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"Gentle his voice, as well, "I should rather have written those lines than have taken Quebec"
There was a faint stir and a breath of laughter aht The poet rote the buttered cruet his arse shot off
He didn’t knohether this was simply more of Wolfe’s characteristic draht He’dhad ht before, with instructions to deliver it to Miss Landringha out of the ordinary for men to put their personal valuables into the care of a friend before a hot battle Were you killed or badly injured, your body ed to retrieve you, and not everyone had a trustworthy servant hom to leave such items Grey his into battle for friends--he’d had a reputation for luck, prior to Crefeld No one had asked hiht by instinct, feeling the current change, and Simon Fraser, next hi him
"Pardon," Fraser murmured Wolfe had made theht before, and it was agreed that Fraser had the ht with the French in Holland some years prior Should they be hailed by a sentry, it would be his job to reply Doubtless, Grey thought, Fraser was now thinking frantically in French, trying to saturate his lish escape in panic
"De rien," Grey murmured back, and Fraser chuckled, deep in his throat
It was cloudy, the sky streaked with the shredded reood; the surface of the river was broken, patched with faint light, fractured by stones and drifting tree branches Even so, a decent sentry could scarcely fail to spot a train of boats
Cold nuger at his belt again; he are that he touched it every fewto verify its presence, but couldn’t help it and didn’t worry about it He was straining his eyes, looking for anything--the glow of a careless fire, the shifting of a rock that was not a rock … Nothing
How far? he wondered Two miles, three? He’d not yet seen the cliffs himself, was not sure how far below Gareon they lay
The rush of water and the easy an to , and he shook his head, yawning exaggeratedly to throw it off
"Quel est ce bateau?" What boat is that? The shout from the shore seemed anticliht bird’s call But the next instant Siether, as Fraser gulped air and shouted, "Celui de la Reine!!"
Grey clenched his teeth, not to let any blasphemous response escape If the sentry deht An instant later, though, the sentry shouted, "Passez!" and Fraser’s death grip relaxed Sied hi rien," he ers
They were getting close Men were shifting to and fro in anticipation, evencoats, coughing, spitting over the side, readying the quarter-hourtoward shore--and another sentry called from the dark
Grey’s heart squeezed like a fist, and he nearly gasped with the twinge of pain from his old wounds
"Qui etes-vous? Que sont ces bateaux?" a French voice demanded suspiciously Who are you? What boats are those?
This time, he was ready and seized Fraser’s hand hi out toward the shore, called hoarsely, "Des bateaux de provisions! Tasiez-vous--les anglais sont proches!" Provision boats! Be quiet--the British are nearby! Grey felt an insane urge to laugh but didn’t In fact, the Sutherland was nearby, lurking out of cannon shot downstreauard called, more quietly, "Passez!" and the train of boats slid smoothly past and round the final bend
The bottorated on sand, and half theit farther up Wolfe half-leapt, half-fell over the side in eagerness, all trace of soround on a s now, a swar like ants
Twenty-four of the Highlanders were --and, insofar as possible, clearing, for the cliff was defended not only by its steepness but by abatis, nests of sharpened logs--a trail for the rest Siing at once into the sibilant Gaelic as he hissed the men into position Grey rather missed his presence
He was not sure whether Wolfe had chosen the Highlanders for their skill at cli or because he preferred to risk theht Wolfe regarded the Highlanders with distrust and a certain contelish officers Those officers, at least, who’d never fought with theainst them
From his spot at the foot of the cliff, Grey couldn’t see them, but he could hear them: the scuffle of feet, now and then a wild scrabble and a clatter of falling snized as Gaelic invocations of God, hisof beads from the neck of his shirt, kissed the tiny cross attached to it, and tucked it back; then, seizing a srew out of the rock face, he leapt upward, kilt swinging, broadsword swaying from his belt in brief silhouette, before the darkness took hiainst evil
It was a long wait in the darkness; to sohlanders, hatever else theynoises and half-strangled whoops as a foot slipped and a coested that the cli with boredo came from above, and the shore party scattered in panic as several sharpened logs plunged out of the dark, dislodged from an abatis One of them had struck point-down noin the sand With no discussion, the shore party retreated to the sandbar
The scrabblings and gruntings grew fainter and abruptly ceased Wolfe, who had been sitting on a boulder, stood up, straining his eyes upward<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>