Sackett's Land (1974) Read Online Free Page B
Author: Louis - Sackett's 0 L'amour
locks, and that to be heard no more than a few feet away.
Where we now went was a place I had played in as a child, visiting but rarely since. It was an islet of perhaps three acres, cut by several narrow, winding waterways. It was an outcropping of limestone with a few birch trees and some ancient, massive oaks, thickly-branched. Reaching the place I sought--where an old snag of a dead tree projected upward from the bog--I turned past it, parted the reeds and took the boat into a hidden waterway which I followed for almost a hundred feet. There, against a limestone shelf, I moored the punt to an iron ring.
Taking weapons and food we walked the narrow path between limestone boulders and trees to a small shelf backed up against a fifteen-foot cliff of the same material. There stood a small hut, also of limestone, thatched and secure.
"This is mine," I told him.
"You do yourself well," he admitted grudgingly.
"We may have to drive out bats or water rats," I said, but we did not. It was tight and snug as always; a deep fireplace, thick walls, a table, two chairs, two chests on which to sleep and a bench along the wall. There was also a cupboard.
Gathering fuel together I kindled a small fire to take off the chill. "It is an ancient place," I said, "the men of the fens hid here from the Romans."
"And well they could do it," Jublain admitted. "A man would have the devil's own time finding a way to come in."
For the time being we were safe. This had been a snug haven even from the Danes. When they had finally captured the Isle of Ely after their first defeat they had never found this place. The house, old as it was, had been rebuilt, patched and repaired time and again.
Yet I had no idea of hiding forever in the fens, especially with more money in pocket than I'd ever had before. The events of the past few days had caused me to reexamine my life and choose a course I could steer with safety.
Pulling an oar through the dark channels had given me time to think and my thoughts had taken a sudden turn. Perhaps the use of the sword had inspired it; more likely the jingle of coins!
"We will be quiet and fish for a few days," I told Jublain. "Then off for London."
"London? Are you daft, man? That is where Genester will be, and where he is strongest."
"It is a vast city," I said complacently. "Folk say more than one hundred thousand people live there. How could I be found among so many?"
"You are a child," Jublain said angrily. "It is too small a place in which to hide from hate."
"I've a few coins," I said, "and I'm of no mind to rot in the fens. I do not wish to spend my life fishing or hunting with the bow."
"You are an archer, too?"
"So is every man in the fens. We can live by the bow."
"Let us off to the wars, then. We might do uncommon well."
"And lose an arm or an eye? No, I'll go a-venturing, but with goods, not my life."
"You'd become a merchant? Atrader ?"
"Why not? Buy a packet of goods and ship as a merchant venturer for the New World. There's a man named Gosnold, Bartholomew Gosnold, a gentleman from Suffolk. He has it in mind to start a colony there. There's wealth in trading with the Indians, he says."
"Bah!" Jublain was impatient. "Idle talk! Who knows what is there? The Spanish have done well, but north of their lands there is nothing but cold forests and hostile savages."
"And furs," I said.
"You live well here," he said. "You'd be a fool to give it up."
"There's geese," I admitted, "and ducks and fish and wild plants and eels. Or if a man was so inclined he could smuggle."
"But not you?" he asked cynically.
"I've a regard for law, although I do not always agree with it. Without law, man becomes a beast."
Jublain stared, then shrugged. "You are an odd one. All right, if it is London you wish for, to London we will go, but remember what I said. It is a small town when you are hated."
Outside, we tried our swords. Jublain was good, skilled in ways in which I was not. Yet soon I realized I was his
Where we now went was a place I had played in as a child, visiting but rarely since. It was an islet of perhaps three acres, cut by several narrow, winding waterways. It was an outcropping of limestone with a few birch trees and some ancient, massive oaks, thickly-branched. Reaching the place I sought--where an old snag of a dead tree projected upward from the bog--I turned past it, parted the reeds and took the boat into a hidden waterway which I followed for almost a hundred feet. There, against a limestone shelf, I moored the punt to an iron ring.
Taking weapons and food we walked the narrow path between limestone boulders and trees to a small shelf backed up against a fifteen-foot cliff of the same material. There stood a small hut, also of limestone, thatched and secure.
"This is mine," I told him.
"You do yourself well," he admitted grudgingly.
"We may have to drive out bats or water rats," I said, but we did not. It was tight and snug as always; a deep fireplace, thick walls, a table, two chairs, two chests on which to sleep and a bench along the wall. There was also a cupboard.
Gathering fuel together I kindled a small fire to take off the chill. "It is an ancient place," I said, "the men of the fens hid here from the Romans."
"And well they could do it," Jublain admitted. "A man would have the devil's own time finding a way to come in."
For the time being we were safe. This had been a snug haven even from the Danes. When they had finally captured the Isle of Ely after their first defeat they had never found this place. The house, old as it was, had been rebuilt, patched and repaired time and again.
Yet I had no idea of hiding forever in the fens, especially with more money in pocket than I'd ever had before. The events of the past few days had caused me to reexamine my life and choose a course I could steer with safety.
Pulling an oar through the dark channels had given me time to think and my thoughts had taken a sudden turn. Perhaps the use of the sword had inspired it; more likely the jingle of coins!
"We will be quiet and fish for a few days," I told Jublain. "Then off for London."
"London? Are you daft, man? That is where Genester will be, and where he is strongest."
"It is a vast city," I said complacently. "Folk say more than one hundred thousand people live there. How could I be found among so many?"
"You are a child," Jublain said angrily. "It is too small a place in which to hide from hate."
"I've a few coins," I said, "and I'm of no mind to rot in the fens. I do not wish to spend my life fishing or hunting with the bow."
"You are an archer, too?"
"So is every man in the fens. We can live by the bow."
"Let us off to the wars, then. We might do uncommon well."
"And lose an arm or an eye? No, I'll go a-venturing, but with goods, not my life."
"You'd become a merchant? Atrader ?"
"Why not? Buy a packet of goods and ship as a merchant venturer for the New World. There's a man named Gosnold, Bartholomew Gosnold, a gentleman from Suffolk. He has it in mind to start a colony there. There's wealth in trading with the Indians, he says."
"Bah!" Jublain was impatient. "Idle talk! Who knows what is there? The Spanish have done well, but north of their lands there is nothing but cold forests and hostile savages."
"And furs," I said.
"You live well here," he said. "You'd be a fool to give it up."
"There's geese," I admitted, "and ducks and fish and wild plants and eels. Or if a man was so inclined he could smuggle."
"But not you?" he asked cynically.
"I've a regard for law, although I do not always agree with it. Without law, man becomes a beast."
Jublain stared, then shrugged. "You are an odd one. All right, if it is London you wish for, to London we will go, but remember what I said. It is a small town when you are hated."
Outside, we tried our swords. Jublain was good, skilled in ways in which I was not. Yet soon I realized I was his
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