"Louis L'amour - sackett02 - To The Far Blue Mountains" - читать интересную книгу автора (L'Amour Louis)

To The Far Blue Mountains by Louis L'Amourrelease info
To The Far Blue Mountains
by
Louis L'Amour



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About the Author



To Oscar and Marion Dystel

1
My horse, good beast that he was, stood steady, ears pricked to listen, as were
mine.
When a man has enemies he had best beware, and I, Barnabas Sackett, born of the
fenland and but lately returned from the sea, had enemies I knew not of.
The blackness of my plumed hat and cloak fed themselves into the blackness of
the forest, leaving no shape for the eye to catch. There was only the shine of
captured light from my naked blade as I waited, listening.
Something or somebody was in the forest near me, what or who it might be I knew
not, nor was I a believer in the devils and demons thought to haunt these
forests.
Devils and demons worried me not, but there were men abroad, with blades as keen
as mine, highwaymen and creatures of the night who lay waiting for any chance
traveler who might come riding alone ... to his death, if they but had their
will.
Yet the fens had trained me well, for we of the fens learned to be aware of all
that was happening about us. Hunters and fishers we were, and some of us
smugglers as well, although of these I was not one. Yet we moved upon our hidden
ways, in darkness or in light, knowing each small sound for what it was. Nor had
wandering in the forests of Raleigh's land among the red Indians allowed my
senses to grow dull.
Something lurked, but so did I.
My point lifted a little, expecting attack. Yet those who might be waiting to
come at me were but men who bled, even as I.
It was not attack that came from the darkness, but a voice.
"Ah, you are a wary one, lad, and I like that in a man. Stand steady, Barnabas,
I'll not cross your blade. It is words I'll have, not blood."
"Speak then, and be damned to you. If words are not enough, the blade is here.
You spoke my name?"
"Aye, Barnabas, I know your name and your table, as well. I've eaten a time or
two in your fen cottage from which you've been absent these many months."
"You've shared meat with me? Who are you, then? Speak up, man!"
"I'd no choice. It is the steps and the string for me if caught. I need a bit of
a hand, as the saying is, and the chance to serve you, if permitted."