"You, sailor, empty your pockets!" Barked the tall blonde sergeant.
Laramie's heart dropped to his knees.
"They're going to find it!" He thought. "M'hum" he grunted in reply shoving another bite of roll into his mouth with his left hand, and with his right he gingerly removed the map from his pocket and stuck it under the lid of a box beside him.
Laramie stood up and brushed the crumbs off of his knickers, then pulled out the lining of his pockets. A gold sovereign hit the floor with a crash and rolled around.
"Do you have your commission papers?" Asked the sergeant.
"No, sir, I leave 'em with my Cap'n." He answered.
This seemed to satisfy the two soldiers, and they left as abruptly as they came in. Laramie picked up the sovereign and went to pay the baker. He looked at the crate with the map in it out of the corner of his eye. "You're a quick thinker, Laramie!" He said to himself with a smile. However, no sooner had he thought that when a burly man came in and picked up the crate.
"This the bread for Sir Waller's banquet?" He asked the baker.
"Sure is! An' I hope 'e likes it!" He answered.
So Laramie, helpless to do any thing, watched the map walk right out the door...to be continued.
No comments:
Post a Comment