by Smith, Skye
"Oh, I wouldn't know about that,” the watcher said carefully for the man was perhaps a madman rather than a fool. "That would be up to the gov'n'r."
"Where's the governor?" Daniel asked.
"Don't know."
"His son?"
"With the governor?" the guardsman guessed. He was beginning to regret allowing this ship's captain up on the wall. The captain gave him an angry stare and then turned away from him and began to run down the tower's staircase. Good. He would wait here on the wall until the captain was long gone. Below the captain had reached the street and was now dodging and weaving through market stalls as he ran back towards the harbour.
When Daniel reached the quay and stepped aboard the Swift his first question was, "Is everyone still aboard?"
"Aye Danny, what's up?" Teesa replied.
"The fools haven't flooded the pastures yet. The kings army, thousands strong is in the next town, in force, and there is nothing to stop him from setting up camp and batteries right outside the town walls. Is Robert back from the flagship yet?"
"He's just coming." Teesa pointed along naval quay. Warwick and his four lifeguards were just stepping off the gang plank of the flagship.
"Put on a skirt, lass, and do up your hair, and load that tiny pistol of yours. Once Warwick gets here we'll be paying a visit to Governor Hotham."
As soon as Warwick stepped aboard, Daniel was beside him. "Rob, there is treachery afoot in this town. The king and the army are seven miles away, yet Hotham has yet to organize the defense for the town. We have to find him or his son and ask them for an explanation. What did you tell the navy?"
"To put to sea and patrol Holderness for the Providence and capture her, but not to fire on her since she is brimming with gunpowder. Hmm, I don't know what raised your suspicions, but the captains also told me that they suspect treachery in this town. They say that Hotham has been acting strangely and has been sending messengers back and forth to Beverly. Come to think of it, isn't it strange that he has not come to meet us. By now he must know my yacht is in the harbour. Let us go and have a word with him, shall we."
"Right you are, Rob,” Daniel agreed and yelled out to some dock workers to slip the Swifts lines, and yelled out to the crew to row her across the harbour and berth at the merchant quay on the town side. By the time they had crossed the narrow harbour and tied up, a shore party had been organized.
Warwick, Teesa, Daniel, Warwick's four lifeguard and four of the crew did a quick walk towards the Guild Hall. Though they were neatly dressed and walked rather than marched, each of them was carrying a brace of pistols under their cloaks. At the Guild Hall they were told that Governor Hotham was in a meeting with the Mayor and some merchants from Beverly. A scribe scurried away to take the Governor the news of their arrival. They were not kept waiting long.
Warwick entered the meeting hall, searched the faces in the room to see who he recognized, and then said to the Governor, "John, we have just come from the fleet bearing bad news. There is trickery and treachery all around you here in Hull." Behind him, his lifeguard and the crewmen spread out along the wall with their backs to it, just in case.
At first Hotham stood and offered his hand in welcome to the Earl, but on seeing how well armed the Earls companions were, and how they were eyeing him like cats eying their next meal, he sat back down again and sighed.
"These three men,” Hotham pointed to the others at the table with him, "are plotting with the king to take this town by trickery. I have been pretending to go along with them in order to trap the king, or at least trap the instigators of this plot. Mr. Beckwith next to me is a merchant of Beverly, Lieutenant Fowkes is his son-in-law and an officer of Hull Fortress, and this other gentleman is a king's agent who smuggled into town aboard a river barge. No, do not stand gentlemen, instead allow the Earl to join us sitting."
Warwick sat and first glanced at the two locals, but then stared at the agent. There was something very familiar about him.
Hotham continued. "Their plan was simple. The kings cavalry, each with another man riding double, were to approach the Beverly gate at night. Fowkes would order the gate opened so their scouts could slip in and hold it open. He would then lead them to the fortress gate, where again he would order it opened so the scouts could slip in and hold it. The king's force would then take the town, and the fortress, and the harbour and the navy ships that berth here. I was playing along with them only because I was going to lay a trap. My son and my Trained Bands would have been waiting near the Beverly Gate in force to capture the leaders as they entered the town."
From the grim look on the face of the Lieutenant, Warwick knew that at least some of this was true. . Before he could voice the order for the three to be arrested, the king's agent leaped up, swung himself behind Teesa and put a knife to her throat.
"Everyone keep back or Warwick's niece will suffer,” the agent told them all. "Now back away from the door and keep your hands away from your guns." When this was done he backed himself and Teesa towards the door. Once at the door he took his hand from around Teesa's breasts and turned slightly to take the key from the lock so he could lock them in this room.
He had chosen the wrong niece to mess with. While his attention was taken up by wiggling the key loose, his knife blade had dropped down from Teesa's neck to her chest. It gave the lass space to move without ripping her own throat out. She bent sideways and low to get away from the blade, and then slammed the pointed heel of her dress boots down hard on the agent's foot and ground it about. The surprised agent yelled out in pain and tried to pull his foot out from under hers, but that caused him to lose his balance and he stumbled backwards against the door.
Teesa cursed her long skirt, for if she had been dressed for hunting she could have fought him properly, but instead the only thing she could do was pull her boot up off his and kick backwards hard into his shin. The man howled in pain but instinctively tried to grab her close to keep hold of her as a shield. Despite the horrific pain in his leg, by brute strength he was able to draw her back in to him, this time face to face.
She was trying to wriggle out of his grip. All she had to do was break his grip and dive for the floor and Daniel would put a ball between this bastards eyes. Even if Daniel missed, his shot would cause the rest of the crew to shoot too. The man holding her was a dead man if she could just break his hold and get out of the way. And then she stopped pulling away from him, and instead helped him pull her to him, and at the same time raised her knee.
The foot, the shin, and now the balls. The pain was too much and the agent passed out and slumped to the floor. Even as his back was sliding down the door, Teesa was reaching into her purse and was pulling out her little pistol. She stared down at the man and spat in his face. "One move and I'll blow yer balls off." He didn't move.
The agent still didn't move when Warwick bent over him and pulled off a wig and a false mustache. He kicked the fallen knife away from the man and then slapped his face gently to bring him around. When the agent's eyes opened Warwick hissed at him, "George Digby? So you have returned from the Netherlands. I'm amazed you dare show your face in England."
Warwick turned to the others in the room and said, "Gentlemen, my I introduce the Earl of Bristol. An Earl of the realm disguised as if he were a player on a stage." He turned to Teesa and winked at her with the eye hidden from Digby and then told him, "George, I am going to ask you one question, a simple question, but if I don't like the answer I will allow this lass to, how did she put it, blow yer balls off." There was a minutes pause while three of the crew took the other two prisoners out of the room. "Where is my ship the Providence?"
"I don't know anything about your ship."
"Please tell me you didn't like that answer,” Teesa said with a nervous giggle as she aimed the pistol at the man's crotch.
"NO!" Digby screamed. "Honestly I don't know anything about your ship. There is a ship expected, but from Queen Henrietta in Holland. It carries munitions she bought w
ith the crown jewels she sold in Amsterdam. That is why we must take Hull for it will be the first of many ships from the Queen."
Warwick glance over to Daniel who was still very calm for a man whose daughter had just had a knife at her throat. He knew enough about the Wellenhay clan to know that threatening their women was a good way of getting yourself killed. "Danny, what was the other port besides Hull in Holderness?"
"Bridlington."
"In all of this treachery I wonder which of the many lies are more true than all the others?" Warwick called to one of his lifeguards who had been with him on the flag ship. "Run to the navy ships and tell them to be sure to guard the port of Bridlington. And tell them that there may be two ships, the Providence plus another coming from Holland. Go! Run! Before they leave port."
"John,” Daniel caught Hotham's attention, "why haven't you flooded the pastures around the walls?"
"What for?"
The answer was so stupid for a supposed military man who had supposedly fought in Holland, that it said much. "By your leave, my lord,” he nodded to Warwick politely, "I have other duties back at the Swift. Will you be safe enough here with three lifeguards?"
"First call your crew and the prisoners back in, and then tie them all up, including the Governor. I have many questions to ask them. Take Teesa with you for the questioning may not be pretty. Are you are off to search for the Providence?"
"Nay sir, we need to break a few sluice gates, and soon. The tide will be high in less than three hours."
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The Pistoleer - Edgehill by Skye Smith Copyright 2013-14
Chapter 7 - Breaking the dikes in Hull, July 1642
Though they did not understand Daniel's great hurry, the four clansmen and Teesa ran to keep up with him all the way back to the Swift. While Teesa changed back into her crew-wear, and the crew from the shore party to the Guild Hall swung the jollyboat off the deck and dropped it into the water. Daniel was yelling at the rest of the crew to find their pistols and their axes.
By the time Daniel and Teesa had changed into their grubbies, the axes were being handed up to the deck. Dutch style mounted infantry carried multi purpose axes rather than swords. The only thing you could do with a sword was to slash at men, but with an axe you could do that, plus snap swords, plus make camp, plus ... in this case ... destroy sluice dams. Ten men plus Teesa mustered on the deck with their weapons and gear and stared at Daniel.
"Teesa, pick three men as a ship's watch and stay here in case Warwick needs you. If the customs men comes around tell him we are the Lord High Admiral's yacht, and to bugger off."
She made a face at him. He wouldn't get rid of her that easily. "The custom's men won't believe me, not dressed like a lad."
"I don't care how you do it. Show them your titties if need be to prove to them that you are not a lad." Daniel told her and then sighed. She was going to be difficult, yet again.
"They still wouldn't know," one of her cousins called out, to the mirth of all present.
"Is the deer rifle still aboard?" Daniel asked. On his trip to the New World he had cleaned up an original old fashioned full length Spanish match-lock musket. The barrel was a full foot longer than a Dutch musket, and that last foot had spiral rifling. It made it a bitch to keep clean and slow to load, but it also made it the perfect gun for the long distance shooting of the deer that would wander along waterways drinking and grazing. The only improvement he had made to the thing was to remove the match lock and replace it with a screw on snap lock, a Jocklock.
Two of the crew were nodding their heads yes. He pointed to the oldest of the men, "Choose two men and stand watch on the Swift." He then pointed to Teesa, "You go and fetch the deer rifle and its special rounds. You can be our tillerwoman and keep us covered using the rifle." Teesa eagerly leaped to her errand like a hare chasing a doe.
"Quick the rest of you,” Daniel hissed urgently. "Into the jolly boat and let's be away before she gets back." Including Daniel there were eight men, eight dragon pistols, eight killing pistols, and eight axes to load.
She was back with the rifle before they could push the jolly away from the Swift and she leaped into the stern of the small boat as lightly as a cat and took her place beside the tiller. "What?" she asked looking at her strangely silent cousins.
The rest of the crew laughed at Daniel, and he had to admit that at least with Teesa on the tiller they could row with eight oars rather than six. That could make a difference because the sands of time were flowing as was the tide. With eight strong backs on the oars they circled out of the harbour to the east and glided quickly along under the great southern tower of the fortress. The fortress was more important to the king than the town, so they would begin by flooding the eastern pastures around the fortress first. The closest of the sluice gates was but four hundred paces from the tower.
The dikes had a silty beach and the Humber on one side of them, and a drainage canal on the other, and the only break in the dikes was the small timber dams that held the sluices that allowed the canals to drain at low tide. Teesa nosed the jolly into the thin channel that had been cut by the draining canal water. The men didn't even get their feet wet as they leaped ashore with their axes in one hand and their dragons in the other. Teesa threw out the grapple anchor and tied it off, and then followed them ashore. She would stand watch on top of the dike while the men chopped away at the main posts that held the wooden dam in place.
When the crew had finally axed through the posts one of them ran a line from the jolly and tied it off on the now teetering dam. All of the men then grabbed a hold of the line as if they were playing tug-o-war and heaved and heaved. The damn didn't give way but it showed them which other timbers were holding it into the silt. They axed those and then gave the line another heave. There was a cracking noise, another heave, a splintering noise, another heave and the dam fell towards the Humber side of the dike. With more heaving they dragged it towards the rising tide and then scrambled back into the jolly.
First they used their oars as poles to push the jolly out of the sluice channel and into the Humber proper, and then they put their backs into the oars and dragged the once dam - now raft into deep water and then let it go. Hopefully some local boatman would salvage it for use as a dock before any ship ran afoul of it. With the first sluice dam gone the jolly glided towards the next.
"How many of these are we going to do?" Teesa asked, staring down the pairs of rowing men. She was the only one in the boat facing for'd.
"As many as we can,” Daniel called back to her. "The further we get the better, because the further the king's cannons are from the fortress the better."
"I don't understand,” Teesa said meekly. She was always meek when she was forced to admit that she did not know manly things.
"A small field gun weighs a ton, a wall busting gun weighs three tons. Once the meadow is softened by the flood tide, the wheels of their carriages will sink in up to their hubs. The further a cannon is from a wall, the worse is the aim and the softer is the hit. Better still, if they do happen to breach the wall, the cannons will be too far away to shoot grape or incendiaries into the breach."
It was obvious once it was explained, Teesa thought, and she no longer felt so meek about asking because her cousins had also been listening intently. Now she had another question. "This rifle is so long that I can't hold the muzzle steady to aim the damn thing."
"Rest the muzzle on the gunnels when you take aim,” Daniel told her. "Oh, and unlike a fowlers gun, it has an aiming nipple on top of the muzzle. When you sight the gun, line the target, and the nipple up in that sighting V above the trigger. The V is sprung and held down by a thumb screw. Screw it fully in for a long shot, fully out for a short shot, and halfway for ... well you get the idea."
"Best tell her about cleaning it and loading it Danny,” one of her cousins said.
"For the rifling to work, the groves in the last foot of the barrel must be kept clean. There is a s
pecial wire brush for doing that. For a long shot you must use the bigger of the balls, so the barrel must be absolutely clean else the bloody ball will get stuck and the barrel will blow up in your face."
She had yet to load the great long heavy clumsy thing, so she turned it end over end and held the muzzle up so the sunlight would shine down the barrel. The grooves were filled with caked spent powder from the last firing, so she picked up the wire brush and began to work it down the barrel carefully, trying not to push the caking further down the barrel. Then she twisted the rod so the wire bristles would line up in the grooves and then she pulled and twisted and pulled and twisted until the brush end came out of the barrel.
She was still looking down the barrel so when the bristle end came out it spat charcoal dust all over her face and into her eyes and she lost control of the tiller and the boat changed course. The crew corrected the coarse by lightening the pull on one side, and laughed at her without losing a stroke on the oars. How embarrassing. She cleaned her eyes with her sleeve so she could see to steer again.
The second sluice dam went faster because now they understood how they were made, and then the third and the forth. After the forth there was a long stretch of slightly higher land that long ago would have been a fens island like the one that Wellenhay was built on. Once these meadows were flooded again, it would again be an island. It was almost a mile to the next sluice dam and there was a man standing on it. She recognized him from her last trip to Hull. It was the old man who opened and closed the sluice gates to empty the canals.
"Ere, what you doin'?" the sluiceman asked as the eight big men leaped ashore with pistols and axes and came towards him.
"Remember me from earlier this spring,” Daniel called to him.
"I don't recall you, sir, but I remember Freyja's witch over on your tiller," the man replied.
