Shadows in the Night



  Shadows in the Night

  Evan Andrew

  * * * * *

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Shadows in the Night

  Copyright © 2008 by Evan Andrew

  Copyright 2008 belongs to Evan G. Andrew, excluding the poem ‘A Smuggler’s Song’ by Rudyard Kipling. No other part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrievable system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the permission in writing of the publisher and the writer.

 

  All characters in this publication are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Published by Mackay Books.

  350 Bothwell Park Road

  R D 2 Waiuku

  South Auckland 2682

  Cover by Bruce Bryant, Auckland.

  National Library of New Zealand

  Print ISBN 978-0-9582914-1-5

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank the following people for their support and encouragement in the writing of this book:

  Rae McGregor who read the first draft and insisted I continue; Dr Bruno Gianni and Neil McLauchlan for their assistance with the French grammar; Bryce Caller in London for his hospitality and added research when I needed it; the Mairangi Bay writers for their critical assessment; Malcolm Wall whose editing and practical advice was invaluable at all times; Heather Mackay, my agent, who had faith in the book and in me.

  Also, special thanks to my son-in-law, Blair Browne, in solving all my computer and printing problems with patience and good humour; and finally, my wife Annmarie, for her understanding and forbearance during the whole process as ‘Julia’ took over my life.

  This book is dedicated to Joyce Guthrie, my teacher at Papakura Normal School, New Zealand, who encouraged me to love words and reading. For this, I can never thank her enough.

  If you wake at midnight

  And hear a horse’s feet

  Don’t go drawing back the blind

  Or looking in the street.

  Them that asks no questions

  isn’t told a lie

  Watch the wall my darling

  While the Gentlemen go by!

  Five and twenty ponies

  Trotting through the dark

  Brandy for the parson

  ’Baccy for the clerk.

  Laces for a lady

  Letters for a spy

  And watch the wall my darling

  While the Gentlemen go by!

  Extract from

  A Smuggler’s Song

  by Rudyard Kipling

  Prologue

  29th November 1817

  The preventive officer, his ear to the freezing ground, listened intently for the first sound of approaching horses. The night was black with veils of misty rain further reducing visibility. When he lifted his head he sensed the wind was rising. The mist would soon clear.

  The soft thud of bound hooves told him the smugglers were near. He was numb with cold, his gloved hand holding the pistol devoid of feeling.

  A faint blink of light out at sea flashed, then was extinguished.

  He lowered his head as the ponies passed close by. It was a large team which meant a big cargo of contraband.

  On the cold ground he lay, shivering, waiting until all was silent. Only then did he risk a look towards the shore where shadowy figures moved about on the beach below.

  Stealthily, he rose to his feet; he must give the warning now so they could be caught red-handed. He crept back up the hill, unaware of the large man watching and waiting for him behind a tree.

  As he breasted the tree, there was a break in the clouds and a glimmer of moonlight outlined the preventive officer perfectly.

  The large man lifted his arm. The blade of a knife glinted briefly.

  There was a cry. A thud. The cassock of the night hid them.