Blockade Runner Read Online Free PDF

tea and cakes while they played checkers, loudly slamming the board victoriously or groaning in tragic voices.
    “You two have more fun playing checkers than anybody I know.” Leah always enjoyed it when her uncle had a good time. She knew he got lonely for his friends.
    “That’s because he’s learned to beat me once in a while.” Uncle Silas grinned. “When we first started playing I think we played five years before he won a game.”
    “That’s not true!” Mr. Pollard exclaimed. “I think your memory’s failing you, Silas!”
    At that moment a clerk stuck his head in, his face smeared with ink. “We’re out of paper again, Mr. Pollard. What’re we going to do? Got to have paper!”
    Pollard gritted his teeth. “Use those rolls of wallpaper,” he said. “That’s all we’ve got. And if that runs out, I guess we can use
old
wallpaper—tear it off the walls!”
    When the clerk left, Silas stared at the editor. “Wallpaper?” he said. “You’re printing a newspaper on
wallpaper?”
    “You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to get paper, Silas. Just like everything else, it’s in short supply. Getting harder and harder to make ends meet!”
    His words seemed to cast a pall over the room, and Silas examined his friend’s face curiously. “Looks like we’re running out of about everything.”
    “Everything is about right! Can’t buy the necessities of life anymore—and some of the junk those blockade runners bring back isn’t worth bringing back.”
    “What kind of things would that be? I thought we needed everything,” Leah asked.
    “Captain Simms of the
Victory
brought back six cases of coffin nails. Coffin nails!” Mr. Pollard exclaimed. “Here we are needing quinine and medicine and food and gunpowder, and he brings back coffin nails!”
    “Well,” Uncle Silas said mildly, “I suppose there’s a need for such things. After all, there’s been enough coffins made around here.” There was sadness in his voice. He shook it off. “How’s your wife? I’m anxious to see her.”
    “Helen is not well.” A frown came to Pollard’s face. “It was a sudden thing. As a matter of fact, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I have to leave her at home in order to publish this paper, and she’s really not well enough to be left alone.”
    Silas said, “Why, you should have called on me, John.”
    “You? You’re not a nurse.”
    “No, I’m not—but Leah here is.” He smiled fondly at his great-niece. “I can testify to what a good nurse she is. Why, I had one foot in the grave practically when she and her sister Sarah came down from Kentucky.” He related the story of how the two girls had routed the cantankerous woman housekeeper who was plaguing his life. “Ran her out of the house the day they got here.” Silas grinned proudly. “I’ve been waited on hand and foot ever since.”
    “Well, I’d hate to see you lose your nurse, Silas.” Mr. Pollard rubbed his chin thoughtfully and put his eyes on Leah. “But if you could spare this young lady for just a few days, it would take a load off my mind. As a matter of fact—” he broke off as if considering something deep in his mind “—I’ve got to make a business trip.” He looked straight at Leah, and a thought passed between them.
    He’s going on that trip with Belle Boyd,
Leah thought,
and he hates to leave his wife
.
    At once she said, “Why, Mr. Pollard, I’d be happy to stay with Mrs. Pollard. Uncle Silas is able to take care of himself for the most part. Would it be for long?”
    “Well, I’m hoping she’ll be up and around in two or three days, but it might be as long as a week—or even two.”
    “Don’t even think about it!” Silas put up his hand. “You still got that big old house out on the edge of town, haven’t you?”
    “Yes, I have.”
    “Well, if Mrs. Pollard could put up with me in the house, Leah and I could both stay there. That way—” he grinned “—she could take care of two patients