unbreakable.  

    ≈≈≈≈

    The Arkady sailed with Conall still locked in the laundry. The hum of the engine told him they were getting under way. From overhead came the familiar sounds of the crew in the rigging.  
    Hours passed. The ship steered out of the fjord into the coastal waters, heading north under sail. Bagatt brought a meal and water. Then more waiting.
    They hadn’t been left in Tromsø, but where next? Would Captain Hudson take them all the way to Svalbard? Or leave them in some Norwegian town, inaccessible except by sea, hundreds of miles from either Shetland or Spitsbergen?  
    Conall curled up on the floor and slept, waking to the sound of the door being unlocked. ‘Bones’ Bagatt stood there, face stern, eyes refusing to look straight at Conall. No words were spoken. Bagatt led him to the captain’s stateroom.  
    “Your brother was caught stealing,” Captain Hudson said. He sat with his wife to one side, Jonah to the other, and stared at Conall, waiting for his reaction.  
    Conall glanced from face to face. Mrs Hudson gazed at her hands. Jonah stared into Conall’s eyes, as relentless as the captain. But did Jonah know? Or suspect? Had Faro found the map, been caught with it, red-handed?
    “You don’t appear surprised,” the captain said. He folded his hands on the table in front of him, fingers interlocked, waiting for Conall to speak.
    “It must be a mistake.” Conall’s throat was dry as desert wind, his voice crackling as he spoke.  
    “Were you involved?” It was the first time Mrs Hudson had spoken since Conall came into the room. “Did you have anything to do with this?”  
    “Nothing, it’s a