The Forest - Edward Rutherfurd [124]
There was no moon that night. The stars, peeping from behind shrouds of cloud, were very bright. They had waited for a long time for the dragon, but by the time their eyes were drooping they had decided that, if it was residing at Burley, it was not coming over tonight.
‘You’ll wake me if you see it,’ Jonathan made Willie promise.
‘And you wake me.’
But once they were settled down, perhaps because of the dew forming on their faces, or through fear of animals disturbing them, neither boy slept for a while. And it was as they were gazing up at the night sky that Willie raised a subject they had discussed the day before. ‘You really think your dad’s boat from Southampton will beat my dad’s?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Jonathan truthfully. The huge bet had been the talk of Lymington the previous day. After a short pause, however, thinking he owed it to his friend and his family to give them the best information he could, he added: ‘I think if my father’s bet so much on the race he must be sure he’s going to win. He’s very careful. I don’t think your father ought to bet on winning, Willie.’
‘He never bets.’
‘Why’s that?’
‘Says he takes enough risks anyway without betting as well.’
‘What sort of risks?’
‘Never mind. I can’t tell you.’
‘Oh.’ Jonathan thought. ‘What can’t you tell me?’ It sounded interesting.
Willie said nothing for a bit. ‘I’ll tell you something,’ he said finally.
‘What?’
‘My dad’s boat can go faster than your father thinks. But you mustn’t tell him.’
‘Why?’
Willie was silent. Jonathan asked him why again, but got no answer. He gently kicked him. Willie said nothing.
‘I’ll pinch you,’ Jonathan offered.
‘Don’t.’
‘All right. But tell me.’
Willie took a deep breath. ‘Do you promise not to tell?’ he began.
All Lymington was buzzing when Jonathan Totton and Willie Seagull returned safely in the morning, which they were able to do quite early since they had hurried along the Forest edge as soon as the first hint of dawn had allowed them to see their way.
All Lymington rejoiced, all Lymington was curious. And when all Lymington discovered that they had been up all night and worried themselves half to death because the two boys had gone looking for a dragon, all Lymington was outraged.
At least, they claimed they were. The women all said that the boys should be soundly whipped. The men, remembering their own boyhoods, agreed, but were more or less lenient. The mayor told the fathers firmly that if they didn’t deal with their sons he would take them to the whipping post himself. Everyone privately blamed Burrard for telling them foolish stories about dragons in the first place. So Burrard hid in his house.
Henry Totton, before delivering sentence on his son, explained to him carefully that this showed the dangers of mixing with people like Willie Seagull, who had obviously led him astray; and was astonished when his son stoutly assured him that the whole expedition had been his idea and that it was he who had made Willie stay the night. At first he was unable to believe it, but when finally he did, his grief and disappointment were very great. For once, however, Jonathan really didn’t care.
Alan Seagull took his son by the ear and hauled him away to the quay and along to their strange house into which they disappeared together. There he took down a strap from the wall and hit Willie twice, after which he was laughing so much that his wife had to finish the job for him.
The punishment of Jonathan, however, was a sadder affair. Nobody laughed. Henry Totton did what he knew he must do. He did it not only with a sense of mystification at the whole episode but also with the belief that it could only make this strange boy hate him. So that Jonathan, although the whipping hurt, was rather proud of the whole affair;