HF - 01 - Caribee (33 page)

'They will not,' Hilton promised. 'For two reasons. Firstly, there are only half a dozen men on board each ship, and secondly, they will not risk firing into the town where are the women and children, as well as their own shipmates. They'll wait upon the outcome of the business ashore, and we all know what that will be.' He glanced at Edward. 'You give the signal.'

'Then we do no good by w
aiting here.' He scrambled to hi
s feet. 'But you have forgo
tt
en the most important task of all. The men Ashton and Mailing have imprisoned. There is our surest support.'

'By God,' Hilton cried. 'But you are right. Paddy, you'll see to them.'

O'Reilly grinned and nodded. 'That I will, Mr Hilton.'

'And have ye no task for me?’
Susan demanded.

'Aye,' Hilton said. 'A severe one. To remain here in patience until either Edward or myself comes to you. Mark this well, now. It should not take long, and you can oversee whatever happens.'

She nodded. 'Well, then, Godspeed to you all.'

'Godspeed,' Edward whispered, and set off down the hill.

Slowly it became lighter, but the village seldom awoke at dawn, although there would be stirrings in the houses, children crying, women ge
tt
ing up to boil water. It was a time for haste. He led them down the hill
at a steady jogtrot, although th
ey travelled with commendable silence, twenty ghosts going about a dreadful task. They reached the beach, and Hilton waved his arm. He, Edward, and the main party, dashed straight up the street, leaving the others to take up their positions more slowly.

A dog barked, and then another, but Edward was already at the porch to the Governor's House. Here he paused to draw his sword, and heard the rasp of ten others being made ready behind him. No door was ever locked on Sandy Point; he pushed it
gently
back. The parlour was empty. Empty, too, of the scent of stale tobacco, which it always held during Tom Warner's residence.

Behind the parlour an open doorway gave access to the hallway, off which opened the kitchen and scullery; at the end of this hallway the flight of straight steps gave access to the upper floor. At Hilton's signal two of the Irishmen remained on guard, one at the front door and the other at the back. The remainder tiptoed up the stairs behind Edward.

They entered another corridor, off which opened the three bedrooms, their windows overlooking the front of the house, beneath the huge porch. 'Yarico sleeps in the first one,' Edward whispered. 'You'll secure her, Tony. Gently, now. She is not likely to scream, at the least. Connor, my sister used to sleep in the centre room, so it is odds on that Mr Ashton will be occupying that. Place him under arrest. Again, gently. I will see to my brother. Wait for my signal.'

He tiptoed along the dark corridor, only dimly illuminated by the morning light as it drifted through the closed shu
tt
er at either end, paused outside Philip's door, raised his hand and threw it open.

'What?' Philip sat up, hair tousled. 'Edward? What?
’

Two of the Irishmen had followed Edward in.

‘I
wish no trouble, Philip,' Edward said.
‘In
which event you will not be harmed. For the time being you are under arrest. Fetch those weapons.'

One of the men darted across the room, picked up Philip's sword and pistols.

‘
You have lost
your wits,' Philip said. 'Fath
er will have you hanged.'

'Father is in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean,' Edward pointed out. 'You'd best remain here, Jocko.'

'Aye, aye, sir,' Jocko agreed, taking his place by the door.

'Mr Warner. Mr Warner.' Comior's voice was anxious. "The centre room is empty, sir.'

Edward ran into the corridor, heart pounding, a dreadful weight seeming to accumulate, slowly, in the pit of his belly. The door to Sarah's room stood open, and the bed had not been slept in.

'Bad.' Yarico's voice came to him. 'You will die. You, Hilton, and all your people.'

Edward stood in the doorway. She sat up in bed, naked, only half concealed beneath the covers, nor did she seek to protect herself in any way as she gazed at the intruders with angry eyes. Li
tt
le Tom lay beside her, pillowed in the crook of her arm, staring at the white men in terror.

'Ed-ward,' she said. 'War-nah will flog you.'

'Oh, she's a tiger cat,' Hilton said. 'But she's only talk, at the moment. All secure?'

'Ashton isn'
t
here,' Edward said.

'What do you mean?'

'He isn'
t
here,' Edward shouted. And at
that
moment the bell began to toll.

'What in the name of God....' Hilton ran to the shu
tt
er and threw it open. 'By Christ.'

Edward stood beside him. The street below was filled with men all carrying arms, milling about at this moment, but being brought to order by Hal Ashton and William Jarring.

Yarico gave one of her u
tt
erly delig
htful laughs. 'You look for Hal?
" she asked. 'He no sleep here. Not this night. He got friend. You ain'
t
know that, Ed-ward?'

'That old lecher,' Hilton said. 'That we'd be knocked up by an over-active tool. By Christ ... I could drop him from here.'

'No,' Edward said. 'What of Jarring?'

'He has made his decision. We have time to withdraw, Ned. We can escape across the field and into the forest. They'll not follow us there. And if they do, we'll break a few heads for them.'

'What of Paddy O'Reilly?'

The door to the Chapel was shut.

'He'll have fallen by now. How else were the people to be alarmed?
’

'Not by Paddy,' Edward sa
id. 'We cannot desert him. We mu
st negotiate.' 'Negotiate?'

Edward ran to the head of the stairs. 'Close that door,' he shouted. 'And push furniture against it. Connor, get down there and help him. And then close all the shu
tt
ers and bar them, and stand by them.'

Connor hesitated. 'You'll not let them take us, Mr Hilton? There'll be no negotiations for us. It'll be the rope.'

Hilton chewed his lip.

'They'll take you over my dead body, Connor,' Edward promised. 'But hurry.'

For the crowd was moving up the street.

There's to be a fight,' Hilton mu
tt
ered. 'They'll come to us, without Ashton. I can drop him, Ned. His chest sticks out like a flag.

‘
You'll not,' Edward shouted. 'Hal? Your oldest friend, after me? Before me, by God.'

Hilton sighted along the barrel of his pistol, and then lowered it. 'You're an honourable man, Edward. Or you entirely lack stomach. I hope you've sufficient to stand on the gallows without shaking.'

'Bar those windows,' Edward said.

'You frightened, white man,' Yarico said. 'You die.'

'Edward,' Philip said. 'You'd best surrender at discretion. There are sixty men out there. You'll not stop them.'

'For Christ's sake, shut up,' Edward shouted.
‘I
'll gag the next person who speaks.'

He leaned on the window, looked down. From below there came the hangings of the windows and doors being boarded up. This was the strongest house in the town, after the church. Between them they could sustain a long siege; there would be no lack of food and water in either building, for Mr Mailing lived in a room behind the vestry. But it would cost lives. And it would raise a fund of bi
tt
erness not to be alleviated in a few days, or perhaps even a few years.

And what would happen to Susan, alone on her hilltop? What had already happened to her, indeed? She would be able to see that something had gone wrong.

He threw the shu
tt
ers wide again as the men approached. 'You'll stop there, Hal,' he called.
‘I
've armed men posted.'

Ashton looked up, blinking; Jarring pointed to the window. 'Edward?' the sailing master called. 'This is madness, boy. What do you mean?
’

'To claim my rights as Edward Warner,' Edward said.

'Why, boy, you have just thrown them all away,' Jarring said.

‘I
speak to you, Hal,' Edward said.

'Mr Jarring is right, Edward,' Ashton said. 'For God's sake, boy, I count myself your friend, and I would assist you in every possible way. But this is mutiny, against the lawfully constituted government of this island.' He took off his hat and wiped sweat from his face. 'And to ally yourself with the labourers, why, boy,
that
is not only criminal, 'tis downright madness.'

'A man must find his friends where he may, Hal,' Edward said.
‘I
demand safe conduct.'

'You demand?' Jarring asked. 'By God, boy, you're in no position to demand anything. You're outnumbered and besieged.'

'And armed,' Edward said. 'And, if need be, desperate. We'd not have bloodshed, Hal, but by God you'll find our fives expensive.'

Ashton spoke sharply to Jarring, who would again have replied, and then faced Edward.

'Safe conduct, you say? Where would you go?"

Hilton appeared at the window. 'There's ships in the harbour, Hal,' he called. 'We'll take one of them.'

‘I
might have known you'd be involved in this, Tony,' Ashton said. 'You were ever a pirate at heart.'

'No more,' Hilton said. 'Not unless I'm forced to it. We'll take ourselves to Nevis. There's a fair offer, Hal. Tis sure that to remain here will but perpetuate unrest. In Nevis we can go our own way.'

'You and how many?
’
Ashton inquired.

'My wife and followers here, for a start. And anyone else who chooses to accompany us. Tis fair.'

'To allow mutineers to escape, free?" Jarring cried. 'What would the Captain say? By God, he'd hang the lot of us. And be in his rights.'

'Then take your chances, scoundrel,' Hilton shouted, and fired.

The ball did no more than kick dust in front of the assembly, but it acted like a cannon shot. Men ran in every direction, taking shelter behind houses and in ditches; several returned fire
imme
diat
ely
, and the bullets th
udded into the wooden walls of the Governor's House.

Edward stepped away from the window. 'Now there was a cursed stupid thing to do, Tony. I'd have persuaded them.'

'You,' Hilton said contemptuously. 'You have no stomach for revolution.'

Edward looked through the window again. How empty the street looked, on a sudden. But there were faces at the wind
ows of the houses, women and chi
ldren, and now from below there came the explosion of a musket as one of the Irishmen fired.

'Big fight,' Yarico said from the bed. She had prudently lain down to keep out of the way of the bullets; Philip sat on the floor beside the bed. Young Tom, remarkably, seemed to have gone back to sleep.

'Many dead,' Yarico said, and smiled. "You dead, Edward?"

‘I
did not intend this,' he mu
tt
ered. 'Wait,' he shouted. 'Cease firing.'

Still the explosions rang out, and still the bullets crumped into the thick wooden walls. And now there was firing from the church, while at the far end of the street Jarring and Hal Ashton reappeared, with a dozen men and three bound prisoners; clearly the three labourers who had been arrested trying to alert their compatriots and were now bound for the gallows.

Edward ran down the stairs. His heart pounded and sweat rolled down his cheeks. He was afraid, and yet he had become filled with a wild exhilaration. He had tossed, and lost. This seemed to be the entire story of his life. But he had no right to involve countless others in his defeat. And most of all, he had no right to involve Susan, and her unborn child. His unborn child, maybe. She believed it to be so. Else why tell him, and not her husband? And indeed, only that made sense; Tony and Susan had lived together for three years, without result. Edward had but to appear on the scene, to impregnate her.

He burst into the parlour. Connor had arranged his men well, one to each window, front and back; they crouched there, muskets at the ready, firing whenever they saw a movement in the village.

'Hold your fire,' Edward said. 'And unbar the door.'

'Ye're crazy, sir,' Connor said. They'll shoot ye down like a dog.'

They'll not shoot a Warner,' Edward insisted. 'And I must stop this business. I know how it can be done. Now open that door.'

Connor looked past him, to where Hilton stood in the doorway.

‘
You'd best let him through,' Hilton said. ' Tis sure he's all the hope we have of surviving this fiasco.'