Linnett refrained from telling John that it would be a relief for her not to have to see him each day, a constant reminder of what she had been through aboard the ship. She merely nodded and said, “I understand.” She stood up, saying, “Well, I shall bid you goodnight, John.” She turned with a gentle swish of skirts and walked back to the house.
John watched her go but remained seated on the log dejectedly. Hans appeared beside him and sat next to his friend, quietly smoking his pipe. John sat silent for a while before turning and speaking to Hans. “Linnett wants me to try and reach Boston before the winter sets in. She thinks if I travel alone I can get there and back to collect her before the spring.” Hans nodded thoughtfully and said, “I see.”
John looked at him and asked, “Hans, what do you think? Should I attempt it?”
Hans cleared his throat. “Niet, you do not know the trail, and once the snows come the landmarks disappear and the trail will be covered. I would not attempt such a journey at this time of year, and I know the trail. Why do we not go early tomorrow and see the cabin and then you can decide what is best for you both, ja?”
John nodded thoughtfully and said, “Linnett seems to want me gone. I think she blames me for putting her in danger, I should never have bought her to America!”
Hans put his hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“But you did bring her, my friend, and you are not to blame for the actions of others. Linnett is very young, and I think she behaves as a child does when things go wrong and they blame their parents or God perhaps. She is your wife, John, and she does not know how to behave as your wife so that you must guide her. You both need to look forward and not back. Come now, it is late, and we shall leave early tomorrow. We go to our beds now.”
Both men stood and John stretched and yawned. “Thank you, Hans. You are right. I will see what this cabin of yours is like and then decide what is best to do.”
Chapter 9
When Linnett came down to breakfast the next day, she found that only Peter sat at the large table. He was eating freshly baked bread and honey. “Good morning, Peter. My word that looks good! Where is every one this morning?” Linnett asked while helping herself to a cup of milk. Peter gave her a friendly grin and told her what his mother had said. “Pa and John got up early and went riding off. Mother is gathering blueberries for a pie and I have to feed the chickens. Will you help me Linnett?” Linnett suddenly became still, a dreadful thought occurring to her; had John left already without saying goodbye to her?
“Peter, has John gone on a journey?” she asked.
Peter frowned and said, “Well, I think so. Mother said they wouldn’t be here for lunch and that Father will be back tonight.”
Peter looked pleased with himself for remembering exactly what his mother had told him. Linnett bit her lip; she had urged John to go, so why did she feel such a dreadful sense of loss now that he had? She sat down, feeling wretched.
Peter looked concerned and asked, “Is there anything wrong?”
Linnett looked at him skeptically. “Peter, are you sure your mother didn’t say that John would be back tonight with your father?”
Peter thought hard. He had asked his mother if Pa would be back for lunch and she had definitely said, “No, not until supper time.” She hadn’t mentioned John at all. “No, she only said Pa. Will you help me with the chickens now?”
“What? I will be along in a little while, Peter. You go and get started,” Linnett said distractedly.
“Alright, don’t be long, though!” Peter shouted as he rushed off, banging the door behind him.
Linnett wasn’t even aware the boy had left, she was so deep in thought. Amazing, but now that she knew John had gone to Boston for goodness knows how long a time, it was as clear as day to her that she did love him. Supposing the snow lasted all winter; he might not be back until the spring. A dreadful thought crossed her mind: suppose he didn’t come back at all. What would she do, perhaps never knowing what had happened to him? Oh, she should never have spoken to him the way she had last night, urging him to go alone to Boston.
She had to go after him. She was his wife, and she should be by his side. She had to tell him she loved him, that she was sorry. It would be alright; they would travel on together. She would need food, a blanket, and some clothes -- and a horse perhaps. Peter would saddle one of Hans’s for her. Linnett ran to the door, calling frantically for Peter. She must be gone before Sarah returned for she knew Sarah would try and stop her from riding out alone.
Fifteen minutes later, Linnett was mounted on a pretty brown mare called Penny. Linnett had rolled everything she thought she might need into a blanket from her bed and tied it onto her saddle. Peter was not at all happy with what Linnett had planned. He had been faintly shocked when she had come out wearing a pair of men’s britches and had mounted the horse astride. He thought he ought to be going with her, but Linnett was adamant that he should remain at home to help his mother and to explain to his parents where she had gone. As Linnett galloped away from the homestead, she felt a wonderful sense of freedom and exhilaration. She loved riding, and it had been so long since she had been in the saddle riding Pango around the Lavenstock estate.
Although not in the same league as her Thoroughbred, the little mare Penny was sweet-natured and willing, and she and Linnett soon left the homestead far behind. As she rode, Linnett studied the countryside, finding it quite beautiful, much more open than England, rugged and wild with tall trees and rocky outcrops. Land just as God intended it to be, unspoilt by mankind. The trees were magnificent. They seemed so much higher than the trees back home, but perhaps that was because she had been at sea for so long, she had forgotten. They cantered along, Linnett enjoying the feel of the warm sun on her face. Peter had given her directions. It was simple; all she had to do was follow the Ogunquit River inland, then follow the river fork to the right until she met up with John, which she guessed would be at nightfall when he made camp.
It was so good to be out again alone on a horse, her hair flying behind her. All the horrors and fears seemed to be a thing of the past, and she laughed aloud with the joy of it and urged Penny into a gallop. The horse obligingly raced along, seeming to enjoy the freedom as much as her rider. Linnett slowed her horse when up ahead she saw the wide sparkling expanse of the river, its flowing water glinting in the sunlight. The river was much wider than any rivers she knew at home, and it was flowing much faster than she had expected, too. Linnett walked Penny to the river’s edge and dismounted. The thirsty horse lowered her head and drank greedily. Linnett found a boulder to sit on and view the river, it was so delightfully peaceful.
On the opposite bank, the trees grew almost to the water’s edge. A long ridge of pine trees rose high above the river covering the side of the steep hill. Linnett held up her face to the warmth of the sun and breathed in the sharp, astringent scent of the pines. A flock of birds flew up into the air, startled by the gentle wicker Penny gave after she had drunk her fill. Linnett watched them fly high and circle, disappearing into the distant blue sky; she wondered what sort of birds they were. After a while, Linnett rose, brushed her clothes down and called to Penny to her. She mounted, and swinging right, they set off, picking their way along the river’s path.
John and Hans, meanwhile, had arrived at the cabin around mid-morning, going steadily uphill for the last half hour of the hourlong trip. The cabin was set in a wide clearing surrounded by tall, broadleaf trees. A fenced corral stood to one side, and a small barn stood beyond that. In the far distance on the other side of the hill, John could see snow-capped mountains. The view from the front of the cabin through the clearing entrance was breath-taking.
“Let’s put the horses in the coral,” Hans instructed as he dismounted.
They unsaddled the horses, shooed them in and then barred the entrance to the paddock. John checked that there was water in the trough before walking over to the cabin. Hans proudly pointed out to John the well dug above an undergroun
d spring he had followed from farther up the hill. The cabin was low and solid with an apex roof, which hung wide over the cabin walls, giving maximum protection from the weather. It had one sturdy wooden door and two front facing windows that were shuttered.
Hans unlocked the door and shoved it open with his shoulder. Once inside, he flung the shutters wide open so that the sunlight poured through the square openings. I wonder what you would call them, because really they were not windows, thought John, not without glass.
He looked around at the rectangular room with a large stone fire place. A large wooden bed without a mattress stood in one corner and a table and two chairs in another. Two brass candle sticks stood incongruously on the stone mantel above the fireplace. Otherwise it was bare. It was, however, dry and reasonably clean. A bit of dust and a few dead leaves were strewn about the floor, and, John noticed, a few spiders lurked in thick webs hanging from the corners of the cabin, but otherwise the home was sound.
“We took everything useful with us when the farm house was finished. It will be easy to bring the wagon filled with the things you need. What do you think of it my friend?” Hans stroked his hand down the window edge. “I built this with my own two hands, no help I had with this cabin. It is very cosy in snow. Like the houses in The Netherlands, I built the roof so the build-up of the snow is not so dangerous. We were very snug here for three years, Sarah and I.”
John was impressed. “It is quite an achievement, Hans. There is no damp that I can see, and the floor is quite dry. I think it would be ideal for us; the only problem that I can see,” he stopped, and Hans looked worried. “You don’t think Linnett will like?” Hans queried.
“Oh well, that is a possibility, but no, my friend, it is not that.” John reassured him. “No, it is the fact that she cannot cook.”
Hans chuckled, “Sarah will have to try and teach her the basic cooking before you leave us.”
John frowned and said, “That would be kind of her, but will Linnett want to learn? She is a very spoiled young lady. In fact, I am only just realising how difficult that fact is going to make living our lives together.”
Hans went over to the table and sat down, gesturing towards the empty chair. John pulled out the chair and sat down. Hans looked at him thoughtfully while filling his trusty old pipe. “John, Linnett is your wife, and it is up to you to set some rules for her. She is young, and as you said yourself, she has been spoilt, but that can change. I have always found a woman’s bottom to be her weak point, and the best lovemaking is always after she has had a spanked bottom. Perhaps time up here alone will bring you closer together. You will have more time to get to know one another, and if you feel the need of company, you can ride down to visit us, weather permitting of course. It is all down to you, my friend. I will make beautiful map to guide you to Boston. It will be ready for you to use come the thaw, and it will be a pleasant way for me to spend the dark winter evenings. I enjoy drawing and writing.”
John said, “That would be most kind, thank you, Hans. You have been a good friend to us. I think you may be right about the time spent up here together, and who knows, perhaps I underestimate Linnett. She is very brave but much too impulsive. She just needs a little guidance. How I wish she had some of your Sarah’s good sense.”
Hans threw back his head and roared with laughter. “John, when we first lived here, Sarah was a sore trial to me. I cannot tell you the number of times she got herself into mischief. Make no mistake, I had to warm her backside for her plenty, plenty times! She would wander too far and get herself lost while she was sketching and forget she had a stew cooking, until I would find the pan burned over the fire and no sign of my Sarah. She was bitten by a snake during our first year and we had no idea whether the snake was poisonous or not. We waited for a reaction, not knowing if she would live or die; it was the worst day of my life I think. Fear not, Linnett will do her growing up in good time with her good husband to guide her. Now my friend, let us go and inspect the barn and then we will see what delights Sarah has packed for our lunch.”
Linnett had been travelling for about three hours when she saw ahead a plume of smoke rising into the air from trees slightly to her left. Excitedly, she turned Penny in that direction and picked her way forward slowly. She wanted to surprise John and so went as quietly as possible. As she entered the trees she dismounted so that she could walk under the low branches of the fir trees. She crept towards the camp. As she came to a clearing in the trees she saw a fire burning merrily and nearby a horse tethered.
A saddle and a blanket roll were on the ground to the left of the fire, and she noticed that, strangely, another bed roll lay a few feet away. Linnett frowned, but then her face cleared as she realised that of course it was Hans. He obviously planned to show John the route and travel a little farther on with him. She crept over to one of the blanket rolls and giggled as she planned how she would surprise them.
She tethered Penny back in the trees so that she was out of sight of the camp and then went and unrolled the blanket. Wrapping herself up, Linnett lay on the ground and waited. After a few minutes, she heard male voices coming nearer. Linnett giggled; just stop it, she scolded herself, you will spoil the surprise for John. She lay very still, her heart racing as the men entered the clearing. One of them went to the fire and Linnett could hear wood cracking as he threw on more kindling. Then it went very quiet. Oh ho! Linnett thought, stifling another giggle and failing. They know I’m here!
She waited expectantly. Suddenly, she felt a vicious kick in her side and a male voice shouted, “Come yer bastard, up yer get!”
Shocked and groaning with pain, Linnett threw back the blanket and found herself staring up the end of a musket. “Well....what ‘ave we got here. God damn it...a female! Will.... lookee here, there’s a doxy in me bed, just a waitin' fer me ter give it er!”
Linnett scrambled to sit up. She was so shocked, she couldn’t speak. A second man ambled over, and Linnett noticed he carried a musket as well. She stared at them in horror. They looked very similar to one another with scruffy beards and dirty, odd-looking clothes made up of a mixture of leather and fur. One of the men was slightly thicker set than the other, and he wore a fur cap that seemed to have the tail from the animal still attached. It was this man who spoke to her. “Well now, where did yer hail from, little lady? Come ter warm our old bones at night, ‘ave yer?”
Linnett swallowed and tried to speak, but when she finally found her voice it sounded high and squeaky. She cleared her throat and tried again. “I am really most terribly sorry, gentlemen, but I thought to surprise my husband who is, er, camping in these parts. I actually thought this was his camp.”
The two men looked at each other and back at Linnett. They had started to grin when Linnett had first begun speaking. Linnett shifted uneasily, disliking like their horrible grins. “Hoity-toity ...English are yer, an’ is yer husband English, too?”
The man who had spoken pronounced “husband” with a fake accent, mimicking Linnett. She nodded “Why yes, yes we are. Although my....” Linnett hesitated and then said, “John thinks of himself as an American. He was only a small boy when he moved to Boston.”
“Boston yer don’t say! Long way from home, ain’t yer? What shall we be doin’ with yer now, that’s the thing!”
Linnett tried to smile breezily and said, “Please, no need to concern yourselves, I will just be on my way! I expect my husband is camped a little farther on, and he will wonder where I have got to.”
The man who was doing all the talking frowned. “There ain’t no one camped around here, missy. We’d know, see, as this is our regular trapping area. I’m Ned and this ere ugly bugger’s called Will. Er, hope I didn’t hurt yer none miss, when I kicked yer arse?”
Linnett had no idea how to reply to that remark so she simply shook her head. What on earth was she going to do? More to the point, what were they going to do with her? She shuddered with fear and disgust.
Chapter 10
John
and Hans rode back late afternoon. As they were getting nearer to the farm, they could see someone approaching them on foot. They realised as they drew closer that it was Sarah, and it became apparent that she was running and waving her arms frantically.
“What do you mean gone?” John sounded sharp. He hadn’t intended to, but he was stunned.
“As I said, she is gone, and Peter, too.”
It was Han’s turn to look shocked as he breathed, “Peter?”
Sarah sighed, thinking really, men could be so obtuse at times. “Linnett left here this morning. As I explained, she thought you had gone to Boston. Peter went after her at lunch time after I got back from berry picking. He felt bad about telling Linnett you had gone on a journey, so he went to fetch her.”
Hans looked thunderous, shouting, “Why did you let him go?”
Sarah flushed with temper. “I did not let him go, Hans. Peter left here without my knowing! I told him he was to stay here, and the next thing I know, he is galloping off towards the river.”
Hans and John dismounted, Hans muttering furiously in Dutch, something he rarely did now-a-days and only when he was extremely agitated.
Linnett was feeling rather pleased with herself. She had left Penny tethered a little way away from the camp, initially because she thought she was surprising John, but now it was to be her salvation because when the men were asleep, she planned to escape quietly. They wouldn’t even hear Penny riding off until it was too late for them to give chase. Linnett had been very lucky so far; the men had argued at first over her fate. The talkative man had wanted to bed her, but to Linnett’s huge relief, the thinner man named Will had protested. Linnett heard him say that he thought they should wait until they were certain that John and his friends -- Linnett had told them there was a whole party of men out hunting together -- were not in the immediate area. Will didn’t want any trouble and his partner, Ned, had seemed to agree with him.
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