Admiral (16 page)

“Keep talking in this tone of voice. Thomas, I don’t know what’s going on but we are surrounded by men crawling through the bushes. That damned man –”

A bush rose and struck him across the head and the whine of mosquitoes and rattling of tree frogs suddenly stopped.

Above the throbbing which threatened to burst his skull he heard Leclerc giving instructions in an agitated voice. “Break off more branches and build up that bonfire – we must have light!”

“Supposing the soldiers see it?” another voice protested.

“They’ll think it is fishermen boiling conch. Look, Sir Thomas is moving – and there, M. Yorke opens his eyes: M’sieur, how are you?
Mon Dieu
, what a mistake!”

The little bonfire spurted more flame as branches caught fire; Ned felt he was inside a black tent. Then he remembered the bush that moved, and tried to sit up.

A man crouching beside him – was it the Englishman Coles? – said gently: “No rush, Mr Yorke, wait until you feel steady again.”

“What the devil happened?”

Leclerc heard the mumbled question and said to Coles: “You tell him!”

“Well, Mr Yorke, your boatmen came back and reported what they’d seen through the window of the general’s house; all three o’ you held prisoner by soldiers. So Leclerc landed at the point with a hundred men while Rideau collected the rest of them and landed at the jetty. We reckoned that’d be enough to get you all out – and occupy the Palisades, if need be.”

“Yes, but who hit me and Sir Thomas?”

“Well, we’re sorry about that Mr Yorke, but we saw two men just sitting and we reckoned they were soldiers acting as sentries, guarding the house against anyone coming from the point. It was too dark to recognize you, sir – anyway, we thought you was still prisoners in the house. So…”

“Leclerc,” Ned said, reassured to hear Thomas beginning to curse and sit up, “now we are here, we’ll go down to the house and free the general. He’s an old fool but Sir Thomas and I were just making arrangements with him for our base here when those traitors arrived.”

“Yes – but what is going on?”

“It’s an army quarrel: a few colonels want to take over. A simple mutiny. They haven’t enough to occupy their time so they plot.”

“Let me help you,” Leclerc said, “I understand perfectly. We can free the general, hang a few colonels and be back on board in time for breakfast. Ah, Sir Thomas, my apologies!”

“Our fault for not spotting you crawling through the bush. Trouble was we were busy talking.”

“Yes, we thought you were gossiping sentries.”

Thomas lurched over to Ned. “You are all right? Good, shall we go back and rescue old Teffler? I feel sorry for him. And I want to get my hands round young Rowlands’ throat!”

Within three minutes the bonfire had been put out and the glowing embers stamped into the sand, and Ned and Thomas were leading the buccaneers back along the path to the battery, and then along the wide track to the house.

“Do you want swords and pistols?” Leclerc asked. “Most of us have two of each.”

“Not for me,” Ned said. “My head throbs so much I couldn’t aim a pistol!”

They were well past the battery when Leclerc stopped them. “There’s a light ahead. A window?”

“The general’s office faces this way. They’ve still got him there.”

Thomas said: “I wonder if they’ve given up looking for us?”

“I should think so. We’re of no importance to Slinger. He thinks only of the army – quite rightly. He’s worried about the other colonels, not us.”

Ned told Leclerc: “There’s a back door on the north side and the front door is on the east. The window we see is on the west. The road leads up to the front door but goes on round to the back. Now, listen carefully. We want to rescue General Heffer alive. He is a tall man with white hair and a long face like a sheep and protruding teeth. The traitor, Slinger, is small with a face like a fox. Black hair, cut short, Roundhead style. He moves quickly like a fox or a burglar.”

“We want him alive?”

“Don’t kill him unnecessarily. There’ll be other officers with him but I doubt if any private soldiers. So – I shall go through the front door and into the office with Sir Thomas. You and Coles and Brace will follow but at first stay outside the office. You’ll see when you need to come in.”

“At the same time I want five men crouching below that window with pistols ready to cover us – or shoot any of these soldiers if they don’t behave. Another five men to guard the back door and stop anyone entering or leaving the building. The rest stay a few yards from the front door: our
corps de réserve
.”

Leclerc walked back, picked his men and then returned.

“We are ready,” he said. “Here are Coles and Brace and Rideau.”

Ned quickly described the route to the office through the front door and across the hall and ante-room. “We’ll go barefoot,” he added. “Don’t let the rude soldiery stamp on your toes, Thomas!”

A few yards from the house they stopped and removed their shoes and boots, putting them in a pile beside a small bush. Coles crept up to the door from one side to make absolutely sure there was no sentry, and then Ned led the way through the entrance.

Suddenly they could hear voices from inside the office: Ned could distinguish the querulous tone of Slinger and the deeper reply of Heffer. Slinger was angry and excited – it seemed a permanent state for him – but Heffer was frightened.

There was a third voice and it spoke with some authority. Another mutinous colonel, Ned thought. And a fourth. Now a fifth interrupted, and was in turn interrupted by Slinger.

He moved across the hall to the ante-room door. Here he could distinguish words, not just voices and it took him three or four incredulous minutes to be certain what was going on. He pictured the buccaneers getting into position, especially the five crouching below the sill of the window.

The office was well lit now, and the candles and lanterns threw dancing shadows on the whitewashed walls of the ante-room. There was no doubt about it: Slinger had set up a court in the office: Heffer was being tried by court-martial. He was protesting that he was not being allowed to call witnesses.

One of the other colonels was jeering at him, saying that his only witnesses, the two Royalists, had run away to rejoin the buccaneers. Then Slinger declared that the evidence against him spoke for itself: Heffer had accepted the orders sent out from London in the name of the King.

“And General Monck: he signed them!” Heffer exclaimed angrily.

“It is obvious that Monck has turned traitor to the Commonwealth,” Slinger said contemptuously.

“How can you be sure? The Lord Protector is dead; we all know that Richard Cromwell has no taste for succeeding him. The army in England may –”

“So now you slander the whole army,” Slinger almost screamed. “Your own words, and the written orders bearing his signature that you have put in as evidence, prove both you and Monck are traitors. He gives you orders and you obey them. That alone makes you a traitor. A traitor!” Slinger spat out the word. “Worse, far worse, than those libertine Royalists. They live sinful lives in their ships, all drunkenness and lechery, but at least they are true to the man they call their king. We’ll hang them for it, of course, but at least they betrayed no one!”

“Let the court vote.” The voice was insistent. “We’ve heard the charge, we’ve heard the evidence, and we’ve heard the defence, so we can vote: is he guilty as charged or not?”

“But you
haven
’
t
heard my defence,” Heffer protested. “I cannot call witnesses!”

“The very documents you put in as your defence, Monck’s orders, proved your guilt; Rowlands has given detailed evidence proving how you collaborated with those Royalists, Yorke and Whetstone.”

“Vote…vote…” the other two voices formed a chorus, and Slinger agreed.

“Very well, starting with the most junior of us – do you find General Heffer guilty as charged or not guilty?”

“Guilty…”

“Guilty…”

“Guilty…”

The three colonels were emphatic, and Slinger added his verdict, then tapped the table with something intended to be a judge’s gavel. “General Heffer, this court, formally constituted here at Cagway on the island of Jamaica to consider various charges against you of mutiny and high treason, hereby finds you guilty on all counts. You will stand to attention while the court passes its sentence.”

A chair scraped, and Slinger continued, his voice trembling with satisfaction: “The sentence of this court is that first you shall be shot, and then your body be hanged in chains at the gateway to the Palisades as a dreadful warning to other traitors. Sergeant of the Guard – take him away and guard him well!”

Ned tapped Thomas’ arm and walked into the room.

The three colonels were seated at the table with their backs to the window and a hunched Heffer was standing in front of his usual chair. Slinger sat at the head of the table at the far end facing the door.

A soldier – presumably the sergeant – stood behind Heffer, while Rowlands and the three original subaltern guards stood against the far wall, their backs to the window. Every man stared at Ned and Thomas, and Slinger was the first to react, leaping up and exclaiming: “You!”

Ned gave a slight bow and said sharply: “All of you get back from the table!” and at the same time seized the nearest lantern. Chairs crashed over as the sergeant and four colonels, three of them having no idea what was happening, hurried to obey orders given by someone who sounded in authority.

“Now,” said Ned evenly, “all you gentlemen are in danger of your lives, so keep absolutely still.” I’ve about a minute, he told himself, before the reaction sets in and they all start yapping at once, like hungry puppies when the bitch comes back.

“General Heffer, please collect General Monck’s orders and then go outside and wait in the hall.”

Thomas slapped the dazed man on the back as he went out. “Wake up, Teffler; we hadn’t deserted you – just went for a glass of wine!”

Ned looked at Slinger. “Introduce these three men, please.”

Slinger glanced nervously at the other colonels and Ned suddenly realized that Slinger was in fact the cat’s-paw: these three men had planned the coup, letting Slinger take the credit at first – just as he would take the blame if it all failed.

“Keep your mouth shut!” one of the colonels ordered, and Ned recognized the voice of the man who had first called for the vote. “These men aren’t armed. We–”

“Wait!” Ned snapped. “Turn round and look at the window!”

Five pistols with five unshaven faces, all sporting wicked grins looked through the window out of the darkness, and each muzzle pointed at a colonel with the fifth angled round to cover Rowlands, the guards and the sergeant.

“Now look at the door!”

Leclerc stepped into the room, followed by Coles, Rideau and Brace, each holding a pistol in one hand and a sword in the other. Ned gave a lantern to Coles, who put his sword in its scabbard and held the light higher.

“I have no more authority to arrest you all than you had to arrest General Heffer – except that every loyal citizen has a right and duty to prevent treason. What you men are doing
is
treason and you know it: you have seen General Monck’s orders and you know the King has been–”

Slinger tipped the table over and as the two remaining lanterns crashed to the floor there was a drumroll of gunfire. In the light of Coles’ lantern Ned saw Slinger look startled and then collapse; two of the colonels crumpled and Rowlands gave a scream. There was a moment’s silence and Ned saw Leclerc still poised, aiming his pistol. Before Ned could shout the Frenchman fired and the fourth colonel collapsed.

“No more problems now,” Leclerc said briskly, “unless these four–” he gestured at the former guards and the sergeant, “–want to fight.”

As Ned stood stock-still in the room, suddenly conscious in the silence of the sharp tang of the candle smoke and gunpowder, his ears ringing from the explosions, he realized that Leclerc had thought faster than him. The revolt was over because the four ringleaders – there was little doubt that these four had led the whole business – were dead or wounded: no courts-martial would be needed to restore General Heffer’s authority.

Thomas said: “I think we’ll put up some gibbets on Gallows Point and hang the bodies in chains. It was a good idea they had.”

Ned said: “Yes, like the carrion crow hung up outside the gamekeeper’s lodge. Still, we’d better make sure they’re all dead. And get half a dozen of our men from the front door to secure our former guards.”

Leclerc and Brace inspected the bodies as Coles held the lantern over them, and Ned called to Heffer through the door. He was surprised at the general’s appearance – it was as if the pistol shots had reminded the man that he was a soldier.

Ned put the table back on its legs and Thomas picked up the extinguished lanterns. He flicked open the doors, removed the candles and took them over to Coles’ lantern to light them.

With the chairs back in place, Ned waved Heffer to be seated, and sat down opposite him.

“Tell me, General, were these four the only traitors?”

“There are two more who stayed with their battalions. A couple of hours’ ride from here.”

“Will the soldiers stay loyal if those two colonels are arrested?”

“The major of one battalion would have to be taken as well.”

“Very well, do you have a few men you can trust to bring them in? Some of my buccaneers might enjoy a few hours on horseback, if you need reliable men. You’d better put the orders to the battalion in writing, though, along with the warrants for the arrest of the three men.”

“
Can
I arrest them?” Heffer asked uncertainly, betraying the effect the last hour had had on him.

“You’re the governor,” Ned said. “If you can shut the bordellos, you can certainly arrest traitors,” he added sarcastically.

Leclerc bent over to whisper in Ned’s ear: “The one in the end chair, the foxy-faced one who pushed over the table, he is dead. The one I shot is dead. The third is dead and the fourth bleeding badly. We are doing what we can to save him,” he said, “but I don’t hold out much hope. The youngest subaltern–”