Bartholomew Fair

by Ann Swinfen

  He looked surprised, but said nothing.

  ‘There was also an evening performance. I was not there, that first day, so I have no idea who was in the audience.’

  He nodded. He was listening intently now.

  ‘I was worried by what I had seen, so I reported it to Master Phelippes in Walsingham’s office.’ At his look of astonishment, I realised he knew nothing of this side of my work. No need to go into great detail.

  ‘As well as being a physician,’ I explained, ‘I sometimes work for Sir Francis as a code-breaker and translator. Master Phelippes was concerned at what I told him, and asked me to return and keep an eye on the Italians, together with another man from the service, Arthur Gregory.’ I decided not to mention our search for Poley.

  ‘And you saw more of the soldiers?’

  ‘Aye. A large number at the first performance yesterday. In the evening, there was no performance. It was a meeting, rather, and all those who came were soldiers, together with a few gentlemen. And this morning, every trace of the puppeteers was gone.’

  He shook his head. ‘I do not like the sound of that. Certainly not all of our fellow soldiers stayed the whole while at Finsbury Fields. Everyone claimed to be penniless, and on the way here from Plymouth we lived by begging and foraging. Mayhap some were not telling the truth.’

  ‘Do you think,’ I said, ‘that some of them had another purpose in coming to London? Not just to ask for compensation for their recent service?’

  He lowered his gaze to his clasped hands, which rested on the table in front of him. For a long time, he said nothing, but at last he looked up, his eyes troubled.

  ‘If our grievances had been heard, if something could have been done for us, and for those poor women left widowed and the children left orphaned . . . then I think we would have gone peacefully home. I think so.’

  I noticed that his hands were trembling.

  ‘I heard whispers, Dr Alvarez. I tried to pay them no mind, but now, after what you have said . . . I thought it was just talk, you see. Boasting and bragging. Something to make those fellows feel important. We’d had our faces ground in the mud, like, and some men needed to fight back more than others.’

  I felt my heart beginning to beat more quickly.

  ‘Certainly you managed to find arms.’ I said.

  ‘Aye, I had nothing more than a cudgel I cut from a branch myself, but some managed bows and even swords or muskets. Where they got them, I don’t know, and I didn’t ask questions.’

  ‘Were there traitors amongst you, do you think?’ I asked. ‘Anyone who might have dealings with foreigners, or the Catholic-trained English priests who are smuggled into the country?’

  He shrugged. ‘Who could know, in all that number? I lost most of my friends before ever we came home to Plymouth. You remember the lad with the snake bite?’

  ‘Aye.’

  ‘He was my cousin.’

  ‘He died on our ship,’ I said.

  Died in my arms, I remembered sadly.

  ‘Aye, well. By the time we gathered for the march to London, I was on my own. Some of the lads were fine, but I kept to myself most of the time. That didn’t stop me hearing things.’

  ‘What things?’

  He clenched his hands more tightly together. ‘There was talk of gunpowder.’

  ‘Gunpowder!’ I was shaking myself now.

  ‘Aye. It seems some of the men who was on Drake’s ships – you remember we was provisioned and supplied to attack the Azores – well, before they went ashore, they stole some gunpowder. Thought they could sell it, in the first place. Then they had other ideas.’

  ‘What other ideas?’ I whispered. This was it, I thought.

  ‘There was talk of making a stir. Something to force Queen and Council to sit up and take notice of our claims. An almighty bang at the gates of the city. Some even wanted to use it to make fireworks.’ He gave a derisive laugh. ‘Only no one knew how.’

  ‘I suppose that would be fairly harmless,’ I said.

  ‘Not in the hands of those fools, it wouldn’t,’ he said. ‘Mark you, they would probably blow themselves to the moon before they created a show like the royal Firemaster.’

  He leaned forward and lowered his voices. ‘Those who prevailed, though, did not think the gunpowder should be used merely for show. They argued there was enough to blow up a house, or to blast the way into the warehouse where Drake has the treasure hidden.’

  ‘Do we know where that is?’ I said. ‘I had not thought it was common knowledge.’

  In truth, I did know, for it was one of the many bits of information I had picked up, working in Phelippes’s office. He thought it was essential that I should know all the locations in London which might fall prey to traitors.

  ‘I think they only guessed where it is,’ he said. ‘But that plan was rejected, for they thought the warehouse would be too sturdy and too well guarded, though there were some who clung to the idea, thinking to get their hands on the treasure for themselves.’

  ‘If not the warehouse,’ I said, ‘what then?’

  ‘Some argued for one thing, some for another. The Earl of Essex is very unpopular after his foolish prancing about in Portugal. He has made himself even more of a laughing stock with these pamphlets and poems that are circulating, claiming he performed a host of heroic deeds, when we know – all of us who was there – that he caused a lot of lads to drown by getting them to leap into deep water wearing full armour. And his claim of an attack against the Spanish was no more than throwing a spear against the gates of Lisbon and shouting foolhardy threats. The Spaniards did nothing but laugh at him. We all remember that.’

  ‘So you think they may attack My Lord of Essex?’

  ‘Nay, I do not think they believe it is worth the waste of the gunpowder. They do not have much, only what a few men managed to carry off, hidden about their persons.’

  ‘Not Essex, then,’ I said. ‘Norreys?’

  ‘I doubt they even thought of Norreys. He’s one of us, you see, a soldier himself. He made some wrong decisions, but they don’t forget how badly his brother was injured and like to die. Is he recovered, do you know?’

  ‘Not fully, I believe, but much better for decent food and regular care.’ In my mind I ran through all of the men mocked by the puppeteers. ‘Not Essex. Not Norreys. I suppose they may hold a grudge against Dom Antonio and Ruy Lopez.’

  ‘Another pair of old fools,’ he said frankly. ‘Nay, we know they had no say in the way matters was carried on or how the men was paid off. They despise them, but see no profit in attacking them.’

  ‘That leaves Drake,’ I said slowly, ‘or . . . Her Majesty.’

  I went cold even uttering the words. Just how far did this conspiracy go? For it was becoming clear that it was a conspiracy, if these men had gunpowder, and if they knew how to use it.

  He shook his head. ‘I don’t think even the most foolish and most angry amongst them would dare touch the Queen. They know she is to have the largest share of the booty, but she provided the most ships and the largest stake of the money. Besides, they are loyal to her.’

  ‘Even if they conspire with foreigners?’

  ‘Not all of them would be willing to do that.’

  ‘So we are left with Drake.’

  ‘So it would seem.’

  I studied him carefully. ‘Are you sure of this, Adam?’

  He shook his head. ‘I was not privy to their discussions, Dr Alvarez. I am telling you only what I learned from whispers and rumours passing round the camp. I was never part of this inner group who hold the gunpowder.’

  ‘But by now,’ I said, with some relief, ‘they must have been rounded up by the militia who attacked you at Finsbury Fields. They will surely have confiscated the gunpowder. We need no longer worry.’

  ‘Oh, no!’ he said, ‘I’m sorry. I thought I had made it clear. This group of men – these conspirators, I suppose you would call them – they went off yesterday. I thought they was going into
the City, but perhaps they was the men you saw meeting at the puppet show last night. They took the gunpowder with them. And they did not come back.’

  ‘They were not there when you were attacked?’

  ‘They was not.’

  I drew a deep breath. Putting together what Adam had heard rumoured about the camp and what Arthur and I had seen last night, it seemed very probable that the two groups of men were one and the same. Had they been warned of the attack on the soldiers’ camp? Was there a sympathiser on the Common Council or the Privy Council? Or perhaps amongst the captains of the London Trained Bands?

  ‘I do not like the sound of this,’ I said.

  ‘Nor I.’ He regarded me soberly. ‘For a time I thought it was all talk, but there are a few gunners amongst them. They’ll know how to handle gunpowder. And now it seems they are conspiring with these foreigners who are up to no good.’

  ‘Dowgate,’ I said.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I heard one of them mention Dowgate last night,’ I said. ‘Drake’s London house is in Dowgate.’

  ‘Do you think that’s what they have decided? To attack his home? Blow it up with the gunpowder?’

  ‘It may be only one possibility,’ I said. ‘We do not know that they will reason as we have done. I wonder how much gunpowder they have in their possession, and how much it needs to blow up a house.’

  He shook his head. ‘I know nothing of gunnery.’

  ‘Nor I. It might make no more than a bang to frighten people, but it might bring the house down, the other houses nearby. Many could be killed. Or it could start a fire. This is a fearful business.’ I began to bite my thumbnail. ‘And where do the Italian puppeteers come in? That I do not understand. Yet they must be part of it.’

  I realised there was another side to this I had not mentioned, and told him about Nicholas Borecroft. ‘Did this toy seller ever come to the camp? Could you have seen him with any of these plotters?’

  He shook his head. ‘I never saw such a man, but you must understand – five hundred men and more – it was a large camp, spread out wherever we could find some shelter. This man might have come without my seeing him.’

  So I was no nearer understanding how Borecroft fitted into this muddled picture, or whether he did at all.

  We talked around and around the matter for some time, but made no further progress. At last I saw that Adam was growing tired and pale.

  ‘You must rest,’ I said abruptly. ‘Forgive me, I have tired you out. I will take what I know to those who may be able to act to prevent what could be a disaster. Thank you for your help.’

  ‘You will tell me what happens, Dr Alvarez?’ He looked at me anxiously.

  ‘I will tell you all I can, when I can. There may be matters I am not permitted to discuss.’

  He nodded, but continued to look worried.

  I bade him farewell and went through to the shop. Rikki followed me, gripping his bone firmly, unwilling to be parted from it. William was stitching and Liza was fitting new shoes on a tiny child. His mother looked up and beamed at me.

  ‘His first shoes!’ she said proudly.

  I thanked William and Liza and took my leave, wondering how many small children like this little lad might be killed or injured if the renegade soldiers managed to blow up Drake’s house. I remembered the ruins of Coruña town, shattered by cannon fire as much from their own garrison in the citadel as from our puny artillery. There had been innocent civilians killed then, children amongst them, and homes shattered beyond repair. If the soldiers had a large quantity of gunpowder, the centre of London could end by resembling the ruins of Coruña. Despite the warmth of early evening, I shivered. If Adam was right, these men meant to use their gunpowder, though if their target was Drake’s home, I could not see how it would profit them. Revenge, I suppose. But it would not benefit them financially, however powerful a gesture it might make against the authorities of City and court. And it would cause terrible panic throughout London. People would believe it was a plot by the Spanish or the French, or even the start of an invasion. Last year, when we knew the Armada fleet was bound to come at some point, rumours were rife for weeks beforehand that the Spanish army had already landed.

  Of course, Adam might be mistaken. The soldiers might have reverted to their original plan of breaking into Drake’s warehouse. I knew where it was, an anonymous building close beside the Legal Quays, under the shadow of the Tower, near to where he unloaded the treasure from his freebooting forays against the Spanish treasure fleet returning from the New World. Near enough to the Tower that there were always guards about. It must itself be strongly guarded. Drake was wealthy enough to afford his own private troop of guards. And now I thought about it, I realised that, although its location would not be generally known, many men must have unloaded his ships and moved the goods into store there. All it would have needed was for the soldiers to bribe one of the men who worked on the docks. Although, if they hoped to gain access to the warehouse, they would have to bribe the guards as well.

  So there were two potential targets – the Herbar in Dowgate and the warehouse near the Tower. What I had overheard, that word ‘Dowgate’, might have been part of a discussion, not a final decision. And in all this, how did the puppeteers come into it, as I was sure they must do?

  My feet were taking me automatically back to Seething Lane. Rikki kept wanting to stop and settle down again to his bone, but I tugged at his lead and would not allow him to linger.

  I must tell Phelippes what I had discovered. There could be real danger for Berden and the other men searching for the puppeteers, if the Italians were in company with the soldiers. I had no understanding of how gunpowder worked, though I had seen it used in both cannon and muskets. Could you somehow light it and throw it? Use it as a weapon, hand to hand? I shook my head impatiently. Phelippes might know.

  Although it was vital not to keep this new knowledge to myself, somehow I must protect Adam. I would need to tell Phelippes that the information had been passed to me, but not how I had come by it. He would want to know. He would want every detail. But somehow I must keep Adam and his whereabouts secret. It would not be easy.

  The stable yard was deserted when I arrived, for the lads must be at their supper in the kitchen, though as always there was a watchman by the gate. Sir Francis Walsingham’s house was too important, and held too many state secrets, ever to be left unguarded. The watchman nodded me through, grinning at the bone Rikki was carrying. Phelippes might not care for a greasy bone in his office, but I was too preoccupied with turning over this new development to care whether he was annoyed.

  ‘Kit!’ Phelippes looked up from his table, a candle, burnt down to a stub casting shadows up over his face so that it was oddly distorted. ‘I did not expect you until the morning.’

  ‘Has Berden been back?’ I asked, taking a fresh candle from the box near the fire and lighting it from the dying end. I wedged it into a candlestick from the mantelpiece and carried it over to Phelippes’s table, then pulled a chair forward and sat down.

  ‘Nay, there’s been no word from him.’

  He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. ‘Have you seen those men?’

  ‘I have other news,’ I said grimly. ‘The renegade soldiers, the real troublemakers, have not fled. They had already left Finsbury Fields. They are in London.’

  I drew a deep breath. ‘And they have gunpowder.’

  Chapter Twelve

  ‘Gunpowder!’ Phelippes’s voice rose, as mine had done, when Adam had told me. ‘Where would they obtain gunpowder? And where did you come by this information?’

  He looked at me searchingly, pushing his papers impatiently to one side.

  ‘They got it in Plymouth, it seems,’ I said. ‘They stole it from one of Drake’s ships in harbour, when they were turned ashore. When our fleet left Cascais, all our provisions and military supplies were loaded on to the ships which were to go with Drake to attack the Azores. That included all our remaining
shot and powder. Drake, as you know, made no attempt at the Azores. While we were encamped outside Lisbon and he failed to come to our aid, he learned from the crew of the New World ship he had seized that there was no treasure at present stored on the Azores. He failed to pass the information on to Norreys or any of the other leaders.’

  Phelippes was becoming impatient and opened his mouth to urge me on, but I forestalled him.

  ‘So instead of heading out to sea, of course he returned directly to England. The stores of gunpowder were still on board. When the soldiers were turned ashore, some of the bolder fellows managed to steal a quantity of gunpowder and carry it off, meaning to sell it and eke out their pitiful pay. Then, it seems, another plan was hatched.’

  ‘Where have you heard this? Phelippes said.

  ‘Just a moment.’ I raised my hand to fend off his questions, thinking, even as I spoke, how I could steer him away from Adam.

  ‘I expect if compensation for the soldiers had been forthcoming, a share in the spoils of war, that would have been an end to any other plot and the gunpowder would have been sold off to sportsmen or the like. Somehow the men with the gunpowder were warned about the attack on the camp at Finsbury Fields – something which ought to be looked into, I think. As a result, they were well away when the attack came, taking the gunpowder with them. In fact, it seems likely that they were indeed the same men that Arthur and I saw last night at the puppeteers’ tent.’

  ‘Do you have any idea what they intend?’

  For the moment Phelippes was diverted from asking about the source of my knowledge.

  ‘It seems likely that they intend to use the gunpowder for an attack on one of two buildings. Their chief quarrel is with Drake. One of their targets is his house, the Herbar in Dowgate, as we suspected last night. The other is his warehouse in Tower Ward.’

  ‘We did not know last night that they had gunpowder.’

  ‘Nay, we did not.’