***
‘I hear your trip was successful Toby,’ said Thomas as he pulled up a chair and sat by my side.
‘You have been talking to James then have you, what did he have to say?’
‘Not only James but also his wife the duchess, she says I must ask you about Lewes Castle.’
‘My God… does the whole world know that I met my fiancée there? Is nothing sacred these days?’
‘Don’t be blasphemous Toby, I was only jesting. So tell me how you got on?’
‘Did James tell you about the problems I have dumped on him?’
‘He did, but you were only doing your job, and you were quite entitled to spend a little time with Anne. Now you should take a few days away from work and relax.’
‘I plan to do just that, but first I have some documents to deliver to Sir William Batten’s office, and then I need to call on Veronica. It’s been over two months since I saw her.’
‘Will you be long with Sir William?’
‘I don’t expect to be, in fact I hope he’s not even there. I have just to deliver the documents from Portsmouth and check a few details with Arthur Crossley. Why do you ask, do you want to come with me?’
‘I was planning to visit John Martin’s bookshop in St Paul’s Square, so as long as I am not in your way I would like to join you. And it would be nice to see Madam Veronica again.’
‘Meet me here at nine o’clock in the morning then,’ I said.
***
We went by water from Westminster, and then walked from Tower Wharf to Sir William’s office, just round the corner from his house on Seething Lane. I was somewhat relieved to find he had not yet arrived and I was able to conclude my business with Arthur in fifteen minutes and be away without seeing Sir William.
Thomas and I decided to walk the mile to St Paul’s Square, and were there outside the bookshop in less than half an hour.
Thomas introduced me to John Martin, he was a man I had seen many times before but had never been formally introduced.
‘Master Toby needs no introduction Mr Hudson,’ he said, ‘I was close to him on Ludgate Hill when he saved the life of our king… such a brave act for one so young.’
‘That was almost fifteen years ago sir,’ I said, ‘and it was more a spur of the moment thing than an act of bravery.’
‘Nevertheless to those of us who live here, you’re something of a legend.’
I was feeling a little embarrassed and wanted to change the subject. ‘Do you have any books on navigation among your collection Mr Martin?’
‘A couple I think, if you could just bear with me for a minute I will see if I can find them,’ he said as he disappeared into his storeroom.
Thomas, meanwhile, was browsing through the pages of a book on Norman architecture.
‘I have just these two Master Toby, but I am sure there must be more,’ he said handing me the two volumes. The first was Celestial Navigation and the other Navigational Skills.
‘I’ll take them both,’ I said, handing them back for him to wrap up for me.
I had never actually bought a book before, always receiving them as presents from Thomas, but I found the experience pleasing and very rewarding. I promised myself that when I could find the time, I would return to Mr Martin’s shop on my own and do a little browsing.
Thomas also bought two books Norman Architecture and The Philosophy of Epicurus, I was thinking of asking who Epicurus was but didn’t want a lesson on ancient Greece so I said nothing.
We were just about to leave the shop when Mr Martin called me back.
‘Master Toby, I have in my possession a manuscript that could well be of interest to you. It is a rarity and does not actually belong to me, but you may borrow it if you wish. It’s a manuscript produced many years ago on the teaching method of shipbuilding.’
‘Thank you so much Mr Martin, I will take good care of it.’
***
It is not very far to Fleet Alley from St Paul’s Square, it taking us only minutes to walk there.
I opened the door and could see Veronica sat on a soft chair crocheting. Three of her girls, Elizabeth, Christina and Helen, were chatting in a corner. But there was no sign of George.
As I stepped through the door Veronica jumped out of her chair and ran to me… wrapping her arms around my waist she hugged and kissed me. She then pushed me away and began to scold me.
‘Where have you been? It’s months since I last saw you… not even a word to let me know you are safe.’
She then realised I was not alone, and that Thomas had followed me in.
Abandoning me she went to greet him. ‘Good day to you Mr Hudson, this is a pleasant surprise.’
He kissed her hand. I would have been surprised if he hadn’t.
‘Don’t be too hard on him Madam, he has been away on business for two months, and before that he was in Portsmouth to welcome our new queen.’
‘You have seen Queen Catherine?’ she asked.
‘I did, and she said I was her first English friend.’
‘What is she like?’
‘Nice, very nice. Too good for Charles.’
‘Be careful who you say that to Toby, some would say that speaking of your king in that way is treason,’ said Thomas. ‘But I am inclined to agree with you,’ he said with a smile.
‘Tell me more Toby. I want to hear about everything you have done since last we met.’
‘What I will do is this: On Sunday I will hire a coach to take you to church in style, then we will all go to Richmond Park. You can then ask me anything you like and I will do my best to answer all your questions. I’ll be here at eight o’clock to collect you so be ready.’
Veronica seemed happy with that, and an hour later Thomas and I were able to leave without any tears.
‘Are you walking?’ asked Christina.
I looked at Thomas and he nodded.
‘Yes we are.’
‘Then I will walk with you as far as Stinky Skinner’s barge.’
‘I will come too,’ said Elizabeth.
Feeling rather self-conscious at having a woman on each arm, we walked down to the waterfront where we exchange a few words with Stinky. He was not in the best of moods as his barge was full and was stuck fast on the low tide.
We moved on after a few minutes leaving Christina and Elizabeth sat on the Black Friars steps… but not before they kissed us both full on the lips, Thomas blushing with embarrassment.
The weather was temperate and because there was not much water in the river, two or three yards of shale and mud were exposed. It was still only midday and though we had only walked a few hundred yards, we decided to sit a while on Temple steps, Thomas browsing through his book on architecture, while I took a brief look through Mr Martin’s manuscript on the building of ships.
A vivid account of the next micro-second in time is emblazoned in the depths of my mind, and will be until the day I am taken from this world.
The smallest of sounds disrupted my train of thoughts… just enough to make me glance to my left.
What I can remember seeing quite clearly is the flash of steel, droplets of blood and Thomas falling forward. Then something like a sack was pulled over my head and I passed out.
I don’t know how long I was unconscious, it could have been minutes, it could have been hours, but eventually my senses began to return. I could hear voices and see a kind of hazy light through one eye but it was only when a large ugly man removed the sacking from my head that I began to realise what had happened, and the seriousness of my situation. My legs were bound and my hands secured tightly behind my back.
I lifted my head to look at my assailant through my good eye, and saw before me a large brute of a man smiling at me through an almost toothless mouth.
‘I am Toby, squire and courtier to the kin
g,’ I croaked.
‘Save your breath… I know who you are,’ he said as he turned the key in my prison door.
My head was pounding and my right eye was almost completely shut, which I assumed had probably been caused by a punch to the face. But my mind was now clear enough for me to deliberate on just who my assailant was, or if perhaps it was all just a horrible mistake? I doubted that the attack on me was an error because at least one of my assailants knew my name. I had made many enemies recently and there was still the threat of Richard Leeson who had still not been captured.
My head was now clear enough to survey my surroundings, and what I deduced was that I was locked in what I thought was a secure caged area of a warehouse. I was on the ground floor opposite two large doors, one incorporating a smaller door for quick access. The stairs to the upper floor were situated to the right of my prison, and stacked along the wall beneath the stairs was a dozen or so masts, and a large stack of timber decking. To my left was a long work bench with what looked like a small kitchen or rest area, and placed a few yards from the door of my cage was a large table where my two guards sat playing cards and supping ale. At one end of the table I could see a couple of two foot long wooden clubs, thicker at one end than the other, a typical weapon of the press gangers, I could also see my sword and the keys to my prison cage. It was some comfort to me that they had missed the knife still sheathed in my right boot.
Strange to think that with all that was facing me at the time, I was more concerned at losing John Martin’s manuscript than the predicament I was in.
Continuing with my survey, I noticed that the upper floor was only half the size of the area of the ground floor, and that up there on the first floor was an office with windows where managers could keep watch on their workers below.
I then noticed that with me in the cage were barrels of oil, coils of different thicknesses of rope… mostly rigging rope, a great amount of tar, and also a small boy. I didn’t see him at first as he was sitting with his hands and feet tied at the front among the coils of rope with his arms folded around his knees.
Speaking quietly so as not to be heard by my guards I asked, ‘What’s your name?’
‘Felix sir.’
‘Do you know where we are Felix?’
‘In a warehouse at St Catherine’s sir.’
‘Do you think you could shuffle a little closer Felix, then we can talk without being overheard?’
Our two guards were too preoccupied with their cards to notice Felix stand up, and hop over to my side.
‘In my right boot there’s a knife, do you think you can reach it?’
‘I’ll try sir,’ he said.
He had no problem finding the knife and withdrew it from its sheath. Needing no further instruction from me he wedged the knife between his teeth and began to saw at the bonds around his wrists, that completed he untied his ankles and was just about to start on me when there was a banging on the door.
The smaller of the men ambled across and opened the small door. Felix scurried back to his place among the coils of hemp still with my knife in his hand.
Three men stepped inside the warehouse and the one who was obviously their leader spoke just four words. ‘You got him then?’
I shivered when I realised it was the voice of Richard Leeson. He had grown a full beard since the last time I saw him but there was no mistaking that voice.
‘Yes boss, he’s in the cage.’
He swaggered slowly across the floor and stood facing me with hands on hips, his feet apart and a satisfying grin across his face.
‘So Master Toby. We meet again and this time you will not escape me.’
‘What have you done with Thomas Hudson?’
He turned to the man on his right. ‘Did you do as I asked?’
‘Yes boss, I stabbed him through the heart just as you told me to, the tide should have taken him up river to about Kingston by now I guess.’
‘Did you hear that? Your precious friend has been dispatched to the afterlife, just as I said he would be.’
I have never wanted to kill anyone in my life before. I have never been so angered before, but at that moment in time I swore to myself that given the chance, Leeson would die by my hand.
‘Do not worry my friend,’ he said, ‘you will be joining him soon enough. I have been years planning a special death for you. I already know that you can swim three miles, so I thought I would test if you could swim 3,000 miles.’ He then threw back his head and started to laugh. ‘You will soon be joining a slave boat to the Caribbean Ocean… calling first in the Gold Coast of Africa to collect some passengers. When we are halfway across the Atlantic I will personally see you dropped over the side. This time I am coming too, I want to see that the job is done properly, and I want to be the one who dumps you 3,000 miles from shore. You see Toby I am not all bad, I am going to give you a sporting chance to escape.’
Then turning towards the door, he laughed again and said, ‘I will be back for you when it’s dark and the tide has turned, your ship is waiting for you down river at Tilbury. In the meantime, I have other prisoners to attend to.’
He was still laughing as he stepped through the door slamming it shut behind him.
My two guards just grinned at me through the gaps in their teeth and returned to their cards.
Felix quickly shuffled back to my side and released me from my bonds, he then handed back the knife. I should have thanked him but I couldn’t speak for the rage that had exploded in my heart.
‘What are we going to do sir?’ asked Felix.
‘They still think we are tied up, so the next time someone opens the cage I want you to run for the door. Get as far away from here as you can while I try to distract them.’
‘I’m not leaving you sir, I am your man. We escape together or die together sir.’
I looked at him grinning up at me, and could see in him myself fifteen years ago. A likeable mischief boy who was everybody’s friend with no enemies.
‘How many of them are there altogether?’
‘Six altogether, if you include the man they call the boss.’
‘What about you, what do they want you for?’
‘They said I am going to be a cabin boy. I’m not sure what that means only that I will be going to sea.’
‘Do you know who their other prisoners are?’
‘Three vagrants I think, they are all tied and gagged in the back of a vegetable cart waiting for darkness before being taken to a privateer at Tilbury. What are we going to do sir?’
I was trying to think but I still couldn’t get Thomas out of my head, and the dreadful manner of his death. He was the man who had shaped my life, cared for me and made me the man I was today. He was the father I never had.
‘Alright listen. If you are sure about not leaving without me?’
‘I am sir.’
‘Then as soon as this cage door is opened we both run to the table. I will get my sword and you grab one of those clubs.’
‘I already thought of that sir,’ said Felix smiling at me.
‘I don’t know what we can do against five armed men, but we will succeed or die together.’
‘We will succeed,’ he said punching the air.
I had been wracking my brain for answers but still had no credible plan on how we could escape, but there was one thing I was certain about. I was going to die fighting, and if possible I was going to take Leeson with me.
There came a gentle knocking on the door, and then the voice of a woman calling, ‘Let me in, I have something for you.’
Our two guards looked at each other, one standing up but not moving from the table.
‘Who are you and what is your business?’
‘Open the door and you will see. I promise you won’t be disappointed.’
I smiled to myself as I recogni
sed the voice of Christina. Touching the arm of my new young companion I said, ‘This woman could be our saviour my friend.’
Christina stepped through the door to be followed by Elizabeth… both looking absolutely gorgeous and more alluring than I could ever have imagined. This time I was seeing them in a different light, not as friends but as professional working girls. I had hoped that George would follow them in with a small army of his drinking friends, but they came alone.
‘We have come to brighten up your boring day,’ said Christina, ‘I will show you what is on offer but there will be no touching until we see the colour of your money.’
She then opened her blouse to expose her firm young breasts.
‘Do you like what you see gentlemen? Would you like to see more?’
Our guards nodded in unison.
She slowly lifted up her skirt just high enough to show her shapely legs, but teasingly not enough to see the hidden treasures beyond.
‘I like,’ he said, ‘but what do you charge?’
‘A shilling each, and that’s a special price just for you.’
‘We will give you a shilling for the two of you.’
‘We are not some cheap strumpet from the bath house you know, we are experts of the profession, take a closer look.’
‘Alright. We’ll pay a shilling and sixpence when we know just how good you are.’
‘It doesn’t work like that sweetheart, it’s money up front or there will be no playtime for you two gentlemen this day. However, because I like you, we will settle for a shilling and sixpence.’
‘Pay them,’ said the big man to his companion.
Reluctantly, the smaller man took out a purse and threw eighteen pence onto the table. Elizabeth snatched it up and put it in the hidden pocket of her dress.
Having lived my early life in a brothel I had seen it all before, but I still felt awkward watching the show that Christina and Elizabeth were putting on. The big man only lifted himself out of the chair for a moment while Christina helped him drop his breeches around his ankles, he then returned to the sitting position.
She stood astride him, then slowly and provocatively hitched up her skirt. I heard him groan with joy as she lowered herself down on him, and then again every time she moved.
Courtier in the Royal House of Stuart Page 34