Loving Sarah Read Online Free PDF Page A

before I settle into my spinsterhood. One is seeing if the ocean really is as clear and blue as I’ve always heard; another is to see America.
    Also, please do not fault Lucky in this. He knew nothing of my plans.
     
    Love, and etc.,
    Your Sister,
    Sarah
     
    With the note written, she placed it inside the old ship’s journal she’d been reading, leaving it prominently placed on top of the secretaire . The only thing she waited for now was the house to go quiet for the night.
     
    S lipping past the fire boy as he slept in the kitchen proved easier than she’d expected, and once outside, she made her way to the street, keeping to the shadows alongside the house as much as possible. She walked briskly and with intent toward the port a short distance away. She entered the area cordoned off for the morning ceremonies and began to look for someone to ferry her out to Avenger . Pulling the gray coarse-knit cap down lower over her brow, she took on a stooped posture and with the bag slung over her shoulder she looked very much like any other young sailor. She raised the collar of her coat, hiding her face and any trace of the waist-length braid tucked inside.
    A scrawny lad sat with his feet dangling over the side of the dock. Glancing over the edge, she saw a dinghy tied below. Sarah dropped her voice, hoping she sounded masculine. “Can ye ferry me out to me boat, lad? I shoulda been on it hours ago and th’ cap’n will be missin’ me come sun-up.”
    The lad shook his head. “Can’t do it. I’m waitin’ on me own cap’n.”
    “There’ll be coin in it for ye.”
    The boy looked more interested now that money was mentioned. “’Ow much ye got?”
    Sarah fished two half sovereigns from her pocket and showed him. The boy looked at the money in her hand, then around the darkened pier.
    “Fine. But I gotta be quick, don’t know when me cap’n’s comin’ back.” Sarah tossed the bag into the dinghy and stepped down into it. Once the boy shoved away from the pier with the oar, he asked, “Which un’s yer boat?”
    “ Avenger .”
    “Aye. I knows where it is.”
    They rowed out about a hundred yards into the darkness with only the light of a cloud-covered sliver of moon. Gentle waves lapped the side of the tiny craft.
    This was it. There was no turning back now. She was on her way to see the ocean and America. Well, at least one city in America. She told herself that she would return to see more of the country later. Perhaps once she found a traveling companion.
    She trembled with anticipation when the lad brought the dinghy along-side Lucky’s boat, near the rope ladder. “Are ye sure ye got the right boat?” she asked. “Don’t want me cap’n lashin’ me back.”
    “Aye, she’s the right un. I’m right alongside ye on Evangeline .”
    She handed the lad the two coins, tossed her satchel over her shoulder, and grabbed hold of the Jacob’s ladder.
    “Good luck to ye.”
    “Aye. And to you too,” she replied as she began to climb up the port side.
    She peered over the rail and saw no one about. Silently climbing onto the deck, Sarah wound her way toward the bow and prayed the hatch to the forward hold would be open. If so, she’d climb down and hide there. If it wasn’t, she knew she couldn’t lift it easily or quietly. In that case, she’d have to find the lazarette, or dry goods storeroom, if there was one, and hide there.
    Seeing the open hatch, she thanked God and knelt to look inside. It was dark out and even darker below in the hold. She’d just have to take her chances. She lowered her bag in and dropped it. It didn’t make a sound so she assumed her landing, too, would be soft and silent. She sat in front of the hold, grabbing the lip of the hatch opposite, and scooted her bottom forward, then dropped herself feet first into the abyss.
    As she’d suspected, she landed on folded canvas duck cloth. Yards and yards of the stuff. Spare sails, she thought. Wonderful. Moving to the far