Smuggler's Moon sjf-8

by Bruce Alexander

  “I should make it clear,” said Sir John, ”that this will include our hostess, as well.”

  He spoke loudly so that all at table might hear, and in response, Molly Sarton gave a broad smile, which seemed to include both Clarissa and me.

  “Then you told him of her situation?” said I to Clarissa.

  “At the first opportunity,” said she.

  Speaking in the same loud voice, Sir John announced that Molly would, for a time, be serving as our new cook there at Number 4 Bow Street. ”She deserves better and will get it soon at one of the great houses, but this will give her a chance to find her way in London, and also in the meantime, to pass on her kitchen secrets to Clarissa.”

  TWELVE

  In which the judge quails, and I am embarrassed

  And so it seemed that all had been arranged. Two days later we left Deal. All but one of the prisoners were locked away in the hold; those who were not in irons were bound with rope and would, Mr. Bilbo assured us, cause no problems. The extra day gave Sir John a chance to dictate a letter to the Lord Chief Justice and explain the outcome of the events he had described in his earlier letter; he also requested that transportation be provided from the dry-dock to Newgate Gaol. The dry-dock in Wapping was specified because Mr. Bilbo announced that he would be claiming La Belle Voyageuse and towing it up the Thames to Wapping for repairs and sale. Clearly, he had no intention of losing the opportunity to benefit monetarily from his trip to Deal.

  The extra day taken by them before their departure also gave Molly Sarton time to put her affairs in order. She took along with her little more than the clothes on her back- and a frock or two in her portmanteau. Most of the furniture in the house in Middle Street had belonged to its former owner, Mr. Kemp. But there were keepsakes and a few pieces of her own which Molly stored in the cellar of Mrs. Keen’s tearoom. Though the two veterans of service in the Grenville household had a tearful parting, Molly was adamant that she had no desire to remain in Deal. In a way, I thought she was wrong in that, for even though the circumstances in which I had come to know the town were far from ideal, there was much about it I had come to like. Yet of course I had not endured there what she had.

  There was, as earlier indicated, one smuggler who had managed to avoid imprisonment with the rest in the hold of the Indian Princess, and that one alone was Marie-Hélène, the Lady Grenville. This was partly out of respect to her sex, of course, though for the most part, I think, it was because Black Jack Bilbo had taken a liking to her. He had provided her with a cabin (his own) and given her the freedom of the ship-with the exception of the hold, of course. She was not to talk to the prisoners through the grate or air holes, nor in any way attempt to communicate with them by letter, or by note, or by sign. These prohibitions seemed to bother her not in the least. She wandered about the vessel, speaking with whomever she would in accented English which set some laughing and charmed the rest. Clearly, Mr. Bilbo was one of those charmed. He managed to spend a good deal of time with her, in spite of the demands upon his attention as captain of the ship. And Clarissa pointed out that he always seemed to come away from such encounters with a smile upon his face.

  My chum, Jimmie Bunkins, acknowledged, with a sigh, the accuracy of her observation.

  “An’t it so,” said Bunkins with a troubled look. ”Seems these Frenchy blowens got a certain way with the cove. Been so as long as I knew him.”

  ”He’s certainly interested,” said I, meaning to imply with that a good deal more than mere interest.

  “I fear that if he were any more interested, we would never reach London,” Clarissa commented dryly.

  “Least this one’s got a proper cut to her jib and a pair of bollocks would do any man proud.” At that point he halted and looked uneasily at Clarissa. ”Beg yer pardon,” said he to her.

  She simply chuckled.

  “Look at her now,” said Bunkins, nodding across the deck at Lady Grenville. ”Looks right rum in that dress, don’t she?”

  “Mmmm, she should,” said Clarissa. ”Must’ve cost a pretty penny in Paris.”

  “Well,” said he, ”first time I seen her she wasn’t wearin’ no dress. She was wearin’ kickseys, same as any man. She had a cutlass in her hand, wavin’ it about, tryin’ to get her crew to fight the Anglais-that’s us-but they was all for givin’ up, hands up in the air, an’ that. But all this time she’s yellin’ at them, cursing them in French, like. And then she sees the cove jump on board, an’ he’s a-wavin’ his cutlass about, an’ without anybody tellin’ her, she knew he’s the captain, so she runs at him with her cutlass and would’ve kilt him right there had she the chance. The cove knew right enough she was a woman and didn’t want to fight her, but by God he must, or she would’ve sliced him dead. So they go at it, the two of them-hack-hack, klink-klink-but he’s just blockin’ her thrusts. And the queer thing was, all those aboard-all the Frenchies and all of us-just stopped everything to watch. It was the damndest, funniest thing you ever saw.”

  And there he stopped, as if he had brought the story to a proper end. This infuriated Clarissa, who had been hanging upon Bunkins’s each word.

  “Well, what happened?” said she through clenched teeth.

  ”Oh,” said he, ”well, sure enough, with all that hacking away at him, she did finally give him a nick on the arm, and the cove didn’t like that much, so he went after her for the first time, did a little trick I’ve seen him do before, and sent her cutlass flying, just like that.” And so saying, he snapped his fingers.

  “Just like that?” Clarissa echoed, sounding terribly disappointed. Then, cheering up a bit: ”But she did at least draw blood, did she not?”

  Bunkins gave her an odd look. ”Whose side are you on, anyways?”

  “Well … Mr. Bilbo’s, of course, but I’m always happy when a woman distinguishes herself. So she was the captain, was she?”

  “Oh, no doubt about that. It was her at the helm when they pulled anchor and turned into the wind. She thought that up. It surprised us, it did.”

  “Bravo, Marie-Hélène!” said Clarissa, and to me: ”I should like to meet her.”

  That certainly was not difficult. The Indian Princess was not a large vessel, and she wandered about the deck as restlessly as we two did. We soon began nodding at her as we passed, and she at us. She had lively eyes and seemed not the least fearful of her future; nor, for one who would in all probability soon be a widow, did she seem greatly distressed. I believe that I was as eager to meet her as was Clarissa.

  We had our opportunity in the morning when, having waited all night in the London roads that we might proceed up the Thames, the wind suddenly shifted and Mr. Bilbo left Marie-Hélène at the railing and went off to see the sails set and the anchor hauled. He left laughing, and she, staring after him, stood shaking her head, as if in surprise or bewilderment. We happened to be close by just as the ship began to move, with the smugglers’ cutter in tow; she waved us over to her. Then without preamble or introduction, she began to speak to us quite like we were all three the best of friends.

  “Do you know well thees man, Bilbo?” she asked.

  “Oh yes,” said Clarissa with great assurance, though in truth I had known Black Jack far better and far longer.

  “Tell me then, is he famous in England?”

  “Famous?” said I, echoing her word, not quite understanding.

  “Do I say right? Fa-mous?”

  “Oh yes, it’s just that I’d never thought of him quite so.”

  “Tell me about him,” said she. ”I want to know all about him.”

  “What is it you want to know?”

  “Everything. He tell me little stories, funny stories, but not who he is, what he does. I think he must be famous in England. Such a man should be famous.”

  “Famous in London, perhaps,” said I, ”but not in all of England.”

  And so at her invitation we stood with Marie-Hélène at the taffrail and told her all that we knew of John Bilbo, and of his gamb
ling den, which was established from the proceeds of his long career as a privateer, et cetera. She found it difficult to make the distinction between privateer and pirate (as many do), and I settled it to my satisfaction by explaining that a privateer was a sort of legal pirate. Hearing that, she laughed sweetly and said, ”Oh la! You English!”

  For her part, she told us all about herself, as well, and the more she told, the better Clarissa and I understood her evident indifference to her husband’s fate. She was offered to him by her father simply to seal the agreement made between them: the Casales family as suppliers and Sir Simon as the English buyer.

  “You were a mere pawn!” cried Clarissa in shocked sympathy.

  “Exactement! You play échecs?”

  ”Chess? Why, yes I do.” Then, leaning forward and speaking confidentially: ”Did he treat you badly?”

  “He did not treat me at all. He was so busy with his assassinations and the hunting of the poor fox that he has no time to be my husband. He is a stranger to me, a stranger who is my father’s partner. The only pleasure I have from this is that I am the capitaine of the little ship that goes back and forth to Deal. I learn all about this from my brothers and my uncle.”

  On and on they talked. I was as much intrigued and entertained by Marie-Hélène as was Clarissa. Nevertheless, I could not but wonder what would become of her when we reached London. As I listened, my eyes wandered across the deck, and I saw Mr. Bilbo deep in serious conversation with Sir John. Could it be regarding the fate of Marie-Hélène? As I considered this, I saw that further preparations were being made for our return to London. The swivel gun on the foredeck was lifted from its mount and taken away to be stored. One by one, the six guns either side the gun deck were pulled back from their gun ports, secured, and hid beneath the canvas. The prisoners were brought up two at a time from the hold by Mr. Bailey and Mr. Patley. (Mr. Perkins had remained behind in Deal, so as to help Constable Trotter, now recovered, to police the streets of the town.)

  As Clarissa prattled on to her, I happened to catch Marie-Hélène’s eyes as she looked down at the assembly of prisoners. For the first time since we had begun talking, she seemed unsure of herself, perhaps even afrighted. And it helped little when Mr. Bilbo appeared upon the poop deck and asked Marie-Hélène to accompany him. For the first time in her presence he did not smile. Once they had gone, Clarissa and I looked fearfully at each other, half-expecting her to appear on the main deck with the other prisoners. I saw Sir Simon look round him, no doubt for her, yet she was nowhere about. We saw no more of her then.

  As we passed Tower Wharf, a Royal Navy longboat joined us, escorting us to a place opposite the Wapping dry-dock. There, we dropped anchor and it pulled alongside; a ladder was tossed down to it. The transfer of the prisoners to the shore began. And once begun, all was accomplished in a few short trips. That done, the rest of us descended the rope ladder-not easy for Molly and Clarissa-and were taken to the little wharf to the side of the dry-dock. By the time we arrived, the prisoners were gone, conveyed to Newgate in two large, barred wagons, specially made to transport large numbers of prisoners.

  I watched the watermen make preparations to tow La Belle Voyageuse into dry-dock, but only for a moment or two, for Sir John called me over to him and instructed me to go out upon Wapping Dock and see if it were possible to find a hackney coach to carry the six of us back to Number 4 Bow Street. I had not far to look, for there, pulled over to the side of Wapping Dock, was a coach-and-four that had by then become quite familiar to me-that of William Murray, the Earl of Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice. It seemed that he desired to see Sir John at the latter’s earliest possible convenience. He had sent his coach to ensure his compliance. There seemed in that an implicit threat.

  “But how can you be so sure that Sir Simon killed this fellow-what was his name? — Sarton, yes, Sarton. How do you know that?”

  “I didn’t say he pulled the trigger. I said he ordered Mr. Sarton killed.”

  “There! You see? He wasn’t actually the direct cause of his death, was he? Perhaps there was some misunderstanding between Sir Simon and the fellow who actually did the deed. Perhaps he said, ‘Oh, I wish that man were dead,’ meaning it in a figurative way-not literally dead, you understand. And taking that as an order, the killer went out and shot the man dead. It could have happened just so-now, couldn’t it?”

  “Hardly. Sir Simon was present at the scene. He was literally but a few feet away when the magistrate was shot down. He could have stopped it with a word.”

  “But how do you know that?”

  “I know that because I have a witness.”

  Lord Mansfield had begun roaring the moment Sir John appeared before him. He was louder and more unbridled in his anger than I had ever seen him before-or for that matter, since. For his part, Sir John responded with remarkable restraint, knowing that if he were to speak as he was spoken to, then the interview would have collapsed into an intemperate duel of shouting and stomping.

  Though I had no suspicion of what awaited us when we boarded Lord Mansfield’s coach, I am nearly certain that Sir John did. That must have been why he insisted that the driver take us first to Bow Street that Clarissa and Molly might go to our living quarters there, and constables Bailey and Patley might continue from there to their rooms.

  Yet even Sir John must have been taken aback at the vehemence and lack of reason exhibited in the arguments put forth by the Lord Chief Justice. Had the latter heard such in Old Bailey, he would have dismissed them in an instant. Lord Mansfield must, in any case, have reconsidered his position to some extent, for he paused and remained silent for a bit, and when he began again, he spoke in a more controlled manner.

  “Who is this witness of yours?” he asked. ”Is he the man who did pull the trigger?”

  “By no means,” said Sir John. ”That man was killed when he offered fire during our first battle with the smugglers there on the road to London.”

  “Who then? Who was it? What part had he in this alleged assassination?”

  “Ah! Alleged, is it? Well, his name is Edward Potter, and he was as near to an innocent observer as one could have been. He simply held Sir Simon’s horse as he tapped upon the window to Mr. Sarton’s study and asked to be admitted that he might talk with him on a confidential matter. When the magistrate opened the door, rather than Sir Simon’s confidence, he was given a bullet in the head.”

  “Is that how it was done? Is that what your man Potter told you?”

  “That is as I earlier reasoned it,” said Sir John, ”and that is also what Potter told me.”

  “You led him so?”

  “Nothing of the kind. His testimony merely confirmed what I had supposed. I did not prompt him. I would not.”

  “And what did you promise him for this testimony so freely given?”

  “I promised him nothing. That is not my way. I hope that by now you know that of me. The most I have ever done is to tell a prospective witness that I would recommend leniency of some kind-transportation in capital crimes and a reduced sentence in the rest.”

  Sir John hesitated; he faltered a bit for the first time. ”In this case,” he continued, ”I … I did tell him that I would recommend a reduced sentence.”

  “And did you say that your recommendations are always followed?”

  “I did say that they have been, yes.”

  “Well, you may tell him for me that in his case your recommendation will not be honored. Let us see then just how readily he comes forward to testify against his former master. I am not bound by your recommendations, as I’m sure you know.”

  Sir John Fielding was silent for a long-oh, an interminably long-moment. But when he spoke again, his voice was strong and certain.

  “You will have my letter of resignation on your desk in the morning.”

  Lord Mansfield was evidently shocked. This was not the outcome he had foreseen. ”If I do receive such a letter from you, I shall tear it up immediately,” he declared. ”L
et me put it plain: I shall not accept your resignation under any circumstances.”

  “Then you must put Sir Simon Grenville to trial and allow my witness to testify against him if he so chooses. My recommendation for leniency will stand. I shall let Potter know that it may not be honored. You cannot, in other words, have both Sir Simon and me. You must choose between us.”

  “Must you vex me so, sir?” Lord Mansfield fair wailed forth his response.

  “Yes, I must,” said Sir John forthrightly, ”for if our positions were reversed, you would do the same.”

  “Oooooh.” It was a strange sound, something between a moan and a growl. And when Lord Mansfield spoke, it was as if it were a great strain to speak above a whisper: ”If you but knew how close I was to his late father at Oxford-and after. Oh, for many years afterward. Why, I held Sir Simon as a baby. How can he be tried now for murder?” He stood, panting, clearing his throat repeatedly, then struggled to speak: ”Now go, please. I do not wish to be seen weeping.”

  Sir John nodded at me and groped for my arm. When he had found it, I led him out of the room, down the hall, and to the door. There the butler appeared and, saying nothing, swung open the door. Once outside, we set off in the direction of Southampton Street, where we might find a hackney waiting. And it was then yet a bit till Sir John spoke.

  “I do not envy Lord Mansfield,” said he then. ”By God, I do not.”

  I shall not dwell long upon the remaining events of that day. They included a visit to Newgate, then only the second time I had been inside that foul and frightening place; it had not improved since the first; and today it is worse still.

  There, after some difficulty in establishing his whereabouts in that overcrowded rat’s nest, Sir John held an interview with Edward Potter through the bars of the great holding cell wherein all from Deal, except Sir Simon, had been jailed. There is no privacy in Newgate, no place set aside for conversations between those awaiting trial and representatives of the law; and so, with Potter’s fellow prisoners crowding about, openly attempting to listen in, it was necessary for Sir John to speak in hints and generalities.