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The Young Warriors (Caribbean Contemporary Classics)
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Read between November 1 - November 19, 2022
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‘But this time I hope you will not turn back before you have finished the journey, as you did on the run to Lookout Rock,’ Tommy said, so softly that only Charlie heard him. Charlie’s jaw dropped in surprise, and the shame showed plainly in his eyes. He did not know that anybody had seen him when he had cheated on the run to Lookout Rock.
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was to lure the Redcoats out of their lines so that Tommy and Johnny could slip through. The Captain had told them that he hoped to be at the English line just before daylight. ‘That is the time when people sleep heaviest,’ Captain Dick told them. ‘Never attack an enemy camp in the dead of night, for the guards are very much awake then. Attack when dawn is near. They always think that all danger is past by then.’
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Every now and then they halted, and Captain Dick hooted like an owl. He would hoot three times, pause, and then hoot again a fourth time. After a while the party got an answering hoot and they halted.
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Tommy tried to see the scout as he went, but all he saw was a dark bulk of trees. Yet perhaps one of those trees was the scout himself.
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Tommy could make out about twenty Maroons travelling with Captain Dick.
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This time, when the owl-hoot was heard, Tommy saw the scout who came up. He was a warrior named Peter, who had made a famous name for himself as a scout.
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‘Who is your comrade?’ ‘Scout Jim.’ In the moonlight,
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Peering through the weeds, the boys could now see fairly well in to the English camp. Around a small fire there was a group of soldiers sleeping on the ground. Wrapped in their cloaks, they had gone to sleep, leaving their scouts to watch. They did not know that the scouts had been killed by Peter and Jim.
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worried because he had never seen his friend so uncertain before. ‘Let
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As Johnny stooped to enter the opening, he sniffed. Then he jumped back, pulling Tommy with him. ‘A wild boar is in there!’ he whispered. ‘A—boar!’ gasped Tommy.
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Swiftly they spun around, looking for a tree. They leaped for the lower branches of one, and they were not a moment too soon. From the bush came a sudden snort. Then there was a loud squeal and a rush of air as a boar charged into the open. Its little eyes gleamed as it rushed forward, snorting and squealing. Then it stopped and put its snout in the air, trying to find the boys’ scent. Its tusks were
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It was the little pigs which the boar had left in the den. Frightened at being left alone, they were crying and scratching around. Grunting angrily, the boar whirled around and rushed back into the lair. In an instant the boys dropped from the tree, grabbed their bows and raced away as fast as they could.
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Crawling on his belly through the grass, Charlie had managed to cross
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the valley while the English camp was in a state of confusion. Then he had set off after the boys.
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Gripping the boy’s arm tightly, he pushed him ahead, forcing him to trip forward on his toes. ‘Where did those boys suddenly come from?’ said the fat soldier to his companion. The tall one shook his head, his face still twisted with pain.
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Charlie’s arms were tied behind him by the leather strap from the water-bottle of one of the soldiers. Afterwards he was thrown to the ground.
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The boy, hearing this, tried to crawl away. With a swing of his hand, the tall soldier struck Charlie a hard blow on the mouth.
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‘To—to—hunt—we were going on a hunt!’ he cried out.
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‘I know a way to turn their eyes from Charlie,’ David said; ‘and all you will have to do is to cut his
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bonds. Just watch me. And when you are ready with Charlie, croak three times, like a frog.’
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‘I’ll tell them an endless story about an endless hurricane. Then when you have cut him loose and crawled back into the bush, just croak three times in the way we signal to each other.’
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‘Sir, my name is David, and I am a Maroon, a singer of songs and a teller of Anancy stories. I was in the forest and saw the fires of the great Redcoats. So I came down to tell my Anancy stories in the hope that the English, who are famous for their kindness, will give me a coin and a meal.’
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His face shone like polished
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ebony in the light of the fire, and his pleasant-sounding
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sounding voice reached t...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
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black face of the youth gleaming like a coal on fire in the light.
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They had tied the green branches over their bodies, from head to toe. Then, in a swift march, they had gone to Starapple Gully and taken up their places for the ambush. Looking down now as the sunlight entered the gully, Tommy could not tell them apart from the forest.
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‘The English soldiers will surely see your big teeth when they enter Starapple Gully,’ said Tommy.
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Tommy has a great sense of humor
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‘They will think I am a tree with teeth, like the one in the Anancy story,’ David answered. He croaked at Tommy again.
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Tommy adding light humor while prepping of ambush
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A sudden trill of bird-calls came from a section of trees across the gully. There was a great movement among what seemed to be clusters of smaller trees, and the boys heard the clicks of muskets being primed. They knew that the bird-calls had come from Captain Dick as a command to the warriors to prime their muskets.
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The warriors were lined on both sides of Starapple Gully, which was about a hundred yards long.
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It was a long wait, but the patience of the Maroons never failed. Nobody stirred. Insects buzzed and droned. A yellow snake wriggled through the sand in the gully, searching for food.
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They were as noisy as a herd of cattle, marching with a crunching of boots and a rattle of arms.
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They had taken the bonds from his hands but had left the rope around his neck. One end of it was held by a soldier. As they came out of the trees, the captain said something to Charlie.
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One marksman would be aiming at the captain; the other would be aiming at the man holding the rope around Charlie’s neck.
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the dust in the gully. In their tight red jackets and plumed caps, and with the heavy muskets on their shoulders, they seemed too mighty to be beaten by half-naked Maroon warriors.
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The four young warriors jumped to the ground. As nimble as goats, they clambered down the side of the gully and raced across the sand to where Charlie had disappeared. As they went, they saw his head appear above the shrubs. ‘Charlie! Charlie! Come along—into the forest!’ Charlie grinned as they surrounded him. They hurried him up the nearby bank and raced into the wood. Shouting and laughing, they ran with Charlie deep into the forest.
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Captain Dick and the war captain of the Mocho Maroons had led their men very skilfully.
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Taking a longer road through the forest, but running very fast, they were in the trees waiting for the Redcoats when the English crossed the open valley and once more entered the wood. Then, flitting like shadows from tree to tree, they had shot their silent arrows at the enemy until the English fairly ran down the mountains to Guanaboa Vale. The Maroons had lost a few men, but the toll among the Redcoats was heavy.
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‘And it was only the bravery of all the other young warriors, Tommy, Johnny, David and Uriah, that brought Charlie back to us and saved the village of Mountain Top!’ cried Chief Phillip.