The Fourth Life of Sean Donoghue by Trish Hanan (children's books read aloud .txt) 📕

barn, the night air was cold as it was in early spring and he could see lights on in most of the houses down in the valley. There was no cow to milk but there were horses to feed so he did that and of course there were no eggs to collect. Sean had no idea what he was going to fix for breakfast so he went back into the house to look and found the cupboards bare.
The cellar was bare also so he put on his coat and walked down to the little house by the mill where he had put those two witches Susan Johnson and Marianne Parker and knocked on the door. One of the people he had met yesterday, a young man Sean couldn’t remember his name opened the door. He seemed surprised to see Sean on his doorstep so early in the morning. Sean smiled at him.
“I hate to bother you so early but seeing on how we’re related and I forget just how, but could I borrow breakfast?” he asked and the man grinned and invited him in.
“I’m Kyle Donoghue and I’m Colin’s son who was Samuel and Debra’s son,” the man told him and Sean nodded. They shook hands again.
“I guess with all the excitement no one remembered that they only had coffee in the main house and no food,” Kyle said and laughed. He made up a box of supplies and Sean thanked him.
“Hey, no problem, say, are you really my great-great Granddad?” he asked him and Sean nodded his head. Kyle laughed, his dark, green eyes gleaming with the delight of it.
“My grandmom always loved to tell us kids that legend of the Fairie Cave and now I know why,” he gushed and they hugged. Sean went back up the slope and found the two old men awake and hungry.
“I hope that’s food you’ve got there, Sean, I’m starving,” Ryan grumbled. Sean laughed and put the box on the table.
“I had to go begging next door but I got us breakfast,” he informed them and added that they had to go shopping; Portsmyth would probably be best and buy a load of supplies to last them until the summer harvest came in.
“I’ll get us a dairy cow, some chickens, pigs and a cow to butcher too, I love my steak,” Sean rubbed his belly and Ryan patted his.
“Me too, Granddad,” he retorted. Danny looked at them with wonder.
“How do you two stay so skinny if you eat that much?” he asked. “I only have to look at a nice big steak and I gain two pounds,” he told them. Ryan reached over and patted his brother’s big belly.
“That’s not a steak belly, that’s a too much beer belly,” he teased him and they all laughed. Sean put sausage and ham in the pan and potatoes and onions in other.
“Talking about beer,” he said. “How come there’s no beer aging in the aging building and the vat’s all dusty like no one’s used it in years?” he asked Danny who nodded.
“That’s because no one’s used it for years,” he informed them. They both looked shocked.
“No Donoghue making beer on the Ridge, how could that be?” Ryan demanded to know why. Danny shrugged.
“I was the last one who brewed a batch, it must have been, oh, ten years ago, but I hurt my back doing it and my wife, she was living then, forbid me from doing it again, so I had to quit,” he explained. “I was the last one who had a license and the damned things went up to a thousand gilders from five hundred gilders and no one wanted to pay that. That’s why they stopped making the whiskey too; no one had the coin for the license.” Sean looked amazed.
“They didn’t have the coin, but what about the mine, why didn’t they just melt the gold from the mine for the license?” he asked him. Danny looked uncomfortable. Ryan and Sean exchanged a glance. Sean sighed.
“Don’t tell me they forgot where the mine is didn’t they?” he said and Ryan laughed. Danny glared at him.
“Well, all of your boys knew where the mine was, of course, but they didn’t tell all of their boys, they just told the oldest. And Charlie didn’t have any children and my dad died without telling my brother,” Danny explained how it had happened. “Everyone thought that Kevin had told Sean and he did and everything was alright but then no one expected Sean to die in that accident, he was only thirty-two for God’s sake and he was the only one who knew where the mine was. We searched and searched and Scott knew the general direction but by then he was so old his mind was all confused, he kept taking us back to the same old spot and there was a cave there, but no gold in it.” Sean sighed.
“Oh, well, lad, I’m back now and I know where my gold and silver mine is,” he informed him and he looked at Ryan. “You know where it is don’t, you, lad?” he asked and Ryan nodded.
“I followed you and Dad there once and you saw me but you never said anything, how come?” he asked. Sean shrugged.
“I figured that if anything happened to your dad before he got to tell anyone, it would be best if someone else in the family knew,” he said and they both looked at Danny and grinned. Danny shrugged.
“Oh, well, you’re both back now so you can show us where it is and maybe this time someone will draw a map,” he suggested. Sean shook his head.
“A map can be found by someone outside the family,” he told him. “This time, more than one son gets shown where it is,” he advised and they all nodded.
After breakfast Annie moved in and they told her about headed into Portsmyth for supplies. She wanted to come so they all climbed into the carriage, the two men in the backseat, Annie and her granddaughter Gina who decided to come along and keep her company; Sean rode Sir William and set off for Portsmyth. And, of course, all of their neighbors stood and stared at them as they rode down the Ridge and through Main Street. Annie and Gina waved at everyone and called out they were going to Portsmyth and everyone called hello and have a safe trip. Sean grinned; such was the joys of small town life. He looked over at Ryan and saw him grinning and knew he was thinking the same thing.
Once in Portsmyth the group got two rooms at a nice respectable inn and Sean bought a wagon and four mules. Danny and Ryan helped him pick them out giving their expert opinions while the two ladies shopped and peeked into windows, something only women liked to do. They had dinner and while the others slept Sean walked down to the docks to have a look around. He was armed with his Chervek sword and didn’t worry too much about being pressed. He did pity however the gang that tried to press him, they would be a dead group of individuals.
“Well, look at that,” Sean whispered and looked at a ship that was just docking. Isn’t life a coincidence? An Ennish ship called the Mermaid, and he would just bet that that ship’s Captain would be a man named Gaston. He decided to check it out in the morning. Sean turned around and began to walk back to his inn. Just as he was turning the corner, three men in Hamish sailor uniforms darted out of an alley.
“Well, look at what we have here chaps, he looks like he wants to join His Majesty’s fleet,” the largest of the men exclaimed and all three laughed. Sean put a look of outrage on his face.
“Get out of my way you filthy Hamish pigs,” he said in perfect Ennish. They looked surprised. Then the middle one shrugged.
“Hamish, Ennish, the Captain said to come back with six men and we’ve got five, I don’t think he cares,” he said and the other two laughed.
“Come along little fellow and we won’t hurt you much,” the large one said and he pulled out a knife and waved it in front of Sean’s face. The others laughed again. That was enough for Sean. If they didn’t care that he was Ennish then he didn’t care if he killed them. He pulled out his sword and the smallest one swallowed nervously.
“Maybe we should pick someone else, this one looks dangerous,” he stammered. The large one laughed.
“Don’t be a chicken, Morris, there’s three of us and only one of him,” he sneered. Sean looked at him.
“You really should listen to your friend,” he said in perfect Hamish with no accent and they looked surprised. The middle one spat on the ground.
“Oh, you’s were only pretending to be Ennis, I don’t like when they do’s that, cut him, Jake,” he ordered and Jake lunged and slashed out with his knife. Sean dodged to the right and slashed Jake’s throat from ear to ear. Jake made a gurgling noise and fell to the ground. The other’s looked at him in horror and the smaller one turned to run. Sean reached out and grabbed him.
“Not so fast little one,” he said and with a practiced slash, cut off the head of the middle one. It fell before his body and then it fell to the ground. The little one would have screamed but Sean’s hand around his neck prevented any sound from getting out.
“Where are these five other men you three hoodlums pressed tonight, tell me and I might let you live,” he conjured him. The little one nodded and he pointed to the alley. Sean walked to the entrance and saw five men at the end all tied up and gagged. They looked at him holding the sailor and began to struggle. He nodded and then looked at the sailor.
“You really made a poor choice in careers,” he told him and then he snapped his neck. Sean threw the body down and then raced to the end of the alley and quickly untied the men. They all undid their gags.
“Thank you, whoever you are, my wife is expecting a baby, I was on the way for the midwife when they grabbed me,” a man gushed. Sean pushed him away.
“Well, get home then, hurry,” he told him. The other’s had enough sense to just run away like Sean did before the watch found the dead sailors and looked around for someone to blame them on. He wiped his sword before entering a busy street and hurried into the inn. Both men were asleep when he got into the room so Sean crawled into his bed and was so fast asleep himself.
The next morning as they made to the docks, the three men were surprised to find the place swarming with Hamish soldiers who stopped them and demanded to know their business.
“We’re on our way to see Captain Gaston of the Mermaid,” Sean informed them, and added, “We’re personal friends of his.” The soldier looked at the suspiciously but didn’t prevent them from walking towards the ship.
“You don’t even know if they’re actually is a Captain Gaston of