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Back The Nest Save as PDF
Chapters (82)
  1. Cover
  2. Copyright page
  3. Introduction by Will Errickson
  4. Acknowledgements
  5. TREMORS
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. SUSPICIONS
  13. 1
  14. 2
  15. 3
  16. 4
  17. 5
  18. DREAD
  19. 1
  20. 2
  21. 3
  22. 4
  23. 5
  24. 6
  25. WITNESS
  26. 1
  27. 2
  28. 3
  29. ALERT
  30. 1
  31. 2
  32. 3
  33. 4
  34. 5
  35. ENCOUNTER
  36. 1
  37. 2
  38. 3
  39. 4
  40. 5
  41. 6
  42. HAVOC
  43. 1
  44. 2
  45. 3
  46. 4
  47. 5
  48. 6
  49. SEARCH
  50. 1
  51. 2
  52. 3
  53. 4
  54. 5
  55. CLASH
  56. 1
  57. 2
  58. 3
  59. 4
  60. 5
  61. 6
  62. 7
  63. COUNTERATTACK
  64. 1
  65. 2
  66. 3
  67. 4
  68. 5
  69. 6
  70. 7
  71. VICTORY
  72. 1
  73. 2
  74. 3
  75. 4
  76. 5
  77. 6
  78. 7
  79. 8
  80. 9
  81. EPILOGUE
  82. About the Author

Had the people not been racing about in their own new urgency, they would have heard the sharp repeated cracking of the captive roach’s shell on the glass, hitting the sides and the top harder and harder blows. Fortunately, the glass was shatterproof, and held.

2

TWO

When one of the Tub’s ancient engines failed, George Kinray realized too late that even prayers would not save the boat from disaster on Dickens Rocks. The gale winds and the staggering waves were too powerful for the remaining motor. The minister did not have to tell the children to be quiet, to avoid panic as the slashing sea sluiced the deck. They were all experienced enough to know they were in dire trouble. Squinting against the salt spray, the older among them helped with the life jackets.

Using whatever power he could muster against the deck-­washing waves and the beating winds, the minister desperately steered toward Dickens Cove. His hope was that the storm would beach the craft past the rocks. True, the tide was coming in fast, and there would be no beach at all in a little while, but with luck he would have time to get everyone off safely and into the nearby woods. Then the trek home would be familiar through the safety of the trees.

The curling combers had other plans for the Tub. Heavier and heavier seas broke mercilessly over the deck, threatening to sweep children overboard. The youngsters clung tightly to whatever was at hand, and to each other, in a chain of silent terror. A great sea would dance the ship up a heaving wave, only to chute it down with a timber-­shaking thud in the trough between seas. The winds boiled up mountains of water that avalanched down on the Tub, surging across the children, and straining the human chain of small arms to the breaking point.

It was all the more terrible, the distraught minister wept inwardly, because not even the smallest of the clenched faces uttered the slightest whimper. These Yarkie children showed their inheritance of bravery, he saw with new admiration, and heartbreak. Kneeling in prayer, he watched the jagged rocks coming closer and closer, like iron shark jaws waiting to crunch them to bits. Even with life jackets, few children could survive the pounding seas and the erratic tides. They would almost certainly be swept out to eternity.