The second installment of the Light & Truth series
A rising trepidation swept over Daniel Browett. He stood on the forecastle of the Echo, gazing southeast, across the sea. In a small wooden ship driven by cloth sails, he must deliver one hundred and nine souls safely across the treacherous Atlantic Ocean to New Orleans, and from there by steamboat up the Mississippi River to Nauvoo.
Daniel let his blue eyes rake across the ship. He shook his head, wondering how his wife, Elizabeth with her happy, giddy personality, will keep the Mormon passengers healthy and happy. Her herbalist skills will be tested to the maximum. Hannah, Robert's wife - Elizabeth's sister-in-law - is seven months pregnant and fears giving birth at sea. Worse, Hannah's sister, Nancy, is two months into her pregnancy and is already seasick and dehydrated. Seasickness? It has already affected more than half the ship's two hundred passengers.
Then there's Henry, Hannah's brother. There were already reports that half of Henry's split personality wants to lead a rebellion to get his ship turned around and headed back to Liverpool. But who could blame him? It is early February. Black banks of freezing fog surrounded the ship. Slanting rain from gale forced winds, stung Daniel's cheek, driving fear into his heart. Holding onto the bulwark, Daniel let his gaze fall to the cold cauldron of seawater below, staring at the jagged masses of waves, which were leaping like gray-bearded demons in some kind of weird witch dance of the sea.
An Italian sailor ran by, his oilcloth suit and stout boots covered with a thick coating of grease and tar to protect him from the elements. A French sailor climbed in the cordage, toward the topsail. A Spaniard cursed at the rope he was pulling. Daniel thought of his vulnerable sister, Rebecca, and the other young girls on the voyage. Who of the sailors could be trusted? Who could not?