Brave Enemies by Robert Morgan Read Free Book Online Page A

thought of what I’d done that day. Tears squeezed into my eyes and they wouldn’t stop coming. My throat got stiff and sore and wrenched with a sob. I put my face against my knees and cried.
    After I sat there a long time the dampness seeped through my clothes. The cold began to sneak between the threads and fibers of Mr. Griffin’s coat. I must have gone to sleep and dreamed, for I thought the river flew by me two or three times like a big bird. And when I woke it seemed I’d just heard a scream. I listened and heard only the breeze stirring limbs, and a flutter off in the leaves. A dog barked so far away I wasn’t even sure it was a dog.
    When you are out in the cold your body burns like its own stove. I could smell my warmth against the cold dampness. I shuddered as thewarmth of my blood and the smell of my sweat fought the cold soaking in through the clothes. My skin tried to seal itself off from the cold as I huddled in the little house of myself.
    I hunkered down in Mr. Griffin’s coat and tried not to breathe. I sat still and hoped to hold in all my smells. When you stay awake the night stretches out longer and longer. I sat there listening to all the rustles and flutters, the chirps and barks. I listened for snakes crawling and bats flying. I must have gone to sleep again, for when I opened my eyes again there was light and I could see the trees around me.
    What a relief that day was coming. I’d made it through the night. I was comforted to know I had lasted through the night. Without shelter or fire I’d stayed the whole night in the strange woods. But I had to find something to eat. And I had to find a place to stay for the next night. I felt the handkerchief with the coins in my pocket.
    As the sky got brighter it was clear which way the east was, and which way the river was. I needed to go farther away from the river. I needed to keep going to the west. I stretched myself and felt how stiff and sore I was where Mr. Griffin had hurt me. I’d have to walk slowly until I felt better.
    The oak woods that had appeared closed in in the dark looked open in daylight. I picked my way through trees; there was no sign of a path or trace. I was hungry and cold. I had to find a farm or camp. But there was no clearing in the woods. I couldn’t even find a rabbit trail.
    I must have walked a mile when I heard a shout. I froze and listened, and there was another shout. Something banged like a stick on a log. The sound came from far down the long hill. I heard a cry and then laughter.
    Where there were people there might be something to eat. I started running toward the shouts, but as I got closer I slowed down to tiptoe steady and quiet. I was so short of breath I thought I would smother.
    I came to a creek among laurel bushes, and the shouts seemed to be on the other side. I waded through the gravel and mossy rocks and climbed into the thicket. When I pushed a limb aside I saw a kind ofroad through the woods. A party of men was coming and I slipped back out of sight.
    Through the laurel leaves I saw the men were carrying something on a pole. It was big enough to be a bear or panther. There were at least a dozen men shouting and laughing. And someone was crying. As they got closer I saw the thing slung on the pole was not an animal but a woman, an old woman. They reached an opening in the trees and stopped, and they cut the woman’s feet loose so she could stand with her hands still tied to the pole.
    â€œLong live the king,” she cried. I saw she didn’t have any teeth. All her clothes had been torn off. Her face looked old but her breasts appeared surprisingly young.
    â€œIf we cut your eyes out, granny, you can’t be no Tory spy,” a man carrying a pistol said. He had long brown hair and a big belly that pushed through his vest. He seemed to be the leader. Another man had started a fire, and they hung a bucket over the flames. The bucket had a stick in it and I