“I’ve been trying to keep up with your appetite, is all. And Thankfull made a few meals for me.”
“Thankfull cooked for you?” They were walking the few steps to the end of the boat.
“Aye, and what’s wrong with that? She made meals for you, didn’t she?”
“Yes, but I was staying in her boardinghouse, and paying for her services. Did you pay her?”
He smiled down at her. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were jealous. No, I didn’t pay her in money, but I had to pay her in endless stories of T.C. The woman wanted me to tell her everything, down to what the man had for breakfast.”
“But of course you didn’t know because you were—” His look cut her off from saying the word jail.
“Would you please stop talking and look about you? You can’t go the whole trip and see nothing but dead birds.”
“I . . .” She trailed off because she did look around her. Before them lay a wide, placid river, the surface barely breaking as it flowed toward them. Alex told her they were going “upriver” against the current, as they went south.
“It’s like the Nile, in that it flows north,” she said, and asked him how he knew so much about this place.
“While you were sneaking into the bushes and kissing the girls, I was in the trading post asking questions. Buy a man a beer and he’ll tell you stories all night.”
“Is that how you learned the names of the birds?”
“No. I spent the nights awake reading the books in T.C.’s chest. Thankfull lent them to me.”
She thought it was interesting that Thankfull had refused to open the chest for a man as young as Cay, but she’d lent the books inside to Alex. Jealousy was a new emotion for her, but she suddenly had an idea what it felt like.
Cay looked back at the water. Along the banks were overhanging trees, their branches draping down into the water. White birds with long, skinny necks stood at the edges. “I want to draw those,” she said.
“You’ll get your chance.”
An eagle flew overhead, then a bird Alex said was called an osprey. “Yes, I know. You want to draw it.”
Fish were jumping in the water, and she went onto her hands and knees to see what she could. Alex hadn’t brought her any fish yet. She saw something just below the water and put her fingertips down to it as she turned to look up at Alex. “Maybe you can catch us some fish for tonight, so I could—”
Suddenly, Alex grabbed her under the arms and pulled her back. In front of them, the head of a prehistoric-looking creature came out of the water and clamped its long, ugly mouth down on the space where Cay’s hand had just been.
For a moment, she sat still, unable to move as Alex held her. When he released her, her fanny hit the deck hard.
“Nearly ate you, didn’t it?” Tim said loudly from behind them, his voice pleased by what he’d seen. “If you’re dumb enough to put your hand over the side, I think you ought to get it bitten off. If it was your drawin’ hand, we’d have to throw you over ’cause what else can you do? Can’t lift even the lightest thing.” He stood back on his heels and smiled down at her in triumph.
“Well, I can lift a great many things,” Alex said, glaring at the boy who, tall as he was, was still an inch or two shorter than Alex, and many pounds lighter.
“I was only havin’ a bit of fun with him,” Tim said. “It’s always scary when you see your first gator.”
“And how many have you seen, boy?” Eli asked.
“More than he has,” Tim muttered, looking at both men, as they seemed to have unfairly ganged up on him.
Cay was still in a stupor, still looking at the end of the boat where the alligator had come up out of the water.
Alex bent down to her ear. “Grady is coming, so get hold of yourself and whatever you do, don’t cry. Hear me?”
She managed to nod.
“Did he nick you?” Mr. Grady asked, his voice sounding concerned.
Cay drew in her breath and started to stand up. Alex, behind her, managed to conceal that his hand was on her back and he was helping her to stay standing. “Did he get me?” she asked. “I should think not, sir. Better to ask if I slit his throat with my knife.”
“The knife you have in your hand there?”