Mary had been right in surmising that many of the natives knew a great deal about navigating the waters round here. They might only have the flimsiest canoes, but the skilful way they manoeuvred them and the speeds they reached were incredible. Bennelong had also shown Will ways of finding water, and which plants made good eating. Will had no doubt he would be only too happy to swim out to the cutter at night and tow her to the shore for their party to get aboard. He had no real loyalty to any of the officers, but he had to Mary and Will.
Although he knew he could count on Bennelong, Detmer was going to be more tricky.
Will and the Dutchman had a great deal in common. They were both big and blue-eyed, with fair hair; both were gregarious men who made friends easily. They were also both, for different reasons, out on a limb.
Since the settlement got back to full rations, many of the original convicts seemed to have forgotten that Will was the one who had saved their lives with his fish. As for the new arrivals, many of them were jealous of his freedom to come and go as he pleased, and often made sarcastic comments about him being the officers’ ‘boy’.
Detmer was isolated because he hadn’t played by the rules with Captain Phillip. There was short weight on the stores he’d brought in, which made the officers distrust him, and now he was driving a very hard bargain with the charter of his ship. Phillip desperately needed it to send some of his men back to England, and Detmer was being foxy. As a result, he was ostracized by the officers, and sharp little Mary, always quick to take advantage of an opportunity, took it.
At first it was a few smiles, a little conciliatory chat, an offer to do his laundry, and finally to share supper with her and Will at their hut. Will didn’t object to Detmer coming when he was there; he was good company, and he always brought a bottle of rum with him. But Will was aware that people were beginning to talk about Mary chatting to Detmer on the wharf and sometimes going out to his ship.
Only today someone had suggested she was ‘making up’ to the man. Will was jealous by nature and he didn’t like the idea of his wife alone in any man’s company. Yet he knew Mary was far more likely to get Detmer to agree to help them than he was, so he supposed he would have to turn a blind eye as to how she accomplished it.
Will got up from the floor and went out of the hut. Mary was just coming along, with Emmanuel in her arms and Charlotte skipping beside her.
Will thought they made a pretty picture, Mary with her black curls all around her face, Emmanuel chubby and fair-haired in her arms, and Charlotte, a tiny version of her mother, kicking up the sand with her bare feet. The Lady Juliana had brought cloth from England. Mary had managed to talk Tench into getting her a length and she’d made a dress for herself and things for the children. Will knew that by his mother’s standards back home, Mary’s blue striped dress was crudely made, but after seeing her and so many other women just in rags for the last two years, he thought she looked very fetching.
‘You were a long time,’ he said reprovingly.
‘We got talking,’ she said, and nodded pointedly in Charlotte’s direction, her way of saying that what she had to report mustn’t be in front of the child.
Mary heated up some water on the fire and made them a cup of sweet tea, then sat down to nurse Emmanuel. As soon as Charlotte had wandered off a little way, she beckoned Will to come nearer.
‘I’ve asked Detmer to help us,’ she whispered.
‘You told him our plan?’ Will was shocked that she’d done this without him being there.
‘The time was right,’ she said with a shrug. ‘He’d had a row with Phillip again, and I knew it was the moment.’
‘What did he say?’ Will got a chill down his spine when he thought what would happen to him if Detmer peached.
Mary didn’t answer for a moment. The truth was that Detmer’s first reaction had been to laugh at the plan. He also said he couldn’t see why Will wanted to risk his and his family’s lives when he had everything set up here. Mary had to plead with him, explain how she was afraid Will would abandon her when his time was up. She even implied that she was willing to do anything for Detmer in exchange for his help.
His expression was imprinted on her mind. Lips set in a cynical straight line, yet laughter in his eyes. He was seated on a coil of rope in the bows of his ship while she was standing at the rail, half turned away from him because she wasn’t quite brave enough to look him in the eye. He was wearing a clean white shirt and tan-coloured breeches that clung to his body like a second skin, his long fair hair blowing in the breeze.
He was similar to Will in looks, sharing the same colouring, height and size, though he was probably as much as ten years older. But Detmer had a polished look which Will could never hope to emulate. His skin was a golden-brown, his hair silky, and his teeth were still very good, white and even. His heavily accented English was attractive too – whatever he said he sounded as if he was trying to woo her.
‘Come on, tell me,’ Will exclaimed. ‘Charlotte will be back in a moment and we can’t speak of it in front of her.’ Charlotte was very talkative now at three and she was inclined to repeat things she’d overheard.
‘He said he would help us,’ Mary said. The truth of it was that Detmer had asked, ‘How far are you prepared to go to gain my assistance?’
‘Why should he want to help us?’ Will’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.
Mary shrugged. ‘Because he likes us. Because he wants to get back at Captain Phillip. Because I was persuasive. Take your pick.’
‘Did you tell him what we need?’
Mary leaned closer to Emmanuel so Will wouldn’t see her blushing. She had been shameless, just as she’d been with Lieutenant Graham on the Dunkirk. But what made it worse in her mind was that she actually wanted Detmer, and if she hadn’t had the two children with her, she might very well have let him have his way with her, then and there.
‘Yes, I told him, and he’ll sell us a sextant and a compass,’ she said. ‘And he’ll throw in a couple of old muskets, some ammunition and a water cask. You can agree a price with him for those.’
‘What about a chart?’
‘That too, he’s going to look it out. He’ll need to talk that over with you.’
‘So I have got some role in this then?’ Will said sarcastically.
Mary wanted to slap him for always wanting to be the big man. If she’d sat back and let him try to organize this escape, he’d be in irons by now because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Even Detmer, who had only known Will for a relatively short time, had been worried about his reputation for having a loose tongue. But she had to hide her irritation. Everything depended on keeping Will sweet.
‘You have the biggest role,’ she said, reaching out to stroke his face in a display of affection. ‘You are the navigator. Detmer says only a good one like you could manage to sail through the reefs without holing the boat.’
Will was appeased at that. ‘I’ll whip one of the new seine nets tonight,’ he said. ‘They won’t miss it.’
Mary looked to see where Charlotte was, and, satisfied she was out of earshot, making mud pies, she continued, ‘We ought to decide now who we’re going to ask to go with us.’
‘James Martin, Jamie Cox and Samuel Bird, of course,’ Will said. ‘They’re my mates, been with them right from the Dunkirk.’
Mary nodded. She had expected Will would want them. She wasn’t too pleased about Samuel Bird, he was such a gloomy man, but then she hadn’t tried very hard to get to know him, put off by his red hair and pale eyelashes. ‘Yes, but we did think William Moreton would be a good choice too, he knows about navigation.’
Will wrinkled his nose. ‘I don’t like him.’
Mary didn’t like the dark, bull-like man either. Like Will, he was a big-head, full of his own importance. But he could navigate, he was strong and able to keep his mouth shut.
‘We need another navigator,’ she said firmly. ‘You can’t do it all alone.’
‘Very well, h
im too, and maybe Wilf Owens and Pat Reilly.’
‘Wilf Owens is a fool,’ Mary said dismissively. ‘And Pat Reilly can’t keep his mouth shut.’
Will looked hurt. Wilf and Pat often came out fishing with him and he liked drinking with them.
‘So who do you think then?’ he snapped at her.
‘Sam Broome, Nathaniel Lilly and Bill Allen,’ she replied.
‘We can’t take that many,’ Will exclaimed in horror. ‘Besides, they aren’t our mates, they’re all from the Second Fleet. We hardly know them.’
‘We’ll need that many when we have to row,’ she insisted. ‘Besides, the boat’s big enough. And they can all handle it. What does it matter if you haven’t known them long? They are all trustworthy and capable.’
Will didn’t mind the idea of Nat and Bill. Nat was another young kid like Jamie, who hung on his every word. He looked like a cherub with his fair hair and big eyes and Will liked having him around.
They called Bill the Iron Man. When he was flogged for theft from the stores, he never cried out once, and walked away at the end of it without even wincing. Compared to most of the men here he was a real criminal, convicted of a serious assault and robbery. Common sense said he was a good choice, they’d need more tough men if they had any trouble with natives.
‘Yeah, Bill and Nat can come,’ he nodded. ‘But why Sam Broome?’ he asked, looking at Mary with suspicion. He thought the man a rum sort of cove, he kept himself to himself, didn’t like drink, and he was as skinny as a rake.
Mary had taken a liking to Sam from the day she gave him water as he lay close to death on the wharf. She had visited him in the hospital tents until he was well enough to be moved to a hut, and they had become friends. She liked his gentlemanly ways and his reserve, and it was flattering that he obviously adored her.
While no one would describe Sam as handsome – he was too thin and his sandy hair was disappearing fast – he had a strong face, and there was determination in his tawny-coloured eyes. He was also practical, a good carpenter, and steady. Mary needed him as her safety net if Will failed her.
She wished she didn’t have these qualms about Will. In many ways he was the very best of husbands. But she had to be realistic, consider every possibility. If they were to reach a safe haven, and Mary was absolutely determined that they would, she couldn’t guarantee that the success wouldn’t go to Will’s head. He liked the drink and it made him belligerent. She had to have some sort of backup plan for that eventuality; she didn’t intend to risk her own life and those of her two children for a life that might turn out worse than anything she’d endured so far. She knew Sam Broome would step into the breach if need be.
‘Sam has skills we might need,’ she said firmly. ‘He’s a carpenter, remember. He’s also a calm, steady man who will get on well with everyone else.’
Will made a kind of snort, implying he didn’t agree, but he said nothing further.
Over the following days, Will asked each of the chosen men to the hut to put his plan to them singly. For now, he wasn’t telling any of them who else was in on it. Each one of them was wildly enthusiastic, grateful to be included, and made promises to bring things for the stores. Mary sat back while Will talked his way through it, never interrupting once. It wasn’t until each man was about to leave the hut that she gave them her warning.
‘You must swear that you won’t breathe a word of this to anyone,’ she insisted fiercely. ‘Not your best friend, your woman, no one. For if you do and our plan is discovered, I swear I’ll kill you.’
Bill Allen and William Moreton thought that it was crazy of Will to take a woman and two small children along on such a potentially hazardous escape bid, but even though they were both the kind who normally spoke up when they didn’t agree with anything, neither of them dared to with Mary sitting there. When they heard the passion in her voice and saw the chilling determination in her grey eyes, they soon realized that she was no sleeping partner. Without her spelling it out, they knew this was her idea, her plan, and she meant exactly what she said.
Towards the end of February the secret store under the floor of the hut was full of provisions. Two old muskets, ammunition, a grappling hook, various tools, cooking pots, a water cask and resin to caulk the water should the boat spring a leak were hidden in various places around the settlement. The plan was to make their escape after the Waaksamheyd had departed for England; that way there would be no other vessel left in the harbour capable of giving chase or informing anyone else that convicts had escaped.
Bennelong had readily agreed to swim out to the cutter on the chosen night and bring it in to the shore for them. There was only one thing left to do now, and that was to collect the compass and sextant from Detmer and pay him the money Will had agreed.
Will hadn’t had much problem getting his hands on money. He’d had some saved since he got here and there’d been nothing to spend it on. The rest he’d raised the same way he got the salt pork, rice and flour, by selling fish. A great many of the Marines were only too happy to buy fish, for like Will they had nothing else to spend their money on. They exchanged it for drink mostly, and the officers who ended up with the fish didn’t ask questions.
But Detmer insisted it must be Mary who paid over the money and collected the goods, saying it was much less risky. Maybe concealing the money in clean washing and collecting some more dirty clothes with the sextant and compass tucked inside was a sound idea. But Will didn’t like the way it looked to the others – he was in charge of this escape, not Mary. He was afraid that before long the other men might start thinking it was all her idea.
Will was brooding about this when he went off fishing one afternoon. Only the previous evening he’d wanted all the men to come to their hut and talk about the escape together. Mary would have none of it. She claimed that such a large gathering would be noticed, then they’d be watched more closely. She ruled that they must only ever continue to meet up in threes or fours.
Even James Martin, Will’s closest friend, agreed with Mary. It made Will sick that James would take her part rather than his.
Will was on the cutter, with six other men ordered to help him that day, and about to cast off, when Bennelong came along the wharf. He had his sister and her two children with him, along with Charlotte who often played with them. When Bennelong made signs that he wanted them all to go out on the boat, Will’s first thought was to refuse. He didn’t like having so many people aboard, and anyway he was in no mood for company. But he knew it was a good idea for Charlotte to get used to the boat, and besides, Bennelong might take offence if he refused him, and then withdraw his promise to help in the escape. He really had no choice but to agree.
It was a pleasant day, much cooler than of late, and Will’s bad mood left him once they were out in the bay. When Bennelong excitedly pointed out a quantity of seabirds hovering close to the west side of the bay, Will knew he was saying there was a large shoal of fish there.
Bennelong proved to be right, and it wasn’t long before they pulled in the seine and found it full of fish. It was the best haul they’d had in some weeks.
Will was delighted, he kept thumping Bennelong on the back and telling him what a good fellow he was.
‘Good fellow,’ Bennelong repeated with a wide grin which showed off his perfect teeth. ‘You get good fellow rum?’
‘I’ll drink some with you,’ Will laughed, and made signs to suggest they had a party. With such a good catch he’d be able to keep back a big quantity for himself, and he was in the right mood for getting drunk.
They were sailing back towards the wharf, the bottom of the boat full of wriggling fish, still laughing and congratulating each other on their good fortune, when suddenly a stiff wind came up, catching Will off his guard. The boat gathered speed, heading straight for some rocks, and Will couldn’t go about fast enough. There was a crunch, the hooks holding the sails snapped, tipping the boat up, and all at once water poured in.
If there ha
dn’t been so many people on the boat, Will could have dealt with it, but two of the convict men, both inexperienced, panicked, and suddenly the boat keeled right over and everyone fell out.
Will’s first thought was for Charlotte as he hit the water, but John, one of the crew, already had her in his arms. She was screaming at the shock, but seemed unhurt. Bennelong’s sister had both her two children too, clinging to her back, and with just a shout to her brother, she began to swim back to the shore with them.
‘I’ll take Charlotte,’ John yelled. ‘You get the men.’
Bennelong stayed long enough to help Will with the other five men, only two of whom could swim, then he too made off for the shore. As Will helped the floundering non-swimmers catch hold of the capsized boat, he swore to himself. He had lost the entire catch, he knew Captain Phillip was going to be very angry, and even worse, it probably meant their hope to escape in the next couple of weeks was scuppered.
As Will stayed with the boat, the other men coughing and spluttering, Bennelong reached the shore and called to some other natives. Within a few minutes they were dragging their canoes down the beach to come to the rescue. Some came straight out to the boat to take the crew to safety, others began collecting up the oars and other equipment thrown out of the cutter, and another couple of men came out with ropes, which Will secured to the hull, and they towed the boat in to the wharf.
When Will got back to the hut with Charlotte much later, he found Mary had already heard the news. He expected her to rage at him, and was ready to give as good as he got, but to his irritation she seemed more concerned about Charlotte.
She took the child from his arms and wrapped her in a blanket. ‘There, there,’ she said as Charlotte began crying again. ‘You’ll be all right once you are warm again. I’ll have to teach you to swim, won’t I?’
‘That’s right! Comfort her,’ Will spat at her. ‘Don’t think about me! I could get flogged again. As for the hope of escape, that’s gone.’
Remember Me Page 21
