The World Duology (World Odyssey / Fiji: A Novel) Read Online Free Page B

and Sullivan emerged from the front door. The proprietor locked the door and walked off into the night.
    Jack hurried across the street and ran to the rear of the vacated foundry. He’d had time to think and now had a definite plan. If Sullivan ain’t gonna pay me, I’ll help me self .  Checking no-one was around, he expertly picked the back door’s lock, opened the door and disappeared inside.
    A short distance away , Sullivan suddenly stopped walking and checked his coat pockets. “Damn!” he cursed. Realizing he’d left his favorite pipe behind, he turned and strode back toward the foundry.
    By now Jack had entered the foundry’s front office and was rifling through desk drawers looking for valuables. In his haste, he knocked over a heavy bookend. It landed on the wooden floor with a loud thud. He wasn’t to know that his employer was just outside the foundry’s front door at that very moment.
    Jack’s search proved unsuccessful. He was about to leave when, at the bottom of a cupboard, a large quantity of hemp caught his eye. He grabbed the precious commodity, stuffed it in his pockets and retraced his steps to the back door. As he opened the door, he was shocked to see Sullivan waiting for him, pistol in hand.
    “Well, well, what have we here?” Sullivan asked. “Doing some overtime, are we?” He waved his pistol threateningly under Jack's nose.
    The young smithy slammed the door in his employer's face, locked it from the inside then ran through the foundry. There goes me raise! Behind him, he could hear Sullivan shouting. Jack flung open a front window, scrambled through the narrow opening and landed heavily on the cobbled street outside.
    Sullivan's shouting had attracted the attention of patrons in the bar opposite. They were filing out onto the footpath to investigate, and were greeted by the sight of Sullivan aiming his pistol at Jack who was sprinting down the street as if his life depended on it, which it did. The big man fired a hurried shot that missed its target.
    Turning to the bar patrons, Sullivan shouted, “Two shillings to the man who catches that thieving bastard!”
    Among the patrons, two burly men immediately joined Sullivan and chased after Jack who by now had disappeared down a dark, side-alley that led to a residential section of the dockside suburb.
    Half-way down the alley, Jack hid in a doorway of someone’s home to take stock of his situation. Peeping around the corner of the doorway, he tensed when he saw one of the burly bar patrons enter the alley. The young Cockney held his breath as the shadowy figure ran toward him. When the man reached his hiding place, Jack stuck out his foot and tripped him, sending him sprawling. The Cockney was onto him in a flash, knocking him out cold with one punch. Like most smithies, he could usually end a fight with one punch if it landed flush as this one had. He looked behind him just as the other bar patron entered the alley.
    Jack ran off, but pulled up when Sullivan appeared at the far end of the same alley. Sullivan raised his pistol toward him. Trapped, Jack looked around desperately. With no time to think, he barged through the front door of the nearest house and found himself in a modest dining room where members of a typical working class family had just sat down for their evening meal.
    The young couple and their four children looked astonished as Jack strode through the room. Jack touched his curly forelock and smiled disarmingly. “Sorry to trouble you.”
    The man of the house started to get to his feet . A steelworker who looked as hard as nails, he prepared to defend his family. “What in God’s name do you think you…”
    Jack motioned to him to remain seated and hurried toward the rear of the house.
    “Hey!” the man of the house shouted after him.
    Jack opened a door, hoping it would lead outside. He discovered it was a bedroom, and it was currently occupied by lodgers – a middle-aged couple – who were making love on