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Chapters (51)
  1. Cover
  2. Books by Elizabeth Camden
  3. Title Page
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Sixteen
  20. Seventeen
  21. Eighteen
  22. Nineteen
  23. Twenty
  24. Twenty-One
  25. Twenty-Two
  26. Twenty-Three
  27. Twenty-Four
  28. Twenty-Five
  29. Twenty-Six
  30. Twenty-Seven
  31. Twenty-Eight
  32. Twenty-Nine
  33. Thirty
  34. Thirty-One
  35. Thirty-Two
  36. Thirty-Three
  37. Thirty-Four
  38. Thirty-Five
  39. Thirty-Six
  40. Thirty-Seven
  41. Thirty-Eight
  42. Thirty-Nine
  43. Forty
  44. Forty-One
  45. Forty-Two
  46. Historical Note
  47. Questions for Discussion
  48. In 2020, look forCaroline Delacroix’sstory in
  49. About the Author
  50. Back Ads
  51. Back Cover

Mention of the drought sparked a shadow of fear in Roy’s gaze. “It’s a risk,” he said. “I don’t know the first thing about this new-fangled wheat.”

“I do. And I can help.”

He glanced away as a series of emotions came over him. Then his face crumpled up, and two fat tears rolled down his face, but he covered his eyes with a large, work-roughened palm to swipe them away. She cringed at the sight. She hadn’t expected this. Things had been bad for years, but she hadn’t expected this.

Just as quickly as Roy had lost his composure, he got it back. “That would be more than fine, Annabelle,” he said on a ragged breath. “More than fine.”

Her adventure in Washington was something she would always remember, but staying here would be selfish. Their farm teetered on the edge of ruin, and through the grace of God, she’d been given insight that might save it.

It was time to go home.

Thirty-Seven

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Gray had never seen the harbor illuminated at night, but Captain Haig had arranged for a pair of carbon arc lamps to be set up outside the Pelican while a crew of longshoremen were paid double wages to load the ship through the night. The carbon arc lamps lit the dockside with an eerily white glow, making the cranes look like hulking black silhouettes as they loaded cargo.

Gray worked too. At first, he and Otis worked side by side to lug crates of flaxseed down into the hold. Once that was done, they stooped over to roll barrels of tar, turpentine, and pitch. His spine ached and blisters formed on his palms. A longshoreman laughingly called him a lightweight and tossed him a pair of gloves. Gray pulled them on and got back to work. Maybe he was paranoid, but from the moment he’d realized the Pelican could be seized, he’d not had a moment’s rest, and there were still four hours to go before sunrise.

At six o’clock the last hold was secured and locked. The ship still had room for more cargo, but Gray wanted it out of port and into international waters before the government got any ideas. The Pelican wouldn’t pull into an American port until the case against Luke had been decided.

Gray stood on the pier and watched the Pelican sail on the morning tide. It had taken a herculean effort to get it off so quickly, and he was proud of their work. He was also proud that the ship sailed with twelve empty vials for the collection of rice in Madagascar. Otis would collect the rice and hand it over to Annabelle when he returned.