Free A Woman Undefeated by Vivienne Dockerty Page A

ever seen before.
    “Will you look at those wonderful houses,” shouted Alice, as they all gazed with awe at the tall timber clad buildings interspersed with low whitewashed cottages. Grand personages walked along the promenade, leaving their carriages at the stone quay wall, so that they could take advantage of the healthy seaside air.
    They could only stare and wonder. Only Alice whispered, “Is this to be our new home?”
    “Naw,” replied Jack’s dad. “That place be only for fancy folk, not for the likes of us. We could only be their servants and they our masters. The river hasn’t started thinning out yet, so we’ve still some way to go.”
    His words brought them back to earth again. Yes, they were common labourers, come to work for the likes of the people that they had just seen.
    Maggie decided there and then that one day she would wear a dress like one of those that the women had been wearing. Surely they would all get jobs and make some money. Maybe she could save a little and get a pretty dress to attend church on Sundays, butthen any dress would be better than the tattered rags she wore now.
    She was brought back from her ambitions with a jolt, as Jack shouted.
    “This must be the place. Look over there!”
    After the big village, the scenery had returned to grass and woodland, but this had now given way to ugly mounds of discarded slag. Beyond the slag was a colliery with its machinery and smoking chimney, making the whole area look grim and austere. A coal sloop was tied up at the quayside and Jack steered the boat towards it. Maybe this was the place called Denna Quay.
    A man ran out of the cottage that was built on top of the perimeter wall, shouting as he ran, “What’s your business here? Get away, get away! This is private property. What’s your business here?”
    He was quite an old man, dressed in a worn black suit, and the occupants of the boat waited in trepidation as he puffed his way along the wall to where the sloop was tied. He looked down upon them and his angry face cleared into an understanding smile.
    “Got lost, have yer? It must be the Irish settlement yer after. Sorry to be shouting after yer, but I’m the watchman here and I have to be careful. The settlement’s just up the river there. Another ten minutes rowin’ will do it. Tell yer pals though that I’ll be waitin’ for them, if they think they can start pinching any of the coal.”
    Jack thanked him politely and began to steer the boat back into the river. The men felt relieved that the quay hadn’t been their destination, as none of them would have wanted to work down a mine. It was on land or fishing that they sought to earn their living or even building work in Liverpool, not entombed underground.
    Feeling anxious and with bellies growling, since the cheese and bread that Alice had bought in Ballina for the trip had run out long ago, their spirits rose when the boat was pulled into the swollen gully, as the fisherman had promised. They saw a stone jetty a little further on and stared curiously above the sea wall, where a small group of people had gathered when the boat hadcome into view. Behind the group, tarpaulins had been erected into makeshift shelters under the cover of leaf laden oak trees. Cooking pots swung over open twig fires and children ran barefoot, clapping and shouting words of welcome to the newcomers. Everyone there looked like themselves, wild, tattered and unkempt. Sacking was draped around the shoulders of the unshaven men in their ragged clothing, hollow eyes stared from white pinched faces. The women looked no better than Alice or Maggie did, clinging to their heavy woollen shawls over thin calico dresses. At least the shawls gave some protection from the now biting wind.
    The adults were not as forthcoming as the children, but one man, who must have been their spokesman, shouted, “What is yer business here?”
    This time the question was asked in Gaelic, and for a moment the family all