Too many translations!!! Oh, well. Here's chapter 9. Takes place during the episode "The Great Galvez." R & R because I think this chap is really good!!!
Chapter 9
"Sarah!!!"
"Oh, all right already! I can't take it anymore!!!" Sarah groaned exasperatedly and thrust the door open. Henri and Cecile followed her and stayed behind the door. Sarah strode over to the blond boy sitting in the corner, writing away as he always does.
"What are you writing?"
James quickly flipped the paper over and looked up at the English girl whom he had known for three years. "Nothing," he said. "Why do you ask?" He was eyeing her suspiciously, his blue eyes soft with wonder. "Oh, there's no reason. Just wanted to know if you had a story for the Gazette," she replied simply.
"So..." Sarah said. "So," James said. "I really made a fool of myself back there." "I wouldn't agree entirely with that," Sarah said seriously, but there was a huge smile on her face. "Don't lie to me," James retorted. "I looked like an idiot!" "Well," Sarah said, "Maybe a little. Not completely, though," she added quickly as his face fell.
"What were you trying to say back in the office?" Sarah questioned him. "Oh, that," James replied uncomfortably. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's perfectly fine," Sarah said hastily. "No, that's ok. It wasn't really important," he said.
"Oh. Well, I had to tell you something, too, but I can see that you're busy. I can tell you some other time."
"No!" Cecile and Henri hissed.
"Nah, that's all right. If you have something to say, you might as well say it," James answered gloomily.
"Yes!" Cecile and Henri whispered.
"So, um, maybe I should say what I have to say, too," James said, and scuffed his heels. He looked at Cecile with his pale blue eyes. "Ahora?" he asked. "Ahora! Ahora!" she said. She gave him thumbs-up sign.
He took a couple of deep breaths. Cecile looked at him, then Sarah, then Henri, then back to James. "Come on!" she murmured. She grabbed Henri's hand and pulled it toward her other hand.
"Sarah...it's like this. I guess I had more feelings for my friend than I thought. When I met her, I guess I got more than I bargained for," he finally confessed.
"I see. And who is your friend? Please tell me," Sarah said. "Promise you won't laugh?" James asked. "James, I'm your best friend. You can trust me." Sarah said. "My lips are sealed."
"Okay," he said. "The friend is..." he took a deep breath. "It's you."
Sarah's soft green eyes were now wide with shock. "Really?" she asked, and James nodded. "Well, I'm all set for the day. Now we just have to wait for Sarah," Cecile whispered.
"So...maybe I should tell you what I was going to say. My situation is exactly the same as yours."
"So who's the friend?" James asked her solemnly. "Well it's..." and she said something he couldn't really hear. "What was that again?" he asked. "I didn't really hear you."
"You think she's gonna do it?" Cecile asked Henri apprehensively. "There's only one way to find out," he answered her. He crossed his fingers and squeezed her hand tightly. Sarah looked up at him and he gave her the thumbs up sign.
After a moment she finally spoke. "It's you," she said quietly.
Henri and Cecile jumped up and down and cheered.
"They did it! We did it! You did it!!!" They ran to Sarah and James. "James! I've got another surprise for you!!!" Cecile shouted with happiness. "We've got ourselves a story! Lieutenant Cross wants us to come to Louisville! That way we can go to Mobile so we can see Governor Galvez! Isn't that great?!"
James could hardly contain himself. "Are you joking?!" he shouted. "No! I've got the letter right here!" she said, rather screamed. She waved it around until James grabbed it so he could read it.
"To Mr. James Hiller,
We have heard of your occupation as a journalist and would be honoured if you could come to Louisville to write a story for the Pennsylvania Gazette. We have already given notice to Bernardo de Galvez and he, too, would be honoured if you came.
Sincerely,
Lieutenant Cross"
He looked up from the parchment. "Well?" he asked. "What do you think? Should we go?" Henri and Cecile both said, "Definitely." But for some reason, Sarah didn't want to go. "Someone has to watch over the shop," she reminded them, and they reluctantly agreed.
The next day the three kids were all set Louisville. They took their horses in the journey and were off.
After two weeks, they were finally there. They were greeted by the Lieutenant himself and were taken to Colonel Clark. "Now what?" Cecile asked after a little. "We have to get some arms and weaponry from Galvez." "But you have weapons," James said. "Not enough, James. Never enough," Cross said. "We need more money as well," Clark added. "Don't you have...?" Cecile started to say, but Clark cut her off. "This?" he said as he walked over to the fire. "This is nothing," he finished as he dropped their last bit of money into the fire. "Counterfeit," Cross said. "The British print them by the ton." "Which is why Cross is going to Galvez," Clark explained. "He has powder." "He has arms," Cross continued. "He has money!" James and Cecile finished.
Cecile and James found spots on a log to sit and write. James started to write his article, while Cecile started to write a letter to Sarah. Suddenly, she turned around and found Henri chasing a squirrel. "Look out!" she shouted, and pulled James off of the log just as Henri tripped over it. "Are you both all right?" she asked, helping the two boys get up. "Yeah, thanks for that," James replied as he dusted off his coat. "Now, where did that squirrel go?" Henri said, as he ran off to chase it again.
"It feels odd to be out of uniform," Lieutenant Cross confessed as he, James, and Cecile strolled over to Colonel Clark. Lieutenant Cross, who was dressed like a Native American, was stretching out his shirt. "Better to feel odd than to be caught by the British," Clark reminded him, and James and Cecile smiled and folded their arms.
Clark gave Cross some paper. "Here's the list of requirements. Give it to Galvez, and Galvez only," he commanded. "And guard it well. It's in plain English." The three of them gasped, and Cecile asked, "Why?" "No time to put it in code," Clark replied simply. "Wait a minute," Cross said. "Where's Henri?" "He's probably playing around in the woods," James responded, puzzled.
"Henri..." James called. "Come on! They're waitin for us!" Cecile shouted. The bushes rustled. "Henri?" Cecile said. The bushes rustled again. Henri's head popped out of the bush. "You guys will never guess what I found!" He raised his right hand. Something was dangling from its bushy black tail. Cecile and James gasped and clapped their hands to their mouths.
Dangling from the black tail was a very angry skunk. Henri was the only one who sat with it on the boat, but when they reached land it eventually got away. "Leave it alone," James advised. "We can't afford to give you a bath in this river."
What seemed like a year later, Cecile woke up from a short cat nap. She brushed off her dress and walked out of her tent to the river where she found James skipping rocks.
"How do you do that?" he asked "Whenever I try it..." she picked up a rock and threw it. "...it just sinks to the bottom. Can you teach me?"
"Sure," James answered her, smiling. "What you want to do is first get a flat rock." Cecile bent down and picked up a flat stone the same color as her locks. Instead, however, of the usual curls, she had wet her hair before they left, braided it, and left it in braids for the travel. Her first night in the tent, she unbraided her hair to make it crimped. She then pulled some of it back into a ponytail, like Sybil Ludington does.
"So then what?" she asked, her brown eyes glistening with interest. "Which is your good throwing arm?" he asked her. "My right arm. Why?" "That's important because you put your rock into the hand of your good throwing arm, so you would put your rock in your right hand. Then, wrap your right thumb and middle finger around the edge of the rock." She did so, and her next command was: "Then just throw it!" "Go on, you can do it," he gently pressed. Cecile took a deep breath and threw the rock like any other. Her waist twisted and her insides churned with excitement as she waited to see if her trick worked. The rock was in midair for a few seconds. It landed in the water with a splash and flew into the air again.
"Yes!" she shouted. "I can't believe I did it!" Her hair whipped her back as she jumped up and down.
After a few moments of glee, she finally calmed down and found Henri sitting on the bank behind her. "How many days have we been on this river?" he moaned. "I dunno," Cecile admitted as she skipped a rock. "Twenty, I guess. I kinda lost count after a while," James said as he, too, skipped a rock.
"I hate it here," Henri groaned. "The rocks are uncomfortable and the food is terrible!" "But, the land, Henri," James reminded him. "Isn't it beautiful?" "Yes," Henri agreed. "But there's way too much of it." Cecile and James laughed and skipped a couple of rocks. Henri tried, too, but his just fell into the water with a splash.
"Tonight's going to be the roughest," Lieutenant Cross said as he came up behind them. "Why?" Cecile asked. "Are we sleeping on rocks again?" Henri asked "No," Cross said as he skipped a rock. "But tonight, there's no moon. So we move." "Is that safe?" James asked. "Would you rather get caught by the British passing Chickasaw Bluffs in broad daylight?" Cross asked. Behind him a man extinguished their campfire and they watched the smoke rise up.
A few minutes later, they all piled into the boat and were off. They saw the British camps but no troops. "Good," James explained. "Then they can't see us." A Redcoat sneezed. "All this just to meet the Great Galvez?" Henri asked. "Stay down!" James and Cecile hissed and pushed him down. No sooner did they push him down than the boat bumped into a submerged log with a crash. "Back us up!" he whispered to his crew. "Don't let the current turn us!" "I want to help, too!" whispered Henri. He ran up to the front of the boat. The log bumped into the boat with another crash. The boat rocked, and Henri fell out, into the frigid water.
"Henri!" James said. Cecile clapped her hand to her mouth. "I'll go after him," she declared. She got up and shifted to the other side of the boat, her feet dangling over the dark waters.
"Wish me luck," she said, and she plunged into the river. "Good luck," James whispered as he crossed his fingers.
Cecile swam, looking for Henri, occasionally coming up for air. Henri, where are you? she thought. Please don't be dead. Please!
"Where is she?" James asked himself, looking at the river. Please be alive, he thought. Then he saw something black floating in the water. "Could it be?" he said, leaning over the side of the boat.
"Yes!" Cecile emerged from the bottom of the river with an unconscious Henri on her shoulders. "Thank goodness the both of you are safe," James sighed. "Get Henri onto the boat," she managed to say. When the burden was off of her back, she grabbed the boat, breathing heavily, almost about to faint. James lifted her up and into the boat while she shivered. "You've done a good thing, you know that, right?" he said to her while she sat on the boat, covered in blankets.
"What's that?" James heard a voice say while he covered Henri with blankets. he whipped his head around. Redcoats were coming right toward them!
"Need a place to sleep?" one of them asked. James laughed nervously and looked nervously at Cross. He looked nonchalant and said, "Thank you kindly, sir. If we may, for two of us have been in the ice-cold river." He showed them Henri and Cecile, both shivering, both wrapped in blankets, both sound asleep. They woke up the next day to find themselves in a British camp. "Oh no..." Cecile said. "Tell me I'm dreaming."
"You two warm yet?" James asked them. "Almost," Henri responded in a sickly voice. "Could this trip get any worse?"
"Who saved me, by the way?" he asked after some time passed. "Touch everyone's hand," James suggested. "If their hands are cold, then they saved you."
Henri called everyone over, one by one. First he touched James's hand. Warm as ever. He touched the boatmen's hands. Warm. Cross's were warm, too! He then asked Cecile and asked if he could touch her hand. She slowly outstretched her arm and he touched her palm. It was cold as ice. Henri's brown eyes glistened with tears. Cecile covered herself with her blankets.
"You saved me?" he managed to ask in between tears, one occasionally running down his pale cheek. "Well," she whispered. "That's what friends do for each other, right?" They both smiled and Cecile said, "This should warm you up." She managed to stand up and walk to Henri. She sat at the bottom of his bed as close as she could get to him. She leaned her head to one side. Henri understood what she was trying to do. He leaned his head to the other side. James was grinning right behind them the whole time. They leaned closer to each other. She put his arms around his neck. They leaned even closer. He said, "This is exactly how Sarah and James do it," and they both laughed. Cecile had pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Her hair wasn't very wavy. In fact, it was perfectly straight. They leaned closer. Their lips touched. They smiled and Henri removed her elastic. Her hair spilled down, concealing this scene to all but James. They keeled over onto the cot, laughing.
They finally broke away. Cecile pulled her hair back into the ponytail. She held Henri's left hand. His right hand reached up and stroked her cheek. All three of them grinned. Henri and Cecile couldn't help it. They leaned closer yet again and redid the whole scene.
"James? Remember when you asked me who I loved?" Henri said after another minute.
"Yeah," he said.
"It's Cecile," Henri said. Cecile smiled and Henri stroked her spilled hair. She kissed him on the cheek. "Wait till Sarah hears that us Patriots had our special spot in a British camp!"
They all laughed.
"That did warm me up!" Henri agreed. "I feel much better, but could this trip get any worse?" "It will if the Redcoats find the letter from Colonel Clark to Galvez," James replied apprehensively. "Oh, no!" Cecile whispered. "Lieutenant Cross is being questioned right now!" "Don't worry," James replied. "Lieutenant Cross hid it in the floor of the barge after we got you two out of the water." They all sighed with relief, but looked shocked as Lieutenant Cross followed the Redcoat general into his tent. The general looked ready to inquire him be any means at all. He started off by saying, "And you were taking these to..."
"A trading post," Cross replied, giving his all to pull a British accent. "Just north of Natchez. Loyalists, sir, to a man. We couldn't take our goods north. No, sir. Too many rebels." The general wasn't convinced. "And rebels have no money to buy. Well, sir, I will take your goods," he said stolidly. "Sure," Cross agreed. "Let's make a fair price." The general took off his hat. "You misunderstand," he said. "I said 'take', not 'buy'." "But..." Cross started to say, but the general cut him off. "Do you intend to stay?" he asked. "Because if so, perhaps we can discuss what you know of the many rebels upriver."
Cross's eyes widened. "That won't be necessary," he said nervously. "We'll take our leave, sir. Thanks to you and your men for coming to our aid." The captain waved him off.
Lieutenant Cross walked over to the three kids and crouched down. "Can you two walk?" he asked Cecile and Henri. "If we have to, we can run!" Henri declared, his voice sounding much healthier than before. "Yeah!" Cecile said. "Galvez or bust!" "You don't have to run," Cross said to them. "But we are getting out of here. Now."
The redcoat who'd sneezed when they hit the submerged log sneezed yet again. As he blew his nose, he found a piece of paper sticking out from the bottom of the barge floor.
"That guard," James said. "He found the letter to Galvez!" "He's opening it!" Henri said nervously. He was still pretty cold considering the fact that he was wrapping his arms around himself. Cecile was feeling much warmer, so she wrapped and arm around his shoulder and brought him closer to her.
Without thinking, James ran off towards the redcoats as Henri said, "Do they put everybody in jail, or just the one whose letter it is?" Cecile waited apprehensively as she let him rest his head on her shoulder.
"Boy, I'm really glad you found that," James said running down the path. "It's a letter to my mother. Kinda personal." "Just a minute," the Redcoat said, pulling the paper out of James's reach. "I'm supposed to look things over. Everything." He held up the paper to read. He turm ned it on its side. "Right," he said. "Off with you, then." James took the paper with a look that clearly said he was about to laugh. He waved a hand to Cross and the others to come on, and the four of them hopped into the boat. The boatmen rowed for some time before letting out a sigh of releif.
Everyone was totally flummoxed.
"What just happened here?" Henri asked. "Yeah," Cecile said. "I'm really confused." James spoke as if he really were laughing. "He couldn't read the letter. Not a word!" "How do you know?" Cross asked him. James finally calmed down enough to say, "He was holding it upside-down, like Henri used to do." Cecile started giggling and Henri said, "Liar! I never did! Well, maybe sometimes." Cecile calmed down to a few snickers here and there.
Dear Cecile,
I have received your letter and am very concerned for the three of you. Are you and Henri warm yet? I wish you good luck with the story and hope you return home safely.
Tell James and Henri I said hello.
Your friend,
Sarah
Dear Sarah,
Thanks for your concern. Henri and I are feeling much better. A redcoat almost found the letter to Galvez! Fortunately, he was holing it upside-down. We're almost at Mobile. We'll get out story and be home as soon as possible. James and Henri say hello and they both miss you (especially James!!!).
Your friend,
Cecile
The three children had gone from a small barge to a full masted ship. Lieutenant Cross had gone to set up a meeting between the five of them. They saw smoke rising from many buildings. "Looks like we missed all the action," James commented. "You can say that again," Henri said, and Cecile said, "Mmhmm."
"Governor Galvez!" Cross said as James, Henri, and Cecile got off the ship. "This is the young journalist I was telling you about."
Governor Galvez was about James's height with brown skin. Not as brown as Moses, but pretty brown. He outstretched a large hand to Henri. "Not me," he said, smiling. "James!" he said as he jerked a thumb at James, who was behind them.
"I was just kidding," Galvez said with his thick Spanish accent. "Welcome, Señor Hiller." He shook James's hand and placed his other one on James's shoulder. He turned to Henri. "And you must be Henri, the one who fell in the water." Pink patches emerged on Henri's face and he smiled with one raised eyebrow.
"And who are you?" Galvez asked, turning to Cecile and smiling. Cecile smiled, too. "My name's Cecile," she said, curtsying. "I saved Henri in the water. It's an honor to meet you, Governor Galvez." Galvez reached for her right and and hissed it. Cecile and Henri rolled their eyes, and James said, "Oh, please."
"This is my daughter, Liliana," Galvez said as a girl of about 16 came from behind him. She wore her hair like Cecile, and she was wearing a light blue skirt with a pale blue shirt. She looked like Sarah with black hair. Her piercing green eyes were all that James needed to see.
"Uh-oh," Henri said. "Here we go......" Cecile groaned.
"Nice to meet you, Liliana," James said, bending down to kiss her outstretched hand.
"And this comes from the person who said, 'Oh, please,' in the very same incident," Cecile said. She turned to James."¡James, qué en el nombre de Dios usted hace?! ¡Usted se deshonra! ¿Y con espalda de Sarah en casa? ¿Qué es supusimos hacer con usted?"
"Cecile, usted está loco. Usted no sabe nada acerca de eso. Usted no estaba allí. ¡Sálgame solo, usted me espanta! !!!" he roared back.
"¿Estoy loco? ¡Usted acaba de besar la mano de una chica que usted acaba de encontrar! ¡Y usted dijo que usted nunca llegaría a ser jamás un caballero! ¿Cómo pueda usted?" she said, looking disappointed.
"What did you say to him? And what did he say back?" Henri asked her. "Premier, j'ai dit, 'James, quel dans le nom de Dieu faites-vous ? ! Vous êtes disgracing vous ! Et avec Sarah à à la maison ? Quels sont nous avons supposé pour faire avec vous ?' Alors James a dit, 'Cecile, vous êtes fou. Vous ne savez rien de cela. Vous n'étiez pas là-bas. Me partir seul, vous m'effrayez ! !!!' Alors j'ai dit, 'Je suis fou ? Vous avez embrassé juste la main d'une fille que vous avez rencontré juste ! Et vous avez dit que vous jamais ne deviendrait jamais gentilhomme ! Comment vous pourrait?' Honnêtement!"
James ignored them and started talking to Galvez. "I can't help but notice the diverse makeup of your army," he began, taking out a pen and a writing pad. "Are these all your men?" Galvez nodded. "Come," he said. "Walk with me."
They saw many men preparing for battle while Galvez was explaining to James about his army. James wrote down everything he said.
After the battle (which Galvez won, of course), Cross, Henri, James and Cecile walked through the destroyed town.
"Now it's off to New Orleans," Cross said. "We have to go upriver to get you three home." "Doesn't it take longer to go upstream?" Cecile asked. "Surely," Cross said. Henri groaned. "How long?" he said as he and Cecile sat down on some rubble, both of them looking very tired. "Four months," Cross replied without flinching. James gasped. "Four?!" he said. Cross laughed and lifted James's head up. "I knew you'd feel that way," he said. "So I asked Governor Galvez to put you on a boat to Havana." James was overjoyed. Cross finished their plan. "You'll get a merchantman there, and be in Philadelphia in a couple of weeks."
"Did you hear that? Did you hear that?" James asked gratefully. "You guys?" He looked at them. Both of them were cross-legged and asleep, Cecile's head resting on Henri's shoulder. Cecile twitched a little, and they were motionless. "They'll figure it out sooner or later," Cross said. James carefully lifted Cecile up while Cross hauled Henri onto his back. Henri opened his eyes because the weight of Cecile's head was off of his shoulders. "Let them sleep here," Cross said. "You go tell the boat to hold it for a while. Tell them two passengers will be a little late. They put the two children back down, and Cecile's head fell back onto Henri's shoulders. James gave the captain of the boat the message while Cross watched over the children. When James came back, he said, "Sarah was right. You two are in for the biggest adventure of your lives." The sleeping children smiled and keeled over into the rubble.
When Cross walked over to make sure they were okay, he smiled.
They were hugging each other.
sry guys more translations:
James, what in God's name are you doing?! You're disgracing yourself! And with Sarah back home? What are we supposed to do with you?
Cecile, you're crazy. You don't know anything about that. You weren't there. Leave me alone, you're scaring me!!!!
I'm crazy? You just kissed the hand of a girl you just met! And you said you'd never ever become a gentleman! How could you?
First, I said, 'James, what in God's name are you doing?! You're disgracing yourself! And with Sarah at home? What are we supposed to do with you?' Then James said, 'Cecile, you're crazy. You don't know anything about that. You weren't there. Leave me alone, you're scaring me!!!!' Then I said, 'I'm crazy? You just kissed the hand of a girl you just met! And you said you'd never ever become a gentleman! How could you?' Honestly!