Read Online The Secret River by Kate Grenville - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Kate Grenville
Ads: Link
.
So when Yates the foreman told him to go down to Horselydown, to the Rose Mary of Mr Buller’s line, and bring a load of timber up the river to Three Cranes Wharf, he was ready. He made sure the moon would not rise that night until near dawn, and told Rob to stand ready to join him down at the Rose Mary .
The evening before, he took the empty lighter down with the tide to Horselydown, arriving there at midnight. He made the lighter fast to the side of the Rose Mary and lay down in it for a few hours’ sleep before daylight, when he would load the timber and wait for the tide to take him up to Three Cranes Wharf.
So far, he was as innocent as the driven snow.
He enjoyed these nights on the river, the comforting sound of the water against the hull. The Rose Mary beside him was nothing more than another texture of blackness against the blackness of the sky, where the stars were blotted out by cloud.
A man with a clear conscience did not need to fear the dark.
He thought of Sal, tucked up in the bed with the child. She had come to him, that very morning, and told him that there was another on the way: another mouth to find food for. She had laughed at the way his eyes went straight to her belly. It ain’t showing yet, Will! But had taken his hand and laid it on her pinny, over the place where his seed had planted itself, and smiled into his face.
She never asked too closely about where their money came from, was only pleased to have a loaf in the cupboard and clean milk for the child. She knew as well as he did that a lighterman who was too scrupulous was likely to starve. But he felt in her a turning-away from the truth of that, and he never shared with herthose nights on the river when he fingered something or other that was not his own.
When day came there was no sign of Rob and he could not wait for him, so he had to hire a man called Barnes from the wharf, with hardly enough wit to know how to pick up the other end of a beam and lower it into the lighter. As he chivvied him, he grew angry with Rob, and with himself for thinking such a halfwit could remember his own name, let alone to meet him at the promised hour.
Mr Lucas came on board late in the morning to point and shout. By the time he got there, the bulk of the wood was already loaded onto the lighter, but Thornhill had not seen any Brazil timber, only deal, and was starting to think Nugent had been misinformed. He shouted up to Lucas, We are just about full up, Mr Lucas, I take it there ain’t no more to be got? Lucas gave him a look, and held up his marking-hammer with a funny kind of smile. Just a little more in the cabin , he called down. Six pieces of Brazil that I will put my mark on .
Thornhill could feel an airiness in his body. It was the feeling he always had, no matter how many times he took the step outside of the law: a lightheaded mix of fear and need. But he made his face a rock so it showed nothing.
Lucas stood watching from above while Thornhill and Barnes loaded the Brazil timber, four long planks and two shorter pieces. The lighter was already so full there was nowhere to put the Brazil other than on top of the rest. Even in its rough-dressed state, he could see how fine a timber it was, a rich red colour with a close-figured grain. As they put the shorter pieces in, Thornhill saw the marks Lucas had made on each piece: a little square hammered deep into each end.
For a moment he thought better of his plan. It was hardly an idea, just a trickle of cold water down the back of his collar. He knows, do not do this . His heart beat loose enough to shake his chest.
He knew what this feeling was called: it was fear. But fear was not enough to stop anyone lifting objects from their owners. It was just part of a lighterman’s life, like his wet feet. The problem was simple: fear did not pay the rent.
Lucas stood on the deck of the Rose Mary with his big hands on his big hips, watching each piece of timber onto the lighter. I do not like
So when Yates the foreman told him to go down to Horselydown, to the Rose Mary of Mr Buller’s line, and bring a load of timber up the river to Three Cranes Wharf, he was ready. He made sure the moon would not rise that night until near dawn, and told Rob to stand ready to join him down at the Rose Mary .
The evening before, he took the empty lighter down with the tide to Horselydown, arriving there at midnight. He made the lighter fast to the side of the Rose Mary and lay down in it for a few hours’ sleep before daylight, when he would load the timber and wait for the tide to take him up to Three Cranes Wharf.
So far, he was as innocent as the driven snow.
He enjoyed these nights on the river, the comforting sound of the water against the hull. The Rose Mary beside him was nothing more than another texture of blackness against the blackness of the sky, where the stars were blotted out by cloud.
A man with a clear conscience did not need to fear the dark.
He thought of Sal, tucked up in the bed with the child. She had come to him, that very morning, and told him that there was another on the way: another mouth to find food for. She had laughed at the way his eyes went straight to her belly. It ain’t showing yet, Will! But had taken his hand and laid it on her pinny, over the place where his seed had planted itself, and smiled into his face.
She never asked too closely about where their money came from, was only pleased to have a loaf in the cupboard and clean milk for the child. She knew as well as he did that a lighterman who was too scrupulous was likely to starve. But he felt in her a turning-away from the truth of that, and he never shared with herthose nights on the river when he fingered something or other that was not his own.
When day came there was no sign of Rob and he could not wait for him, so he had to hire a man called Barnes from the wharf, with hardly enough wit to know how to pick up the other end of a beam and lower it into the lighter. As he chivvied him, he grew angry with Rob, and with himself for thinking such a halfwit could remember his own name, let alone to meet him at the promised hour.
Mr Lucas came on board late in the morning to point and shout. By the time he got there, the bulk of the wood was already loaded onto the lighter, but Thornhill had not seen any Brazil timber, only deal, and was starting to think Nugent had been misinformed. He shouted up to Lucas, We are just about full up, Mr Lucas, I take it there ain’t no more to be got? Lucas gave him a look, and held up his marking-hammer with a funny kind of smile. Just a little more in the cabin , he called down. Six pieces of Brazil that I will put my mark on .
Thornhill could feel an airiness in his body. It was the feeling he always had, no matter how many times he took the step outside of the law: a lightheaded mix of fear and need. But he made his face a rock so it showed nothing.
Lucas stood watching from above while Thornhill and Barnes loaded the Brazil timber, four long planks and two shorter pieces. The lighter was already so full there was nowhere to put the Brazil other than on top of the rest. Even in its rough-dressed state, he could see how fine a timber it was, a rich red colour with a close-figured grain. As they put the shorter pieces in, Thornhill saw the marks Lucas had made on each piece: a little square hammered deep into each end.
For a moment he thought better of his plan. It was hardly an idea, just a trickle of cold water down the back of his collar. He knows, do not do this . His heart beat loose enough to shake his chest.
He knew what this feeling was called: it was fear. But fear was not enough to stop anyone lifting objects from their owners. It was just part of a lighterman’s life, like his wet feet. The problem was simple: fear did not pay the rent.
Lucas stood on the deck of the Rose Mary with his big hands on his big hips, watching each piece of timber onto the lighter. I do not like
Similar Books
