Curl’s mouth tightened, his lips turned down; he banged the butts of his pistols down on the table once more. ‘Then stand with me, brothers-in-arms. Our swords shall play the orators for us. Be bold, be resolute – and this day you shall see a victory for England as great as Agincourt or Crécy!’
The Swiftsure, a royal ship of three hundred tons with thirty-four guns, cruised upstream with elegant majesty. As a fighting ship against the Armada, she had carried a complement of one hundred and eighty men, but James Adam had been able to muster no more than thirty, which was enough to get the ship under way and man the cannon.
They had departed from Gravesend with great speed. She was well scrubbed, having recently been refitted and armed in preparation for a tour of duty patrolling the narrow sea.
‘Well, Mr Cooper,’ Adam said as they rode the churning flood past Dartford, ‘it seems we are shipmates once more. I had heard you were now a scurvy freshwater mariner.’
Boltfoot ignored his old master’s insult. They had been together before Drake’s circumnavigation. Adam had always been fair enough, but he had been hard, too.
‘Catch her, Mr Adam,’ Shakespeare said. ‘That is all I demand of you – catch this wretched vessel.’
‘If the Swiftsure cannot, nothing can. I reckon her the fleetest galleon in the Navy Royal, sir. With the wind and tide behind us, we’ll make ten knots. Your floundering bark will not make half that speed.’
‘How do we do this? Can we board the Sieve? Gulden insists he is able to disarm the clock.’
‘I trust you are making jest with me, Mr Shakespeare.’ Adam glanced at the Dutchman who stood with them on the poop, his brow creased in fear. ‘If it was my decision, I would string the man up from the yard-arm here and now.’ He turned back to Shakespeare. ‘There is but one thing to do – blow her out of the water, and all in her.’
Shakespeare had feared this was what he would say. It was not an option that brought him joy. Cecil might be pleased to learn that they had saved London Bridge, but he would not be happy with a thunderous blast breaking the peace of Her Majesty.
‘Now then, Mr Shakespeare,’ Adam said, ‘pray tell me, what do you think that ship is, ahead one mile? Does that bark look like your Sieve?’
Shakespeare shrugged his shoulders. One vessel looked like another to him. From this distance there was no way of knowing. ‘We will need to close on her to tell.’
‘Close to four cables,’ Adam ordered his helmsman. He turned back to Shakespeare. ‘Eight hundred yards. Nearer than that would be insanity. I am not firing cannon at a ship packed with ten thousand or more pounds of powder when I’m broadside to her, sir, for she would blast us all to heaven.’
Boltfoot nodded grimly. ‘That’s her. I’d recognise the bastardly bark from ten miles, let alone one.’
‘Helm,’ Adam called. ‘Bark ahead, mid-stream. Master gunner, prepare to fire starboard sakers, four cables. Helmsman, maintain course, then turn about on order.’
Shakespeare grasped James Adam’s sleeve. ‘God’s blood, you cannot fire on her. Look about her, sir. The river teems with ships and boats.’
Adam shook his arm free from Shakespeare’s grip. ‘Would you have us wait until we are outside Greenwich Palace, or the Tower? Or why not let her sail merrily into the bridge itself, which is, you say, their plan? Do you think there will be fewer vessels as we approach the great wharves and dockyards? The Thames is the busiest waterway on the face of the earth, Mr Shakespeare. There is no safe place to do this. I will attempt to take her as she passes the Erith marshes, then all we can do is pray.’
He sighed in resignation. ‘Fire at will, Mr Adam.’
James Adam grinned. ‘Our figurehead is a tiger, Mr Shakespeare. Let me show you how we open our jaws and bite …’
The first volley fell fifty yards short of the Sieve. ‘Come about, helmsman,’ Adam called. ‘Master gunner, prepare for a second salvo, larboard sakers, range plus fifty yards.’
From the poop of the Swiftsure, Shakespeare could see frantic activity aboard the target ship. He felt the tight knot of fear. If the Sieve got through to London Bridge, it would be slaughter on a scale never known.
‘Fire all guns!’
The second volley roared forth and the Swiftsure reverberated with the recoil, throwing up a great wash of water.
‘A hit!’ the master gunner cried out.
They had all seen the ball smash into the sterncastle of the bark. They saw, too, the mad racing of those aboard the Sieve, crowding to the back of the ship to see whence the attack had come.
‘Come about again, master gunner. Starboard sakers, three and a half cables.’
Shakespeare squinted through the fug of gunpowder smoke that belched from the saker cannons, medium-sized guns that could hurl a five-pound ball a mile or more. He tried to peer closer; one of those on the Sieve was climbing down a rope ladder to a cockboat.
‘Fire!’
The sakers boomed again. The Swiftsure rocked violently. Smoke billowed up. Time seemed to stand still.
And then it happened …
Chapter 37
AT FIRST THEY saw a plume of flame shoot up, fifty, a hundred feet in the air, perhaps more. A whoosh of fire, as if the earth itself spewed forth its entrails. So monstrous, so malevolent, it towered over the world and grew so that a man might think it would develop horns, hooves and a flashing red tail.
Almost simultaneously there was a great cloud of smoke, littered with a mass of wood splinters, iron, stones, bodies; all hurled upwards and outwards with uncontainable, venomous energy. Then the sound, a blast of such ear-splitting ferocity that the brain could scarcely register it, and the shock – a sudden wind with the power to knock a man off his feet, senseless.
The Swiftsure pitched over to the larboard at such an angle that all those aboard, all the cannon, all the stores, were hurled down. One saker drove two gunners into the sea, another crushed the master gunner’s left leg.
Shakespeare fell hard into the bulwark, which saved him from going over the side. Boltfoot smacked into him, winding them both.
As the vessel righted itself, then heeled back over, they saw Mr Adam and the helmsman sliding across the deck like a pair of children sliding down a slope of snow on wooden boards. Shakespeare clung on to a rope, and Boltfoot clung on to Shakespeare’s waist.
At last the Swiftsure steadied. Shakespeare jumped up. He looked over the bulwark and saw two men in the sea. ‘Men overboard!’ he shouted, and dived in without thinking what he was going to do.
The water was churning foam. For the second time that day Shakespeare pushed out with an overarm stroke to try to save life. Then he saw the ship’s boat, broken loose from its line to the Swiftsure, just two yards away. He lunged for it, grabbed the side and clambered in. There were two oars aboard. He started rowing towards the two seamen, one of whom was floundering, the other seeming unconscious.
Up on the ship’s deck, Boltfoot looked upriver to a patch of water and floating debris where once a hundred-ton bark had been. Now it was no more than a hulk, alight and belching forth hot steam and smoke and surrounded by flotsam. No one within a hundred yards of the Sieve could have survived. Boltfoot looked at his hand. It was shaking. His hand had never shaken before, even in the hottest exchange of fire. He tried to imagine what such a blast would have done to London Bridge. It would have reduced its nine-hundred-foot span to rubble.
James Adam struggled to his feet and came across the wet, slippery deck to where Boltfoot stood. He put an arm around his shoulders. For a moment, Boltfoot forgot the pain of his scorched back and welcomed the touch of another human being.
‘God’s teeth, Mr Cooper, but my ears are ringing like Bow bells. I think it fair to say we hit the correct vessel, don’t you?’
Boltfoot found himself laughing for the first time in many days. ‘Aye, that I do, Mr Adam,’ he said, shouting against the din of his own ringing ears. Plenty of holes in that Sieve now, he thought, but declined to say it.
D
ebris started to rain down on them – wood, ash, fluttering shreds of sail, blood.
‘Time to haul Mr Shakespeare aboard and look to the injured,’ Adam shouted back.
The damage to the Swiftsure was not great. A broken spar, cracks in the bulwarks and gunports where the sakers had rolled. The whipstaff and bilge-pump would need repairs, but they were minor faults, easily remedied.
The harm to the men was greater. The master gunner’s shin and thigh were broken and one of the sailors Shakespeare had brought in had concussion from a head injury. As the officers fought to bring order out of chaos, Shakespeare suddenly realised that Peter Gulden, the clockmaker, was missing.
‘I saw him jump,’ Boltfoot said. ‘Just before the hellburner went up.’
They all peered over the bulwarks into the water.
‘No sign of him,’ Shakespeare said.
‘Better dead than what he had coming had he lived,’ Adam said.
‘Wait – I think I see him there, amid the wreckage.’
There was a body, floating face down. They could tell from the man’s rich attire and bald head that it was Gulden. From this distance, it seemed almost certain that he was dead. A pair of sailors were despatched to bring the body aboard.
Shakespeare said nothing. It would have been better if he had taken his life before ever he designed so foul a device, but Gulden had found his courage at last. He had been weak, not evil.
The Swiftsure was making way slowly. All along the route, they saw the anxious, news-greedy faces of spectators lining the banks. None knew what had happened and no one aboard the ship was about to tell them.
The officers and crew kept a look-out to see whether any other shipping or fisher boats needed assistance. The damage wrought seemed mercifully slight. Shakespeare looked over the poop bulwark at the remains of the Sieve. He saw the bodies of three of the black-clad Scots, floating face down. He could not tell whether they were men or women. Boltfoot had told him a little of their strange rituals. Doubtless other bodies would appear in the days to come, for none could have survived.
‘Sister Agnes and Sister Gellie, you say?’
‘They were kin of witches by that name, Mr Shakespeare,’ Boltfoot said gloomily. ‘Burned by James for setting to sea in sieves with intent to sink his ship.’
Shakespeare shook his head in bewilderment. Scots or English, heathen or Christian, he was certain of one thing: they were pawns in a bigger game. This was a Spanish conspiracy; Gulden the clockmaker had confirmed it. Everything had come from Madrid and from the Spanish regime in the Low Countries, and it was far from done. ‘We cannot rest, Boltfoot. We must find this prince of Scots.’
At the time of the explosion, horses had reared and whinnied, men and women had stopped their work as far away as Chelsea and had looked at each other with questioning, unbelieving eyes. Was this the second coming, or had a powdermill exploded? London was rife with rumour and fear. At Greenwich Palace, Sir Robert Cecil had closed his keen eyes and murmured a prayer of supplication. He knew he would be summoned by the Queen for an explanation, so he immediately sent out messengers to gather information and to order the palace guard doubled, before making his way to the presence-chamber.
Across the river, Holy Trinity Curl had felt a surge of pride and satisfaction. It was all coming together. He would have his vengeance. The Dutch would die in their hundreds. He would make a special diversion to the Sluyterman household and do for them, every one. That would be the greatest pleasure. Sluyterman. The very name stank of foreign treachery and usury.
Oliver Kettle’s brow furrowed at the sound of the blast. ‘Mr Curl,’ he said. ‘This is three or more hours early. And the direction of the sound is not right. I would swear that blast was in the east, not the west.’
‘Sound plays tricks, Mr Kettle. It will echo and distort. That was our hellburner, there can be no doubt. Glory be, the wind must have carried it sooner than we could have hoped. Have you ever heard a more thunderous or wondrous sound?’ He turned to the gathering. ‘This is our time, men. Have courage. File from here in good order and follow your commanders with the mettle of true Englishmen. When they see what damage is wrought, the prentices and journeymen will rise up in their hundreds, then their thousands. The stout hearts of London will join you, this I pledge.’
The Swiftsure picked up a group of six men whose fishing boat had been turned over and who were clinging to the upturned hull. They also went to the assistance of a fisher who had been struck by flying debris.
In the early afternoon, Adam ordered the ship to drop anchor off Greenwich to await the turn of the tide, which would not be long. Shakespeare and Boltfoot disembarked with the injured gunnery crew and the fishermen.
Cecil was on the quayside, standing apart from a group of courtiers. He was clutching a crystal goblet of red wine. Shakespeare hurriedly despatched Boltfoot and the seamen to be treated for their injuries, then bowed low to Cecil. The privy councillor was more tense than he had ever seen him.
‘You heard the blast, Sir Robert?’
‘Of course I heard the blast. They must have heard it in France!’
‘It was a hellburner, greater even than the one used at Antwerp. Thanks to God’s will and fine English gunnery, we were able to destroy it off Erith marshes. They had meant to blow the bridge and bring slaughter and mayhem to London. It was a conspiracy of terrible proportions involving many men. Even your father’s intelligencer William Sarjent. There is much to be told.’
‘Sarjent? God’s faith, John, I am sorry …’
‘He and Quincesmith have been double-dealing for years, since their time in the Low Countries. I suspect they took many tons of powder from Rotherhithe. They were in league with Baines and a rabble-rouser called Curl – and they nearly did for poor Boltfoot.’
‘My father will be mortified. He never suspected Sarjent. If such a man betrays us, then who is to be trusted?’ He shook his head gravely. ‘Much has happened, John. The palace has been in uproar. The royal guard has been engaged in a skirmish with a band of renegades within this past hour. Seven of them, all now dead. They came upon Greenwich with stealth, thinking to storm through the palace unhindered. The guard was ready and killed them like dogs.’
‘They must have been Curl’s men.’
‘Indeed. And a man identified as this same Curl tried to march through the city to the bridge. I am told his militia stopped in its tracks, open-mouthed with horror when they came close to the bridge, as if they had seen a spectre. Clearly, they had expected to see it destroyed and hoped to garner support among the people of London. Little did they realise what affection our London folk hold for Her Royal Majesty. When no one joined their band, they seemed unsure of what to do next. They were milling about like lost sheep when a detachment from the Tower found them and engaged them. Most of Curl’s men tried to turn tail. Two or three escaped, but the others were either killed or captured. That is not all: there was another disturbance, at the Dutch church. But it was already heavily guarded and the rebels were driven off, excepting two dead, one of them their ringleader, a Mr Kettle.’
‘What of Curl? Was he taken?’
Cecil shook his head briskly. ‘No. He was recognised in the skirmish but escaped. What I want to know, Mr Shakespeare, is what in God’s name is going on? Do we have a civil war on our hands?’
‘It seems we have quelled the first wave, Sir Robert.’
‘But?’
‘But there is still this prince of Scots. Somewhere. We must find Baines and the Spanish woman. They hold the keys to this.’
Cecil looked grim. His hand tightened around his crystal cup of wine. ‘This is not over – will never be over – while the Papists of this realm believe such a prince exists. Get to him before it is too late.’
Chapter 38
SHAKESPEARE TROD THROUGH the acrid dungeons of Newgate gaol. At his side, struggling to keep up, was the keeper, a stout fellow with a red beard and well-fed belly, whom he knew well.
�
�Tell me, master keeper, who brought him here?’
‘The constable of Westminster, Mr Shakespeare, sent by the sheriff.’
‘Where was he found?’
‘He had sought refuge with the Member of Parliament, Mr Topcliffe, sir, but was immediately arrested by that gentleman and handed over to the constable.’
Shakespeare laughed bitterly. ‘Mr Topcliffe was always good at protecting his back.’
‘Indeed, master.’
They found Holy Trinity Curl sullen and silent in Limbo, Newgate’s deepest pit. What little air was to be had in this lightless hole was putrid with stench and disease. This was a waiting-room for death, the place men came when the only journey left was the ride to the scaffold.
Shakespeare held a candle in his hand and looked at the miserable figure without compassion. ‘I have some questions for you, Mr Curl. You are about to meet your maker. I cannot promise this, but you may think it possible you will receive a less hostile reception in the hereafter if you cooperate with the forces of the law in the here and now.’
Curl said nothing.
Shakespeare could see that the man had been injured. He had an untreated gash on his temple and blood caked his strange amber hair and beard.
‘You have nothing to lose by talking, and I can make your last hours easier by having food and ale brought to you. Tell me this, at least. You knew one Christopher Marlowe, yes?’
‘Tell him, Curl.’ The voice of another condemned man came from the darkness. ‘If you don’t want ale, there’s others here that do.’
Shakespeare looked into the shadows at the man who had just spoken and felt a sudden surge of pity for him. This cell was filled with humankind brought to its lowest ebb. There were twenty men here waiting the noose for various crimes. He determined to send them ale, whatever the outcome of his talk with Curl.
‘Well, Mr Curl? Talk.’
‘I knew of Marlowe. Who didn’t?’ Curl spoke with a surprisingly firm voice.
‘And you sought his death?’
‘No. Why should I?’
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