Welcome
Chapter One
Guilty of Honour.
It
was
the
wildest
of
nights,
on
the
bleakest
of
moors.
Ben
Stone
ran
for
his
life.
He
was
soaked
to
the
skin,
and
the
bitter
cold
wind
felt
to
cut
through
to
his
bones.
With
each
thud
of
his
heart
and
every
staggering
step,
he
grew
wearier.
Somewhere
in
the
distance,
muffled
by
the
wind
and
the
menacing rumble of thunder, he could hear the insistent, baying of the chasing bloodhounds.
Lt.
Ben
Burrows
clung
desperately
to
a
lanyard
he
had
lashed
to
the
fife
rail.
His
ship
was
caught
up
in
a
tropical
storm
that
was
hot
and
violent.
The
deck
beneath
his
feet
shuddered
and
swayed
as
angry
waves
tossed
the
ship
like
a
piece
of
flotsam.
It
was
impossible
to
be
heard
over
the
wind
that
was
shrieking
and
howling
like
a
tormented
soul
through
the
rigging.
He
had
given
up
trying
to
shout
orders
to
the
helmsman
who
was
tied
to
the
ship’s
wheel
to
prevent
him
from
being
washed
overboard.
Chapter One - The Secret of Angel Island
“Come on, where are you?” Ben Burrows impatiently called into the stillness of the cold morning
air.
His agitated state made it quite clear that this was not the first time he had waited in vain, nor
was it the first time that the post coach had not passed this way. He leaned back in despair
against a stone gatepost of almost monolithic proportions, and with his shoulders hard against
the cold stone, he listened, hoping to catch the sound of the coach wheels as they grumbled and
crunched along the frozen lane. His emotions of anger, disappointment, and the growing dread
that the letter, which was so important to his well-being, would never arrive, and were knotted in
an untidy tangle, just as if they were a heap of old ropes.
It was early mid-winter’s morning in 1815, and above him, the cloudless sky was patiently
anticipating the arrival of the sun.
Chapter One - Return to Angel Island