‘Might, might not.’ Nancy put the baby back down in the cot. ‘I don’t know exactly where he lives. You’ll have to ask up at the Pool, someone up there will know him.’
‘The Pool?’ I asked.
‘Up in town.’ She seemed surprised I didn’t know.
‘Do we ask for Hugh or some other name?’ I moved on.
‘Hugh will do but watch out who you ask.’ Nancy was almost looking around as though expecting danger to arrive at any moment. ‘He’s known to cause trouble. I think you were part of the same trouble, maybe that’s why he wanted you gone.’
None of this made much sense to me.
‘You need to leave.’ Nancy tried to wave us towards the door.
I looked at Jenna. I wasn’t sure if we should set out in the dark, but that might be safer than waiting for tomorrow, even if Nancy would let us stay which I didn’t think she would. Jenna nodded. We asked a few more directions, which were vague. I could see we would have to ask as we went along and that wasn’t a great idea – letting a lot of people know where we were going.
‘Do you have any money?’ Nancy sounded hopeful and I felt we had given her enough trouble. Jenna had only four coins. She showed them to Nancy who took them and shook them in her hand.
‘So you didn’t make your fortune, wherever you went.’ Nancy gave a sort of laugh. ‘Everyone says that this Australia is the place to go.’
I wondered if that was right. It made me think of Sam and Ivy, how were they living now? And the baby…
Nancy wasn’t after money for herself, she saw we didn’t have much and she’d know that asking questions about where Hugh lived wasn’t a great idea - it could lead back to her.
Nancy walked to the door, leaned out and gave a whistle. A few minutes later a small boy pushed into the small room. Scruffily dressed and with the look of someone so much older.
‘Take these two up to the Pool,’ Nancy said, giving him one of our coins. ‘And don’t remember doing it.’ Nancy kept another coin and gave us back the other two. ‘You’ll need these.’
The boy ducked back onto the street and we followed.
‘Thanks,’ both of us called as we left. Now we had almost no money, no idea where we were going and no idea what we would find when we got there.
The boy said nothing as he led us through the streets. Jenna tried to ask him his name and he almost snarled at her. We kept to dark side streets, often at a run if we heard anyone. I was still squelching with wet feet from the boat trip.
The boy left us. It was very dark and I suppose it must have been way after midnight. We were back near to water, which I presume was the Pool; dark and with a strong smell of sewers. A few houses showed lights in their windows but the rest were closed down for the night. The boy just ran off and we were now on our own. There were a few men down by the water, huddled together around a miserable looking fire. I couldn’t see that it was worth asking them where Hugh lived, and probably not safe to ask either.
‘Over there,’ Jenna said in a whisper. Neither of us wanted to let anyone notice us.
I looked in the direction she was pointing. There was a light dimly shining from a slightly opened door. There was some sort of sign about the door, it swung on half broken hinges, perhaps a shop or an inn.
‘Best to ask in there,’ Jenna said walking towards the light.
We pushed the door open, to be met by frightened faces. There must have been five or six men in the room. Four of them scuttled out, pushing past us. One stayed – a large fat man who picked up a thick piece of wood and came towards us.
‘We just want to find someone,’ I said. ‘We can pay,’ I added quickly, hoping that might stop him eating us to death.
‘Who?’ he grunted.
‘A man called Hugh,’ Jenna said, fumbling for our last two coins.
The man laughed, walked to the door and called out, ‘Boys you can come back, these two want Mr Connoy, so I reckon they’re in just as much trouble as you.’
The men returned. None of this looked safe. I suppose it was lucky we did only have two coins and absolutely nothing else of value for them to see.
As it was, the big man took our two coins, led us back out and pointed us up another street. ‘Go that way until you see a house standing on its own, big white gates and a fence. Mr Connoy keeps himself hidden.’ He laughed and left us. There was barely enough light to see our way. I wasn’t sure how we would make out any white gate.
‘How far?’ I called after him.
‘A way,’ the man laughed again, our two coins had reached the limit of the advice we could buy.
‘They were nice,’ Jenna muttered as we walked away.
‘At least whatever they’re up to may mean they won’t talk about us.’ I guessed that the men were waiting for something to arrive, something not too legal.
‘Wouldn’t bet on it,’ Jenna replied. ‘I think they’d sell us out, like the captain did. Everyone here is after something.’
I nodded in the dark, thinking that would have been like it was back home. Not sure what would have happened if you’d come knocking at our house in the middle of the night. Following my dad’s directions would lead to more trouble.
So we walked on carefully. It was a distance and some light was starting to come through as dawn approached. The houses started to spread out and we were almost in the countryside. I could hear the sound of animals. There was only one house with gates. We could just see they were white as we approached. The house itself was in darkness. Anyone living there must be asleep.
‘Do we go in?’ I looked at Jenna.
‘Dogs?’ Jenna whispered back.
I couldn’t hear any sounds, but dogs had to be likely, Hugh’s house being a bit out of town, wouldn’t he have guard dogs? I would have. We walked on a little further, crouched down behind a wall and waited for the morning. I felt my stomach rumble. It had been a long time since we had the beer back in town and that was only beer, not food.
As the sun came up so did the barking. The sound of several dogs came from the gated house. We came out from behind the wall and slowly went back towards the barking. At the gate we were met by two snarling hounds.
‘Hugh,’ I called, not wanting to go through the gate. ‘Mr Connoy,’ I shouted again, which started the dogs barking more ferociously than before. Nothing happened and I was about to shout again when Hugh came to the door, looked out at us and almost ran to the gate, pulling us inside.
‘Why?’ he said gritting his teeth. ‘Why have you come back?’ He snatched at me, and in a scared panicky way waved us back towards the house, with his head flicking backwards and forwards to see if there was anyone behind us. And from the way he behaved it felt likely that something terrible might appear at any moment.
We entered the house. It was clearly better furnished than Nancy’s hovel, more money. Standing in the hallway Hugh glowered at us. If Nancy hadn’t been pleased to see us it was nothing compared to Hugh’s furious face. ‘Why?’ he almost screamed. ‘I helped you to get away, why didn’t you stay there?’
Having been half way across the world, nearly dying on so many occasions, having escaped and made it back here, I wasn’t going to be scared by Hugh’s anger. Not much else he could do to us. I stepped forward. ‘Because you know why we are here, how we got here and how we get out.’
Hugh’s anger seemed to leave him, becoming more worry than anger as I said, ‘Thanks for saving us from hanging but I think you know a lot more about everything, especially Alice Tregarthur.’
Hugh’s mouth opened and shut like a fish, so I went on more firmly, ‘And you’re going to tell us about it.’
‘But first,’ Jenna picked up on my firmness. ‘First you are going to give us something to eat and drink.’
That was much easier than inform
ation. Hugh shrugged and led us into the kitchen. It was a large room, stone floored. Two chairs stood in front of a fire, warm and comfortable. There was a strong smell of food.
‘Martha,’ Hugh called to the woman stoking the fire. ‘See to these two, I’ll be back.’ With that Hugh strode out of the door.
If I hadn’t been so hungry I would have gone after him, but Martha was already setting down two steaming mugs of soup in front of us along with large chunks of bread. My stomach got the better of my reasoning. After a few mouthfuls and no sign of Hugh coming back I wished I had been more careful.
Martha let us sit by the fire. She didn’t talk much, a woman of silence and suspicion. Soon I drifted off to sleep. Another bad idea and another thing I couldn’t help.
An Unexpected Friend
-22-
Hugh returned and it must have been some hours later. Outside the sun was trying to force its way through grey clouds. It wasn’t actually raining yet, but it soon would be.
‘Good, good,’ said Hugh, rubbing his hands in front of the fire.
I didn’t know what was good. In fact looking at Hugh I had the feeling it was probably bad. I stood up and yawned. Hugh was looking more nervous than before which I thought must be another bad sign. When he’d helped us escape from prison and got us on to the boat he’d said, ‘she’ll kill me’. Had Alice Tregarthur found out that Hugh had helped us and, while she hadn’t actually killed him, perhaps she’d scared him so much that he would do anything to keep her happy and that might mean sending us back to the jail?
‘We need to get you hidden,’ he said, sounding like he was in a hurry.
‘We need to know…’ I started.
‘Yes, yes, of course you do, lots to tell you, but you can’t stay in here.’ Hugh went to the window and peered out. ‘They might find you. Need to get you hidden, come on.’ He waved his arm, ushering us towards the door. He stopped, thinking. ‘Forgotten, need to get Martha away first,’ he whispered. Martha, washing clothes in a space next to the kitchen, gave no sign of hearing.
‘Wait here a minute,’ Hugh stopped waving at us and trotted out of the door.
Jenna and I were both mind blurry from lack of sleep. There was more soup bubbling on the stove and I refilled Jenna’s and my mugs.
‘Don’t trust anything about him,’ Jenna murmured and I nodded as Hugh came back through the door holding an envelope.
‘Martha,’ he called and she dropped the washing and came forward with a less than happy face. ‘Martha, run this letter down to town.’ He waved the envelope. ‘For Mr Court, quick as you can.’
Martha looked out of the window at the blackening sky, made a grimace, fetched her coat, took the letter and banged out of the front door accompanied by the bark of the dogs.
‘Come on now.’ Hugh waved us forward again.
I took a swig of my soup and didn’t move.
‘Come on,’ Hugh became more frantic.
‘Who are you and what do you have to do with Alice Tregarthur?’ I said picking up a lump of bread from the table and biting off a chunk while I waited for an answer.
Hugh slumped back on his chair. I could see his mind churning. It was so like David – Miss Tregarthur’s brother who died and I got the blame – the broken Promise.
‘You’re related,’ I sat back and waited.
‘How did you know?’ For a moment Hugh looked beaten. This was my chance to find out what was really happening. I didn’t answer his question, more waiting.
‘Sister,’ he said after a moment more, scheming I thought. ‘Step sister, I suppose. I just use the name Connoy.’ The beaten scared look returned. ‘Not that Alice Tregarthur is anything like any kind of sister. She thinks I’m stupid, that’s why she sent me here.’
‘Why did you help us?’ I couldn’t see any reason for him helping Sam and me to escape the hanging.
Hugh’s face creased in a look of fear, ‘Stupid idea, stupid, never should have done it,’ he muttered.
‘But why?’ I asked again and he kept muttering something about it not being right while he was trying to get us out, to get us hidden. So I wasn’t getting any sensible information.
Hugh was standing in front of us waving us to move but Jenna stopped in front of him, her hand against his chest and demanded: ‘How does she do it? This time travel, how?’
‘It’s been in the Tregarthur family for generations, I mean, I mean…’ I could tell Hugh felt he’d said too much.
‘What has?’ Jenna was right in his face. ‘How does she make the tunnel work?’
‘Tunnel?’ Hugh looked surprised and thought for a while. ‘I suppose it can be a tunnel. It’s something on the moor, in the stones, it changes.’
‘How does Alice Tregarthur make it work? Take people back in time?’ I felt we only had a few minutes of this, Hugh kept looking at the window, almost frantic.
‘She’s got this crystal, part of whatever this thing is, something from the moor, something from the stones. She makes threats and the tunnel – maybe that’s a good name for it, the Tregarthurs have always called it the secret – it does what she demands.’
I could see that there was so much more.
‘Look we just need to get out the back.’ Hugh had broken into a sweat and it wasn’t hot enough for that in the kitchen. ‘If someone comes here, you’ve had it.’ He stood up and was waving us to follow him.
‘What about my mum?’ I asked the question which worried me most.
Hugh just looked puzzled.
‘Mum?’ I said loudly.
‘Don’t know anything about your mum, don’t know anyone in your family.’
‘But my mum, Theresa Carter?’ I nearly exploded.
‘Carter, of course,’ Hugh smacked his forehead. ‘You’re from that Carter family. That’s why she wants you …’
A loud knock came at the door. Loud enough to make us jump and rush after Hugh into the narrow hall, too anxious that we might be captured again. I knew we’d only heard half the truth, but why was the name Carter so important? I knew I wasn’t important and Dad…well he was important in a bad way. More loud knocks came at the door.
In the hall I stopped. There hanging in a glass case above another mantelpiece was the gold belt. My gold belt, given to us for saving the king from the Black Death. The belt I had given to Hugh for helping us to escape. Perhaps that reminded me that Hugh had helped us before, why was I so suspicious now?
Hugh kept on with his: ‘Quick, come on, quick, hurry’ and frantic arm waving. Why was he quite so nervous? He wasn’t the one going to be hanged.
What had he wanted the gold belt for? He hadn’t sold it. He said someone wanted it and that could only have been Miss Tregarthur. Why? I’d thought he’d used it to pay for our escape, obviously not.
Hugh rushed us out of the house through a back door across a cobbled yard to a large stone barn. It reminded me of something and I didn’t have time to think because we were pushed towards it. The door stood open.
‘In here,’ he said. ‘It’ll be safer. I’ll check who is at the front door.’
Safer from what, I wondered? We went inside. It was dryer and warmer than other barns I had seen. Piles of metal pipes were stored in one corner, with another taken up with straw.
‘Make yourselves comfortable.’ Hugh was calmer now and I thought that maybe he was right and it was safer in here, like he said.
‘I’ll get some more food and after that I can tell you all you need to know,’ Hugh said, walking back to the door.
Jenna and I were looking at the straw when I felt the panic of hairs bristling on my neck. Hugh had broken into a run.
‘Quick,’ I yelled and we chased after him. Too late. The barn door slammed and I heard the heavy bar swing into place. I hurled myself at it and fell back, t
he door was solid. Solid and shut tight, we were trapped again.
We heard his footsteps as he walked away. I shouted after him. Jenna shouted. We shouted and banged on the door. There was no other way out. Light came from narrow slits high up in the stone walls, too high to climb.
‘I thought we’d done barns,’ Jenna snarled. ‘Done being locked up in barns. I didn’t sail all this way to be locked up in another one.’
We were locked up and no way out. Even worse, I thought about the letter given to Martha.
‘She’s taking it to the court,’ I threw a piece of the piping against the door. ‘It wasn’t for Mr Court, it was for the court, the one that sentenced us to death.’
‘Who do you think was knocking at the door?’ Jenna just growled, along with something I couldn’t hear. ‘Bet he set that up, getting someone to knock, scare us, lead us into this trap.’
Everything was quiet now. Time to look around, too much time to do nothing.
‘What’s he want all these pipes for?’ I was talking to myself, looking at a pile of iron pipes piled up in the corner.
‘Maybe he’s installing central heating,’ Jenna gave a humourless laugh. ‘But why did he help you before and then do this?’
I picked one of the pipes up, too flimsy to force the door. ‘No idea why Hugh helped Sam and me. If he wanted us out of the way he could have let them hang us.’
‘Just perhaps he felt it was wrong? He’s obviously terrified of Miss Tregarthur even if she is his stepsister.’
‘He doesn’t seem to mind sending us back to the gallows now,’ I hurled the piece of pipe across the barn hearing it bounce off the wall.
‘Miss Tregarthur must have spoken to him. She must travel all over the place.’
We slipped into silence after that. No easy answers, as usual. I suppose some things made sense of the disaster we were in. Maybe we even understood a bit about whatever happened on the moor, it wasn’t really a tunnel although that felt the best thing to call it.
Tregarthur's Prisoners: Book 3 (The Tregarthur's Series) Page 16
