She didn’t have to go far before seeing rabbit droppings. The banks either side of the track were heavily overgrown, mainly with brambles that formed a dense carpet. Jane crouched down next to Max and pointed to the droppings, then picked some up and held them under his nose.
‘Where are the rabbits, Max? Come on boy!’
Max set off slowly with his nose to the ground, following the scent. She stood there watching and just left him to it. After about ten yards he stopped and went still then looked back at Jane and she walked up to him. Just where he’d stopped there was a small opening under the mass of dense brambles, which she would probably have missed. Bending down and looking closely, she could see bits of fur stuck to some thorns and the ground beneath was smooth from the passage of many feet. She got up, patted and stroked Max, then reached into her pocket and gave him a treat.
‘Good boy, Max! Good boy!’ He whined quietly and wagged his tail.
Jane took off her pack and removed a snare and a stake. She pushed the stake firmly into the ground to one side of the opening, fixed the wire securely to it and laid the open noose across the hole with a few bits of grass over it. She pointed ahead and Max set off again with his nose down until he found another.
After searching around and laying eight snares Max was flagging, so she decided to head for home, praising him all the way. She watched him closely as he went back down the embankment, but he was okay. Her own leg was still sore from the shotgun wounds, although they had healed well.
Back at the house she parked in the garage and saw a remnant of thick carpet from the lounge. She thought it would be more comfortable for Max than the blanket on the kitchen’s tiled floor, so she looked around and found a Stanley knife in a tool box. She cut off three pieces big enough for him and took them with her into the bungalow with Max.
Jamie wasn’t back, but she realised she’d only been gone just over an hour and it was still only late morning. She took up Max’s blanket from the floor and replaced it with the three pieces of carpet, which made a nice cushioned bed for him, then put the blanket on top. He flopped down gratefully onto it then she gave him a couple of biscuits and stroked him. ‘Good boy, Max, you did great today!’ He whined and licked her hand.
She was a bit worried about Jamie. She knew he was a competent bloke, but couldn’t help being rather worried as anything could happen out on the sea. Their friendship had deepened over the last six days through spending all their time together, and far more so than would have happened back in their old life due to their circumstances. She found the binoculars and went next door and up to her bedroom. Raising the binoculars and scanning around, she saw him over to the left, quite a way out. He seemed to be okay and she breathed a sigh of relief then went back next door. She made a cup of tea then sat down on the sofa in the conservatory to rest her leg, and Max followed her in. He climbed up next to her, lying down with his head on her thigh, and within a few minutes she had dozed off.
Thirteen
That was how Jamie found them when he returned an hour or so later. Max heard the back door, looked up and barked, which woke Jane. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.
‘Hiya. Blimey, I didn’t intend to fall asleep! What’s the time?’
‘Nearly lunchtime, by my reckoning,’ he smiled. Jane got up to heat some water for coffee.
‘How did you get on?’ she enquired.
‘Not very well; all I got were these…’ he said with a wry smile, as he tipped the four fish out onto the worktop. Jane’s eyes lit up and she beamed at him, then gave him a big hug and kissed his cheek.
‘Oh wow! Jamie, that’s fantastic. Well done, you.’
‘Thanks, but I think it was more by luck than judgement! Sea fishing’s a complete mystery to me. I’ve no idea where to look or what I should be doing, really.’
‘Well, you must have done something right!’
‘I suppose so, but I don’t know if it will always be like that. It took me two hours to get these, and I didn’t start catching until I was a hundred yards out, maybe. I got all these in the last half-hour.’
‘I saw you: when I got back about an hour ago I was a bit worried, but I realised you’d only been out an hour or so. I took the binoculars up to my bedroom and saw you, which relieved me, so I came back down and then fell asleep. I was a bit nervous, though.’
‘You weren’t the only one! To be honest, I was a bit nervous myself. I know I was only a hundred yards out, but when you’re out there in a small boat it seems much further.’
Jane made coffee and they sat at the table, where Max came up to Jamie and nuzzled his leg, so he reached down and stroked his head.
‘So, I got four fish from two hours’ work. That’s going to be… what, ten meals? We’ll have a mackerel each, and the other two- I think they’re bass- will make about four meals each. That’s not bad for two hours’ fishing.’
‘It’s not bad at all. But, of course, we’ve got to be able to keep them, somehow. If we have the two mackerel now for lunch, and half a bass between us tonight, then we’ve got to preserve the other one-and-a-half for later. Even in this weather we can’t keep fish for several days without refrigeration.’
‘No, you’re right; not as they are. It’s time to try the smokers I made, but the fish will have to be salted and cured overnight first. I’m guessing that if the smoking works, then they might be good for a day or two; what d’you think?’
‘Sounds plausible, but I suppose, ultimately, we’ll have to go by our noses; if it smells bad, then it is bad. It’s all going to be trial and error, and if we’re in any doubt at all then we won’t eat it. We can’t risk getting food poisoning.’
‘Maybe I should smoke the half we have left over from tonight’s meal and see how it goes, and completely dry the other one? If that works, we can then re-hydrate it for use in casseroles.’
‘Okay. I’ll start preparing the mackerel for lunch while you prepare the others for salting. It does make me realise, though, that despite being next to the sea, eating fresh fish is going to be a relative luxury. I mean, it’s probably not going to be practical, is it, to go out every day to catch fish? And there’ll also be days when you don’t catch anything, or when it’s too rough to go out. So we’ll be limited to having fresh fish only on the days you go out and actually catch something. Anything else you catch will have to be smoked, dried, or pickled.’
‘Yes, I suppose so. God! There’s just so much to think about isn’t there? Stuff we never gave a second’s thought to in our old lives. We’ll have to develop a regime using a mixture of methods for all the meat we get. If we get fresh meat or fish on a particular day then we’ll have to eat some of it fresh that day, maybe smoke some of it for use within a day or two, and dry or preserve the rest for future meals.’ Jane agreed with him.
‘The other possibility,’ he went on, ‘is fishing from the beach with legered bait such as ragworm or bits of leftover fish, on days when it’s too rough to take the boat out. I’ve seen people doing it here for years, so it must work.’
‘Yes. And with rabbit and other game we can turn some of it into jerky for long-term keeping, and make terrines and other potted dishes for shorter-term use.’
‘I agree about the jerky, but I’m not sure now about terrines and potting the meat; for that we’d need fat such as lard or clarified butter to seal it- I read about it weeks ago in my preserving book.’
‘Okay, then maybe we can just use oil, and seal it in preserving jars, or similar? That must work, too? I mean, you always see speciality food like that on the shelves in the better supermarkets, don’t you?’
‘Yes, you’re probably right. The purpose of the fat on top is to exclude air from the meat, to stop it going bad. Oil will do the same job I suppose, but you can’t leave it exposed to air in the same way as, say, lard on top of terrines. I remember seeing it used in the book, though, for certain foods in preserving jars. Our problem will be having enough for the future, and any oil we get from the super
markets will have a shelf life. After we’ve used it all, or it’s expired, what are we going to do then?’
Jane thought for a second. ‘Well, what did our ancestors use, like in the middle-ages? I’m guessing they boiled up the carcases of animals and rendered them down to get the fat. Plus, I suppose some would have had access to butter.’
‘Yes, that’s true. We could do with some ourselves! By the way, how did you get on this morning?’
‘Oh, Jamie, you should have seen Max, he was fab!’ Max’s ears pricked up and he looked at them. Jane rubbed his ears. ‘I couldn’t have done it without him. There were thick beds of brambles everywhere, and finding the entrances to the burrows was much more difficult than I’d imagined. I’d have missed most of them if it wasn’t for Max. I pointed some rabbit droppings to him and picked some up to let him smell them, and off he went… He stopped at every entrance and I put snares down at each point. We got eight done, but he was getting tired so we came home.’
‘That’s great. Well done, Max!’ He reached down and stroked Max, who whined and wagged his tail. ‘And well done you, too. Well, rabbits normally come out at dusk, but I’d guess that without humans around now they’ll be active all day. Maybe you should go back later this afternoon and check the snares?’
Jane grinned. ‘Ahead of you, there… I’d already decided to do that!’ Jamie laughed.
While Jane prepared the mackerel for lunch, he read through some of his books. He’d planned to use the bags of compressed wood cat litter for the smoking, but discovered that pine and other softwoods couldn’t be used because of their resin content. At least they’d be good fuel for the Kelly Kettle and the wood-gas camping stove, though. He put the books aside and started preparing the two fish.
Jane grinned at him and he smiled back; it felt good to be productive and learning new things for their futures. He gutted the fish, removed the heads and fins, then cut one fish in half for their meal that night, and the other one-and-a-half he cut into thin fillets. He layered them in a tub with salt between each layer and covered the top with more salt, then put on the lid to store them overnight. The salting would draw out moisture and help prevent microbial growth, and after that they could be smoked or dried.
They ate the fried mackerel with sea beet, chives and flat-bread, dressed with olive oil and vinegar: it was delicious and both said they’d never eaten fish that fresh before. After clearing up they had some coffee then spent the afternoon working in the garden.
As evening drew on and the sun got low in the sky Jane set off to check the snares. Max followed her out, but she sent him back in to Jamie as she was going to walk there. It took her under ten minutes and once there she climbed up the embankment and onto the railway. She was delighted to find rabbits in two snares- one small and one average-sized- and grinned to herself. The others were empty, but three had either fallen or been knocked over. She reset all the snares, put the rabbits in her pack and headed home.
Max came to the door as soon as she walked in and followed her back to the kitchen, where Jamie was sitting at the table with a glass of wine, reading up on preserving food. He poured her a glass, which she accepted gratefully.
‘Well?’ he enquired with a smile.
Jane tried to play it cool but failed, and broke into a big grin.
‘Two! I couldn’t believe it when I saw them.’ She took them from her pack and put them on the kitchen counter.
‘Oh, that’s brilliant, Jane, well done!’ She beamed at him and they clinked glasses and toasted each other.
‘Listening to my dear old dad all those years ago paid off, bless him. I never thought I’d use the knowledge, though!’
‘Well, I’ve been reading the books on preserving, including two others I found belonging to the previous owners, and the meat can be cooked with oil, spices, vinegar and sugar, then put into preserving jars. To keep them longer than a few days you can heat-process the jars in boiling water for about twenty minutes, which causes a vacuum inside, and after that they’ll keep for up to a year. Isn’t that fab?’
‘That’s really good news. It also sounds a bit more palatable to me than jerky!’ she laughed.
‘We can do both. The jerky will be great for travelling food when we go out and as snacks. We can also rehydrate it in casseroles if we want to. I think we’ll have to see if we can find some more preserving jars as well.’
‘What about that kitchen shop on Devonshire? I’m sure there’ll be some in there.’
‘Yes, we’ll have to pay a visit as we’re going to need all we can find.’
For their evening meal Jamie steamed the remaining fish with soy sauce and chives and made some rice to go with it. They also ate some of the chutney and pickles that the previous owners had made. Afterwards, they sat on the sofa in the conservatory with a few candles lit, drinking wine and discussing plans. Max lay stretched out between them looking contented.
They spent part of Friday morning preserving the meat and the rest of the day gardening. While looking around her house after moving in Jane had found a cloth bag of potatoes under the sink that were wizened and sprouting large roots. Some had rotted, but others looked okay so they planted them.
They kept one rabbit as food for that day, while Jane prepared half of the larger one and cooked it with spices, sugar and vinegar, sealing it into three preserving jars for later use, according to the instructions in the preserving books. The other half Jamie cut into thin strips and salted for turning into jerky. He chopped up some hardwood from the wood-pile and lit a small, smoky fire in the bottom of one of the converted bins. The fish was rinsed of its salt cure and the smaller half he put on the lowest rack to smoke. The remaining fillets from the whole fish, along with the rabbit, he put on the top rack where it was coolest, to dry it completely.
Throughout the day, in between gardening, he fed small amounts of wood onto the fire to keep the smoke going. Max would stand next to him sniffing at the smell of fish, looking at him enquiringly to see if he was going to get any, though he had no reason to be hungry as he had eaten the leftovers from the rabbits.
By late evening, after maybe twelve hours, it was evident that the smoking hadn’t worked as he’d hoped. The fish on the lowest rack had cooked rather than smoked, and was rather tough. Probably half that time would have done the same job, but made it nicer to eat. It wasn’t a huge problem, but it meant that it wouldn’t keep for long and would have to be used up soon, maybe in a casserole.
The fish and rabbit on the top rack, however, had dried out nicely. The fish was hard and almost brittle once it had cooled. The rabbit jerky was leathery and splintered when bent. After letting them cool, he tasted the rabbit jerky and found it to be perfectly acceptable, if a little bland. Jane reached the same conclusion. They decided the next lot they made would be marinated first in a kind of barbeque sauce before drying, to give it more flavour. The dried fish was put into a cloth bag and hung in the cellar. They went to bed that night feeling rather pleased with their first attempts at food preserving, but they knew it would take a lot of trial and error to perfect techniques and develop a working system that suited them.
When they awoke on the Saturday morning the weather had turned. It was windy and overcast with a constant drizzle of rain. They looked out the window while drinking their coffee, then looked at each other; neither of them felt like working on the gardens in that weather. They knew that from now on they would have to work outside in all weathers because their survival depended on it, but they had achieved a lot in that week and most of the initial work was done. They had many seeds planted in the gardens and in tubs on the patios, as well as for tomatoes in the conservatory.
They were both tired and aching from the week’s work, so decided to take the morning off and drive out to the farm near Hooe that used to supply the previous owners with logs. They weren’t desperate by any means, but would need more logs in the near future and this seemed like a good opportunity to go while the weather was bad. They both a
greed that it would also be nice to get out of Bexhill for a few hours to the countryside.
Jane took Max out for a short walk to do his business before they left, while Jamie got a few things ready in a bag for them. He packed a water bottle and some snacks, including some jerky, along with a pair of binoculars, a few tools and the bolt-cutters. When Jane returned with Max they put the Smith and Wesson revolver with extra rounds in the Land Rover’s glove-box. They also took a sawn-off and an over/under shotgun, with the cartridges they’d got from the Toyota and another box of larger shot, in case they had the opportunity to bag some pheasants or rabbits.
It was still drizzling when they left and Max sat between them on the seat, looking excitedly out of the windscreen. They’d checked the location on the map beforehand, and Jane had an Ordnance Survey map open on her lap for when they got closer. They drove up Peartree Lane and then left at the crossroads into Whydown Road towards Hooe. It was a narrow, twisty country road and they weren’t going fast as there was no rush. As they approached a sweeping right-hand bend Jane raised her hand suddenly and said ‘Stop! Pheasant!’ Jamie came to a smart stop and Jane grabbed the shotgun and got out. Sitting on the left, she had been able to see round the bend and spotted a pheasant in the road sixty yards ahead. Jamie could see it now, too; a plump male bird in the middle of the road.
Jane knelt down by the front bumper and raised the shotgun to her shoulder. She tucked it in tight as Jamie had told her, took aim, slid off the safety with her thumb and fired. The pheasant went down in a clean kill; Jamie clapped his hands and Max barked, too.
‘Wooh-hooh! Bloody good shooting, Jane!’
She gave him a big grin then called Max down from the cab as she wanted to test him. Max climbed down onto the road and she pointed and said ‘Fetch, Max! Fetch!’ He set off at a slow trot, picked up the bird then came back and stood in front of her. She took the pheasant and patted him, saying ‘Good boy, Max! Good boy,’ then gave him a couple of treats from her pocket. She put the pheasant in the load area then climbed back in after Max.
The Hoffmann Plague Page 12
