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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781524671150 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 03/24/2017 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 410 |
| File size: | 625 KB |
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CHAPTER 1
IN THE BEGINNING
His earliest memories were of a small farm in the highlands, surrounded by nine brothers and sisters and Papa and Mama. His oldest brother, Joshua was a tall slender young man with blond hair, blue eyes and a neatly trimmed blond beard. He was a seaman and seldom at home, but when he was at home he was the center of attention especially to Jonah.
Mama and Papa were both tall and slender, like Joshua. Papa's eyes were blue and his hair was light brown as was his beard. Mama had blue eyes and blond hair. The other children all had blue eyes and hair the color of new straw to light brown. There were two sets of twins and six years between the youngest and Jonah, thus his Mama's nickname for him, her "little surprise."
The small farm was located on a rocky hillside near the seashore. The sea was on one side of the small farm and rolling hills as far as the eye could see in the other directions. Neighbors, most of whom were family members occupied every parcel of land on the landward sides. Everyone worked hard to scratch out a living. A small harbor a mile away was surrounded by a fairly large fishing village. Fishermen went out every day and brought in their catch that was quickly bought up by the people in the village and in the surrounding countryside. Any excess was dried, smoked, and salted down and transported to more distant markets on a regular basis.
Each evening farmers brought their produce to the village in exchange for the fresh fish that was brought in by the fishermen. Sunday was a day of rest for everyone. Each Sunday started with the ringing of the church bell and worship of God in the church building. The rock building of the church was surrounded by a cemetery that dated back for several hundred years.
Papa enjoyed taking his family to church on Sundays. He loved to read his Bible in front of the congregation and would sometimes lead the singing of the worship songs. Occasionally he would stand before the congregation and deliver a short sermon, usually when the regular preacher was absent. Jonah learned early in life that his name and the names of his brothers and sisters came from the Bible. There was of course, Joshua, Peter, James and John. Then there was Mary, Martha, Tabatha and Ruth followed by David and then six years later along came Mama "little surprise," Jonah. They were born in that order with James and John as twins as were Tabatha and Ruth. Mama was Joan and Papa was called Jack.
They lived in a rock house surrounded by twenty acres of rocky hillside. The farm was surrounded by a rock wall that was made up of the rocks that grew from the hillside each time the plow broke the surface. It was a constant chore for all the children to pick up the rocks and deposit them in the rock wall that surrounded the small farm. Jonah's first chore was to pick up the rocks that were turned up by the plow that his brothers guided through the soil behind an ox. He carried them to the wall and dropped them in place. The wall had grown from nothing to a white barrier of two to three feet in height in most places and over three feet in others. Due to their diligence in building their fence they also expanded the rock cottage as the family grew. The children shared a room with one another; they had a large central family room, large kitchen and dining area and covered porches and walkways.
They raised potatoes in one field, corn from the new world in another, wheat, barley, hemp for cloth and ropes, and oats in others plus a large vegetable garden. The soil was dark and rich and would grow anything that they planted in addition to a surplus of rocks from the size of Jonah's fist to the size of his head. They had poultry of all kinds, a couple of milk cows and a sty of pigs. They also raised a few sheep for the wool that they made into warm clothes and there were calves from the mother cows.
The Riley family farmed twenty acres of land that extended from the top of a small hill to about a hundred feet from the edge of a rock bluff that overlooked the sea, thirty feet below. A small cove below the bluff ran into a cave that extended into the rocky bluff. The sea ran twenty to thirty feet into the cave at high tide. The cave beyond the sea extended in three directions. Several rooms well above the high water level ran upward under the strip of land that bordered the rock farm.
Papa kept a small fishing boat in the cave. He and Joshua or the other boys took it out often and brought the catch to the farm for feeding his family. He did not try to take his catch to the village but concentrated on fishing close to shore near his land. When he was through fishing for the day, the boat was hauled from the water and stored in the cave far from the water's level.
There was a narrow path that led from the top of the bluff overlooking the sea to the small cove. There was another entrance to the cave that was obscured from view by a cluster of large boulders on the edge of the farm. This entrance was kept hidden and used only for emergencies or if the sea was too rough and there was a need to go to one of the rooms in the cave. Papa used the rooms to store items that he did not want the rest of the world to know about.
He had been a soldier in his youth and returned from war with his weapons and a small collection of valuables. They were wrapped in waterproof leathers and stored deep in one of the caves. In the event there was a surplus in a crop, he stored the surplus in one of the caves until it was needed to feed his family or to exchange for coin or trade.
Jack Riley, Papa, was the youngest son of a large family. The older sons had inherited the larger, richer parcels of land. Jack had left home at the age of fifteen and spent the next ten years as a soldier. He had been stationed most of that time on foreign soil. Upon returning to his native home he settled on what the family termed "The Rock Farm," as his inheritance. He married a young woman of eighteen from the village who was not of his family and came from one of the hard working farming families.
His brothers enjoyed teasing him about the wanderlust of his youth and acceptance of "The Rock Farm" as his inheritance. Their teasing turned to admiration over the years as he turned the small farm into a highly productive operation. His acquisition of knowledge and skill in foreign lands gave him many advantages that contributed to his success.
One of the skills was in the distillation of spirits. He learned to make all kinds of liquors that were highly prized by the gentry. He kept his knowledge secret and used it to gain wealth that would have otherwise been unavailable to him. His raising of a number of unusual grains that he used in the making of high quality liquors contributed to this secret knowledge. He built a small but efficient distillery in one of the secret caves and stored his production there. Using the small fishing boat he transported the finished products to the port and shipped them to markets distant from the small village where they were in high demand and brought high prices.
His sons were taught these secrets including additional skills in warfare with his weapons, hand to hand combat, and tactics used by specially trained combatants. Working together Jack Riley and his sons were able to prosper well on "The Rock Farm."
When the first winter freeze of the year set it Jack's family shifted from their normal farming activities to the loading and shipping of the year's harvest in bottles and kegs. They loaded the fishing boat with all of the distillery production that was stored in the cave. Jack, Joshua and two of the older boys, including the twins, James and John rowed the fishing boat through the rough seas to the small harbor. Jack and Joshua booked passage with their cargo on one of the ships scheduled to leave port for France or Spain. Once in the foreign port they off loaded the cargo and deliver it to the special customers who had ordered it. In some cases the order had been standing for two years. They were always welcomed enthusiastically and paid the exceptionally high prices agreed upon at the time the order was placed, with bonuses added more times than not. They returned home with empty containers and ingredients and confirmed orders for additional shipments.
When back in port they rowed the boat back to the cave and unloaded the materials that they needed for the next year's production. Sometimes there was a surplus that had been left in the cave due to the limited capacity of the fishing boat. This surplus was usually included in the next year's shipment. Jack and then Joshua carried the gold that had been received in payment for the shipment. They stored the gold in a strong box that was kept in another cave, well hidden among the rocks.
When they returned home before the Christmas season the hog slaughtering season was upon them. The smoke house was soon full of sausage, ham, bacon and other pork products. They usually smoked and salted down some of the larger poultry, and a calf. Most of the meat was stored to meet the needs of the family for the coming year. Sometimes they were able to take some of it to the village to be sold or traded for other products that would be needed by the growing family.
After the first of the year when the weather was the foulest, the family loaded the largest wagon and hitched up four oxen and made a two week trip into the mountains. The larger kids walked and the younger ones bundled up and rode in the wagon that was loaded with camping supplies.
After several days of travel they stopped at an isolated rock cottage in a secluded valley. The family was met by a tall, slender man and a short plump woman and a half dozen large wolf hounds.
"Sergeant Riley, it is good to see you. There are several nice roe bucks grazing in the valley off and on this year as well as plenty of mountain sheep among the high crags. Come into the warmth and let's visit awhile," the old man said.
They spent the better part of an hour visiting with the elderly man and the woman fused over the children and Mama. She served them all hot tea and ginger snaps and chatted the whole time about how much they had grown since last year. The children made pets of the huge dogs, rolling and playing on the floor in front of the fireplace. After an hour or so they piled back in the wagon or walked beside it as the old man gave Papa a strong handshake and bear hug. Papa left several large bottles of spirits and a small bag of coins.
They traveled for another day until they passed through a large forest of oak and hickory until they came to an ancient stone castle ruin that had been built overlooking a long wide valley.
The older man had been Jack's commanding officer during his tours of duty in the military. He had been wounded and retired to his family holding in the mountains. The plump woman was his wife of over forty years.
The family set up a camp in the keep of the ancient castle and let the oxen graze on the lush winter grass within the keep. Peat fires and crude but warm shelters kept everyone warm. As soon as the camp was secure Papa brought out his weapons and spent the next few days teaching everyone the proper care of the pistols, rifles, and blades; how to melt pellets of lead and mold the lead into proper size bullets. They gathered guano from bat dropping within the castle and mixed it with other ingredients to make gunpowder. When satisfied that everyone had been trained in accordance with their ages, Papa led them to the hunt.
Each morning they left the ruins before daylight and hiked down into the valley. They hunted until the sun was well up in the sky. The first day they bagged a mountain sheep and hung it for camp meat. Within a few days they had bagged several more mountain sheep which they cleaned and quartered and let freeze.
When they returned to the keep and completed their chores processing the kill of the day, everyone carried a tool and they walked into the hard wood forest they had passed through coming to the castle. The located the stacks of wood that they had cut the previous year and left to cure. Working each day they cut and stacked the wood that would cure and be ready to be used next year.
When they had cut and stacked enough hardwood to meet their needs for the coming year they shifted their attention to a peat bog located near the far end of the valley. They cut and stacked peat to dry and cure for the coming year, to replace the peat that was stacked and dried for this year.
Most years they bagged one of the huge red roe deer that lived in the long, wide valley. When the meat was ready to be transported they placed it in the bottom of the wagon, covered the meat with the skins and then covered the skins and meat with the cured wood that they had cut the previous year. The back end of the wagon was reserved for the cured peat that had been cut the previous year along with several bags of guano for the making of gun powder when they returned home. They replaced the peat they had used and finished preparing to go home.
They loaded the camping equipment and supplies back in the wagon and started the oxen back to the "Rock Farm." They stopped for a spell at the stone cottage of the retired soldier and his wife. They left one of the processed sheep with the old man and his wife as they left their favorite hunting grounds. They also left some of the cut wood and peat for their fireplace.
Although there were sometimes threats made by governmental officials dealing with those who hunted the "Kings'" animals, there was never such a threat leveled toward Jack and his family. Upon returning to their small farm all the meat was smoke and salt cured and quickly stashed in one of the rooms in the cave. They enjoyed the bounty of the hunt in addition to their own raised animals. They were able to do so without raising the interest of governmental officials.
They were careful to include the hides with their domestic hides and used them to make items for the family, shoes, boots, aprons, harnesses, and such like. There was never a record of his owning firearms so there was no suspension of there being gun powder stored in one of the caves.
The tax man came by each year to collect what he considered his fair portion. Jack would meet with the tax man and his minions in the barn. He would break out a special bottle of spirits that he assured the tax man that he had acquired from one of the ships that frequented foreign ports for the sole purpose of honoring the tax man and his assistants. Half way through the consumption of the bottle of spirits the tax for that year was passed to the tax collector in a small leather pouch, in gold. Business was sweet among friends.
When Jonah was five he started to school in the small village. The four older boys had left home by that time in search of their fortune and future.
The oldest son Joshua signed on with one of the merchant ships and was learning to be a seaman. Peter joined the military and was following in the footsteps of Jack and the twins, James and John left by ship to the new world. Joshua returned home when his ship was in port but nothing had been heard from the others. Mary and Martha were planning their weddings to farmers on the far side of the harbor. They had met in church and would continue to be part of the community in their new lives. Tabatha and Ruth were completing their last year of school and David, who was thirteen, was beginning to discover girls. With Jonah in school Jack and Joan were once again alone on the farm.
School was a new adventure. Although he had been taught to read and do some math at home by his brothers and sisters he knew that he had lots to learn. There were three teachers in the small school. The main text for learning was the Bible although there were a number of other books available. Among the social skills that he learned quickly was the art of fighting. He had been picking up rocks, many almost as big as he was, since he could walk. He had also been taught by sisters and brothers many of the combat skills that Papa had taught them. Papa had done his part to assure that his youngest son could defend himself.
As they walked home from the first day of school, an eight year old cousin walked up to Jonah and hit him with his fist, "You are too little to go to school with us. Go back to the Rock Farm until you grow up," the boy said.
The blow was a surprise although it had little effect on Jonah, "I'm almost as old as you are, Sean. Why did you hit me?" Jonah responded to the blow.
"Because I wanted to," Sean said and started swinging both fists as he attacked.
Jonah absorbed each blow with a shocked expression on his face, stepping back from Sean. By that time a number of children surrounded them egging them on.
When Sean continued his attack, Jonah stepped into the punches and delivered one of his own to Sean's midsection. The boy immediately gasped and fell backward holding his stomach. Jonah backed up as Sean went down. "You have no reason to attack me, Sean. It's time to get home and do our chores."
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Separated by the War"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Richard D. Arnold.
Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 IN THE BEGINNING, 1,
CHAPTER 2 ON THE HIGH SEAS, 11,
CHAPTER 3 THE FLOWER SOCIETY, 29,
CHAPTER 4 NEW ORLEANS, USA, 41,
CHAPTER 5 PIRATES ON THE HORIZON, 46,
CHAPTER 6 THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA, 59,
CHAPTER 7 PRIVATEERS, 69,
CHAPTER 8 ENTERING THE RIO GRANDE, 83,
CHAPTER 9 DECISIONS, DECISIONS, 105,
CHAPTER 10 GOING WEST, 113,
CHAPTER 11 THE WHITE MOUNTAIN, 129,
CHAPTER 12 THE CABIN, 143,
CHAPTER 13 THE FAIRY PRINCESS, 155,
CHAPTER 14 THE WOOD SHOP, 166,
CHAPTER 15 FRENCH TRAPPERS, 177,
CHAPTER 16 COAL FOR THE FORGE, 187,
CHAPTER 17 LITTLE JACK GOES TO HOPE, 198,
CHAPTER 18 FRENCH TRAPPER RETURN, 213,
CHAPTER 19 GROWING UP ON THE FARM, 225,
CHAPTER 20 PHILLIP JUAREZ, 235,
CHAPTER 21 WASHINGTON, D C, 251,
CHAPTER 22 A NEW ASSIGNMENT, 262,
CHAPTER 23 PRIVATEERS ON THE SEAS, 274,
CHAPTER 24 GROWING THE FLEET, 288,
CHAPTER 25 UP THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER, 299,
CHAPTER 26 RETURN TO THE CAVE, 322,
CHAPTER 27 THE GILDED CAGE, 348,
CHAPTER 28 NEW BEGINNING, 397,