Page 70 of Romancing the Rifleman
He came over a rise and the fledgling camp came into view.Someone had made a fire, and soldiers were milling about in clusters.Diana, who was standing a short distance from the group, wasn’t hard to spot in her dark green gown.
He squinted down the beach.What he saw… didn’t make sense.
He broke into a run.“Diana!”he screamed.
Chapter36
Diana beamed at Inge as she came bounding up the shore.She rubbed her dog’s neck as she removed a seagull from her mouth.“Sehr gut, Inge.Braver Hund!”She pointed back toward the beach.“Hol!”
Inge took off, tail wagging, as glad to have some useful employment as Diana herself.
Taking in the vista—the blue sky overhead, the sparkling sea below, the verdant stretch of grass—she couldn’t help but laugh aloud.It was ironic that she felt happier here than in her brother’s gilded ballroom.But feel happier she did.
She wasfree!
She turned to young Benjamin.“Now, watch how I do it again.I know you’ll master the trick of it.”
She positioned the seagull on its back on the ground, wings outspread.Placing one foot on each of its wings, she seized its legs in a firm grip.She began to pull upward.“Move slowly.It’s important to use steady pressure.If you jerk too hard, it won’t come away cleanly.And…voila!”she exclaimed as the feet separated from the bird’s body, taking most of the feathers with them and exposing the breast meat.
“Cor!”Benjamin exclaimed.“I can’t get over how quick it goes.How’d you learn to do that, m’lady?”
She bent down to collect her handiwork.“My great-aunt taught me.There are a few ways to field dress a game bird, but that one is the easiest for me, given my arm.”She handed the top half of the bird to a German soldier, who nodded his thanks and began cutting the breast meat away from the head.Another man picked up the legs and began peeling the skin back from the bird’s thighs.
An hour ago, it had occurred to Diana that the seabirds roosting on the nearby rocks were their most promising source of supper.She pulled her fowling piece from her trunk and started picking them off, and a handful of soldiers promptly joined her.Between them and Inge, they had settled into a smooth system, with a few men doing the shooting, a few helping to clean the birds, and others roasting the meat over the fire.
She smiled as Inge came trotting up the bluff, another seagull clutched in her mouth.“You try this one, Benja?—”
“Diana!”someone shouted.
She turned, surprised, to see Harrington sprinting toward her, his eyes wild.Alarmed, she looked around, searching for whatever danger he had apparently spotted.
She frowned.The sky was blue, and the sun was shining.She couldn’t see any armed assassins waiting at the top of the rise.Everything seemed… fine?
“Harrington?”she asked as he skidded to a stop.“What’s wrong?”
“What on earth are you doing?”he gasped.
She glanced around.Surely it was apparent?There were two dozen birds roasting over the fire, after all.
She was saved from having to answer by Benjamin.“She’s teaching me to field dress a seagull!You should have seen her—she pulled a shotgun right out of her trunk and took down a half dozen birds with her first shot!”
“They weren’t expecting it,” Diana demurred.“And they do roost closely together.”
“Inge’s been fetching the birds,” Benjamin continued.“We’ve all got jobs—Lieutenants Schneider and Bauer are doing the shooting.Gassner and Kleinendorst here are roasting the meat.And the rest of us are cleaning the birds!”
Harrington gaped at her.“You had ashotgunin yourtrunk?”
“Well, of course.”She laughed.“I did mention that Aunt Griselda packed for me.Surely you did not imagine that she would send me off into the great world without a proper fowling piece.”She turned to Benjamin, holding out the gull Inge had just collected.“Go on.Give it another try.”
She watched him attempt to get into the proper position.“You must place your feet closer to the body of the bird,” she advised.“Closer… Yes, as close as you can get them.Good.Now pull up on the feet, slowly… That’s it, slow and steady now...”
Benjamin gave a cry of delight as the skin slipped away, revealing the breast meat beneath.
“Excellent!”Diana leaned down, peeling a few stray entrails off the bird and tossing them aside.
She smiled up at her husband, only to find him gawking at her.“What?”she asked, confused.
“How did you learn to do that?”he hissed.
