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Quin’s heart was beating in his throat so violently that he could hardly form words He dispatched them back to the schooner, with instructions to send Grooper back with the rowboat to wait at the top of the inlet
He paused to get his bearings and to work out the exact location of the French garrison in relation to the hut He started off at a steady jog, Lucy trotting at his side Either the French soldiers had captured Olivia, or he would force the her
As he ran steadily up the bank and then through a scrub forest, he turned over the various possibilities in his land was at ith France, but that s to different people--and he wasn’t entirely convinced that a provincial garrison would feel h the odds of one English duke’s subduing an entire garrison of French soldiers, bristling with everything froood It wouldn’t be helpful to Olivia if he ended up skewered on a bayonet in a valiant but failed rescue attempt
Just then a hare bounded across his way, and he heard a surprisingly deep bark in response He looked down to find Lucy still running along beside his would carry her
Quin paused just long enough to scoop up the dog and took off again By his reckoning, he should be very close Indeed, a ravel yard, on the other side of which, behind walls, stood a brick structure
The garrison did not give the iravel had been raked with no regard to a feildflowers sprouting up here and there, waving gently in the area that appeared to have been designated for forate, fast asleep Quin walked straight past hih the courtyard and ran up the steps to the main entrance, Lucy under his arm
Inside, he put Lucy down and poked his head into a dusty receiving roo ns of heavy use Open crates holding rifles lined the roouess that the worn billiards table in the center received thea soul, the click of Lucy’s toenails onlythe silence feel more profound The first bedchamber he looked into, however, was occupied For athe situation A large and ratherloudly, facedown on a bed whose sheets had seen better days A table at the far wall of the rooiven Rupert in the schooner Thrown on the chair was a stained captain’s coat
A small pistol lay on a side table; he re of powder out the openThen he put it back where he’d found it, caught up the back of the captain’s shirt, and shook him
The man snorted and rolled on his back Quin recoiled as a breathful of rancid brandy reached him
Half awet; Quin had been forced to empty a water pitcher over his head, and it was only the threat of the chaot the man on his feet
"Who the devil are you?" he said, his face pale gray in the sunlight, his eyes red-riainst the wall
Quin pointed one of his pistols at the lish and was abducted on the shore near here a few hours ago"
Ignoring the pistol altogether, the captain sat down, shuddering like an ear of corn in the wind "No Englishwoman would be here We’re at ith you, if you didn’t notice"
"Did yourto find their oinkles without a map I need sleep Get yourself the devil out of here, will you?" He sank back down onto the soggy bed and closed his eyes
Quin looked around and saw a half-drunk bottle of brandy He upended this too over the captain’s head, who lurched upright, his face contorted "What the devil?" he croaked "You’re ahis voice even He raised the pistol and shot the first of the brandy bottles lined up on the far table, causing Lucy to flinch and then bark Glass shards and brandy rained down onto the floor, and its heady aroma filled the roolish arehares"