The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) Read Online Free PDF Page A

and fresh, but every so often when the wind changed she caught a whiff of the swamp reminding her that she must not let her fascination with her surroundings make her unmindful of the dangers which lurked all around her, the ugliness amongst the beauty. She had read the tourist guide from beginning to end and back again. It was only sensible after all.
    She had walked maybe an hour and a half and in that time she had seen a red fox which stared at her quite blatantly. She told him it was rude to stare and, after giving what Adela was sure was a smirk, he headed back into the undergrowth. No doubt going to tell his friends about the woman with the odd accent he’d seen on his travels. She also saw a possum who didn’t stare but ignored her completely.
    Suddenly her attention was drawn to a deer amongst the trees; it was eating the shrubbery unaware of her presence. She gasped then smiled with pleasure; the deer looked around then focused its eyes on her.
    She whispered, ‘it's all right little deer, don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you. My, but you’re beautiful.’ The deer stared at her for a moment, then turned its head to the right as if it could hear something Adela could not before it took off running through the trees. Adela followed hoping that maybe the deer would lead her to the rest of its family.
    Suddenly a loud noise akin to a small explosion almost caused her to jump out of her skin and her heart to pound against her ribs. She turned quickly around, her eyes darting from left to right and back again. The ringing in her ears persisted but her heart rate began to slow as she realised she had heard that sound before, although never so close or so loud. She knew it was a hunter somewhere close by. She realised the deer had not been the hunter’s target because she had seen it run into the thick undergrowth and the noise had come from the other direction. She stayed perfectly still hoping the hunter would not take her for prey and shoot her dead.
    As she stood nervously waiting for the sound of another shot,  praying it would not be the last sound she would ever hear, the trees in front of her began to move. She held her breath as a figure emerged from the undergrowth.
    The first thing she noticed was the rifle he carried before her eyes travelled up to a face which was hard and set, but she caught a glimpse of surprise in his deep, dark brown eyes as he caught sight of her. He was tall maybe six one or two and he wore a  hat which had once been cream coloured but was now a dirty greyish colour. Below the hat she could see straggles of brown hair which reached to just below the collar of the black short sleeved shirt he wore. 
    She let out her breath in relief as she recognised the man.
    She took off her sunglasses; she disliked people who kept theirs on when talking to someone unless the sun was directly in their eyes, otherwise it was just rude. The relief showed in her voice as she said, ‘good morning, Mr. Lando.’
    He had drawn to an abrupt halt at his first sight of her, but now he looked at her as though he would like to raise his rifle and shoot her between the eyes. Her initial relief turned to nervousness, she swallowed hard and said, ‘was that you shooting?’ She gave a small laugh, ‘the shot startled me for a  moment.’ 
    He didn’t answer only stared at her and there was no mistaking the antipathy in his expression. It was then she noticed his left hand was holding something over his left shoulder. He moved his hand forward and she closed her eyes for a moment at the sight of the dead rabbit dangling from his finge rs. She swallowed again, ‘you…you’ve been hunting.’                                                          
    He advanced straight towards her and for a moment Adela thought he meant to knock her down, but at the last moment he stepped to the left of her and carried on walking mumbling, ‘and they