Yesterday's Promise by Linda Lee Chaikin Read Free Book Online

while propped against the wall, he narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth.
One thing I am glad of. I won’t ever need to be a sea captain!
    He crawled to his bunk and tied himself in for the rough night.
    He thought of Evy Varley…those amber eyes with green flecks, and wavy, tawny hair… Where was she now? What was she doing? He imagined her playing her piano. Was she also remembering him?

C HAPTER F OUR

    Capetown
    Even though Rogan was out at sea, the distant sight of Table Mountain, appearing to rise above the watery horizon, with white clouds draping its flat top, roused his imagination. Later that afternoon he was standing on the ship’s deck with his back to the stiff landward breeze as they neared Table Bay and Capetown, when an old sailor he’d spoken to on the voyage came up beside him and gestured to the mountain range.
    â€œStirred many a sailor’s hopes, that mountain. Been a cheery beacon for ships comin’ out of some of the worst storms a man ever did see.
    â€œTable Mountain, she’s called. Them’s her two companions, Devil’s Peak and Lion’s Head. That there mountain range ’tween ’tis the backbone for the Cape peninsula. Only thing is, I’da called her Angel’s Peak. That there devil gets too much publicity.”
    Rogan held to the ship’s rail and squinted across the water to Table Bay. “Sir Francis Drake described it as ‘the fairest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth.’”
    â€œDid he, now? Well, aye, so she is. Mighty fair. The Almighty knew what He were doin’ aright,” the old sailor agreed. “He made Table Top flat so as it gathers all that moisture. Then that purt cloud just comes rollin’ over the edge nice ‘n’ neat as a lady’s crocheted dining cloth.”
    â€œWhat makes the cloud drape across the mountain slope and stop halfway down where it does?”
    The old crewman scratched his locks. “Well, sir, I wouldn’t be knowin’, but today ’tis truly earning its name, ‘Tablecloth.’”
    Rogan studied the tablecloth cloud through his binoculars. The way the cloud rolled over its northern edge and stopped—draped just so far down the slope—reminded him of a waterfall wrapped in mist. “It looks to me as though the wind is colliding head-on with the mountains on the peninsula, getting forced up the steep slopes. That would drop the temperature and start condensation, apparently just where the thick cloud edge appears.”
    â€œAye, suppose you be aright. Wind screams throughout the year ‘round the Cape o’ Good Hope. Seldom’s the day when there be none. Been in many a bad storm and ocean swell comin’ round that tip of southern Africa. Storm t’other night was small turnips compared to the ones I seen. Been sailin’ since I were a cabin boy, only a young’un of nine years.” He studied Rogan. “You be goin’ to the diamond mines at Kimberly, I suppose?”
    â€œFor a short visit. I’ve family there.”
    â€œMost folks go to Kimberly and stay.”
    â€œSee that mountain? I’ve plans for an expedition that will bring me far beyond to the Zambezi region, to gold, perhaps emeralds, too.” Rogan looked at the old man and grinned. “You can come with me if you like. Ready to give up the sea?”
    The old sailor chuckled. “Yer pullin’ me leg, lad. Ne’r catch me beyond the land of the Dutchies. Sooner face dragons o’ the deep than giant savages with spears. Heard tell they pulls out yer heart and eats it alive. If you can get yer gold and emeralds and make it back to merry old England alive, you be deservin’ ever’ last one of ’em.”

    It was dawn the next morning when the HMS
King George
slid through the rippling water of the Cape into Table Bay and docked at the wharf. Impatient to be about the coming adventure,