Old Mary

by Louis Becke

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Pages: 22

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About this book

A day's shooting on a Pacific island brings the young trader Denison to the mountain home of Mary Eury, an elderly woman cherished by the Randle family. Her hospitality, the ship's furniture in her house and her memories of sailors lead into an account of her earlier life. Louis Becke frames this short sea story through an encounter beside a forest stream, where a quiet meal opens the way to recollection.

Mary's account moves into the dangerous world of trading vessels and privateers. In the central excerpt, Robert Eury bargains with French captains over buried money, demanding protection and a share for orphaned children. The exchanges give the adventure a personal focus: courage matters through the people it protects. Readers interested in Pacific fiction will find island domestic life set beside shipboard conflict and the lasting bonds of maritime communities.

About the author

Louis Becke

Louis Becke was an Australian short-story writer and novelist whose years as a trader and traveler in the Pacific supplied much of his subject matter. Born George Lewis Becke in Port Macquarie, he went to sea young, worked in Samoa and Micronesia, survived shipwreck, and later turned those experiences into fiction.