DOWN BELOW THE CAVE the irregulars sat around the Captain’s vat which balanced on rocks in the fire and they drank Cape Smoke from their water bottles and chewed on beef which was tough but succulent and nicely roasted on the joiner’s rotisserie.
Higgs and Basson put their names down, said Evans. They told them they’d get farms as soon as the war was over.
Where?
On the Big Fat. Up on the edge of the mountains where there’s water. And good wood to build with.
The joiner looked at Higgs.
This true?
They put us on the list, said Higgs. There’s going to be English villages all over the place.
And schools, said Basson. And heathens to do the digging.
You better get women, said the joiner. Because heathen men don’t dig.
What do they do?
Admire their cattle. And fight. Like Dutchmen.
The men sat there in a circle and stared at the flames which danced about the sooty copper surface of the vat.
I’m going to apply, said Evans. Albert Evans. Esquire. Land owner.
The joiner spat.
Take me a little Dutch girl for a wife.
She’ll be in trouble, said Higgs.
He pointed at Evans.
He’s hornier than a two-headed goat.
Just ask the Tottie girls in Fort Cox, said Clayton. And he rubbed with his stump at his eye where some ash had landed.
Evans is nearly as bad as Providence the Fingo, said Basson. Have you seen the tackle on that thing?
Who hasn’t, said Higgs. It’s not like he hides it.
It’s uglier than Clayton’s arm there.
Pity the poor woman he tries to fit that into.
The kid came down out of the trees and picked his way in the dimness across the grass and walked into the light of the fire.
Where’s Waine?
I don’t know.
The kid gestured behind him.
I think he’s taking food.
Evans lifted a water bottle and held it out.
Drink, he said.
The kid took the bottle and drank.
Steady there, said Evans. The barrel is half empty.
Half full, said the joiner.
The kid drank on and he lifted the bottle so that the last few drops fell into his mouth. He threw the bottle back to Evans and Evans caught it and looked at it for a moment and then he put it aside and picked up another.
Next time, he said, fill your own up.
The kid stepped forward to the fire and held his hands down toward the flames and looked into the vat.
How the apple dumplings, said Higgs.
The what?
The apple dumplings.
He pointed.
In there.
The kid looked down again and the scum on the vat’s surface bubbled and foamed and a grey shredding face appeared there and stared out gravely and turned away and sank to be replaced by another as though those who roiled within were eager for a glimpse into this world of ours and took their turns when they could.
How they doing, said Evans.
I don’t know, said the kid. How do you know when they done?
They done when it’s all peeled off, said Higgs. When there’s just bone.
The kid looked again and a dark shape came up and a face stared vacantly at him for a moment and then it turned away and sank again beneath the foam.