Thieving Forest Read Online Free PDF Page B

hangs in the air. Seth untwists the last rubbery length of grass from the shaft and cuts it with his knife. Then he stretches out on the grass next to Cade, who is eating plums and saving the pits in his pocket.
    They say if you can see enough blue sky to make a woman’s apron then the clouds will soon clear off, and Seth can see enough for an apron, a cap, and the sleeve of a dress. He closes his eyes, tilts his head toward the sun, and inhales as if breathing it in. In his pocket is a ring. A small ring, but pretty with a tiny cream-colored pearl surrounded by even tinier seed pearls. His father told him last night that the Quiners are staying in Severne, which is why they want to sell their team and wagon—they need capital for supplies. At first Seth was surprised, but then he recognized an opportunity. The bargeman had with him but two rings to sell, and the one in Seth’s pocket now was easily the nicest.
    He plucks a long piece of grass and ties his dark hair back into a ponytail. He is not Italian, as most people think, nor Hebrew, but Indian. Amos’s mother was full Potawatomi, though you would never guess it from Amos’s fair skin and fair hair. Amos lived with his mother’s people until he was ten, and can speak Potawatomi as well as he can English. Seth can speak it too but Cade doesn’t have any talent for it. Sometimes Seth thinks that all of Amos’s Indian blood was passed on to him, the eldest son, leaving none for Cade. At least that’s what it looks like. The brothers have two different mothers to be sure, but their mothers were both blond and Bavarian—cousins, in fact, who had come to Virginia together. When the second one, Cade’s mother, died some six or seven years ago, Amos took up the boys and moved to Severne and never bothered to marry again.
    Seth hears a sound in the distance: horse’s hooves. There is enough blue sky now for a full dress and maybe a parasol cover. They left Severne last night at moonrise to get to the ferry landing by morning, and Seth is tired. At the river he and Cade tethered the two wagons together—the Quiners and their own—and each brother slept in one for safekeeping while they waited for the barge. A couple of hours’ rest at most. What Seth wants now is just a moment to close his eyes.
    Cade says, “It’s Mop.”
    Seth turns his head. The horse’s reins are flopping up and down in waves and the rider keeps such a loose seat that he seems to be holding on with his ankles. But Mop’s dark curly hair, parted in the middle to make two shelves that hang to his shoulders, is recognizable at almost any distance. After Mop slows his horse up by the wagon he reaches for his water pouch and tips it back to drink. His collar hangs on by a button.
    Neither brother stands. Not for Mop. Seth closes his eyes again. He can feel the ring in his pocket pressing on his thigh but makes no adjustment.
    Mop takes a breath and says dramatically, “The Quiner sisters have been taken.”
    “Taken?” Seth asks. “You mean sick?” Mop’s first words often make no sense. Probably he is here to see if he can earn a few coins in some way and this is his awkward preamble.
    “Taken. By Indians. Run out of their home. I thought they usually set fire too, but the store is still standing.”
    Now Seth opens his eyes. Taken by Indians? Sunlight seems to shift away from his body and settle somewhere else, and for a moment he can do nothing but wait for something to connect this minute to the last one. He stares at Mop, who is still talking: Indians, no fire, a group from the forest. His lips flop apart like the reins on his horse.
    Cade is the one who recovers first. “What do you mean? All the Quiners? Every one?”
    “All except Miss Susanna. She hid somewheres.”
    “What about Aurelia?” Cade’s voice sounds as though it is coming from a tube. Aurelia is his sweetheart.
    “Taken, like I said, all but Susanna.”
    That’s when Cade springs to action: he re-hangs the tar