Captive Wife, The by Fiona Kidman Read Free Book Online

myself, the girl had made me calm. I went off to see Mr Campbell wondering which knife and fork I should pick up when I sat down to lunch. Which is not the most important thing I know but all ofa sudden I was like a lad and shy. My Father wd have known what to do. But there is nothing in the book of words he gave to me that tells you the difference between the fish knife and the 1 for butter.
    Not that Campbell seemed to notice that I was nervous. He took me by the arm as if we was the best of friends and we strolled through his garden and looked at his peacocks. I have heard much about you Guard he said.
    I said who has been talking about me for I am careful who knows my business and he says why Captain Underwood has spoken with high regard for you.
    I said that is all right then and he showed me into his parlour where we partook of a good lunch such as an English gentleman might eat and drank some wine and I watched what he did and it all came to me easily enough.
    I could not at first believe my ears when Campbell said what was on his mind but it was correct, he offered me a partnership with him in a ship called the Waterloo .
    Underwood says you should have enough money for a ½ share he said, which troubled me a little because I do not like people to speculate on what I am worth but I let it pass.
    The ship is a 70 ton schooner, the Waterloo , carrying kangaroo skins, wheat and seal skins between Sydney, Van Diemen’s Land and New Zealand.
    I said thank you sir, I can oblige you there. And I added that I had heard of the demand for flax and that I knew where I might do some good deals and at that he was very pleased.
    Well he said, it might be that the sailing can be shared around, and you might like to work ashore from time to time. Have you got a good lady?
    I said I am not a married man.
    That is a pity he said. A wife is an asset to any man. What has kept you from the goodly estate?
    I said then that I had not met a woman I fancy well enough at which he shook his head and said well that is up to you but aman in your position should be able to pick and choose.
    In my head I knew I had not told him all the truth.
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    After this something happened so big and strange I knew it to be an omen of my future. I was sailing the Waterloo in New Zealand waters. It has turned out to be a tidy ship and much to my liking although it is not the Harriet . Again we carried seal skins from the south, not planning to go ashore, when up comes a strong NW gale near Cook Strait. The waves were green mountains like nothing I had ever seen, they curled and smashed, beat and flayed us, they were big as God’s wrath, and at evening we were driven harder and ever more relentless towards a rocky headland. I had been warned of this place and never thought of seas as fierce and without forgiveness and I thought I was a fool that I had not heeded more the warnings. The Waterloo was carried forward on the crest of a mighty wave. Suddenly we found ourselves in smooth water near the shore of an island.
    It was hard to believe that in the midst of all this wind we should come across a place so calm and still. But it was so. We had found fair haven.
    Later I heard the island is called Arapawa and the place where we had come is Te Awaiti which means The Little River.
    But not for me. It is the place of my deliverance. I will call it always Fair Haven, the name I have bestowed.
    This is the word of the Lord. God Almighty. I was saved.
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    In the morning, the storm passed over and I was able to look around me, as a man who discovers a new land might do. We were in a small bay with a wide beach of stones. Over the beach fast flowed a stream of clear water. Up above were trees of many kinds, hard knotted and close together. We climbed the hill. To the south we saw a range of mountains covered with snow like flowing milk. All around us the birds were crying out.
    What I saw then fair blew the breath out of my mouth. In the waters of the bay a