Gunpowder, Treason and Plot

by Lettice Cooper

  Tresham decided to warn the others without saying that he had written the unsigned letter. He sent a message to Tom Winter asking him to meet him after dark in the passage behind Lincoln’s Inn which was not far from Winter’s lodging in the Strand.

  It was a cold, wet evening and there was nobody about in the passage. Tresham and Tom Winter, wrapped to the chin in their cloaks, walked up and down talking quietly.

  “I have heard bad news from friends at court,” Tresham said. “It seems that Mounteagle received an unsigned letter warning him to keep away from the Opening of Parliament because of some ‘terrible blow’ that Parliament shall receive. They say that Mounteagle took the letter to Salisbury and that the King has seen it.”

  This was not such a surprise to Tom Winter as Tresham imagined, since he had already heard about the letter from Thomas Warde.

  “We must give up the plot, Tom,” Tresham urged. “They will guess what we intend to do. They will search the whole of Parliament House, and come upon our gunpowder in the cellars. Out only hope is to leave the country without loss of time.”

  “Even if they find the gunpowder there will be nothing to connect it with us. Our plot will fail but we shall be in no danger; we need not go to the Continent.”

  “They will find out somehow. They will ask who owns the cellar and will discover that it is rented by Tom Percy. Even if they do not force him to confess by torture, they will have ways of learning who are his friends.”

  “Yes, that is true,” Winter agreed. He shivered and dug his chin deeper into the wet collar of his cloak. It looked to him as though their plot was already a failure and all of them were in danger.

  “You may be right,” he said gloomily. “I must see Robin at once.”

  He went off to find Catesby who had now come into London and was lodging at a tavern in the Strand, called The Irish Boy. Tom Winter repeated to Catesby everything that Francis Tresham had told him.

  “So there is nothing for it, is there, but to get out of the country while we can.”

  “It is clear that they know there is a Catholic Plot,” Catesby said. “And of course it was our friend Frank Tresham who wrote the unsigned letter to Mounteagle.”

  Tom Winter swore a furious oath.

  “Oh yes, it was Tresham who came to see me at White Webbs, wailing about the danger to his sisters’ husbands. Fool that I was not to clap him in the priest’s hole there and leave him to rot. But Tom, everything is not yet lost. They know that there is a plot but they do not know what it is. It must be two days since Mounteagle took the letter to Whitehall, but they have not been to search the cellars. Guy has just left me; he came to report that all was well. The wood he covered the gunpowder with has not been touched since he laid it in place.”

  “They may search tonight.”

  “If they do, Guy Fawkes will bring us word. But if they do not, why there are only three days before the Opening of Parliament. We have only to risk ourselves for three more days. I for one do not leave London till I have spoken with Tom Percy, who returns tomorrow. If he agrees with you that we should give up our plan of blowing up Parliament House, then I must agree too, though I shall still work for the uprising in the Midlands.”

  Tom Winter was as always encouraged by Catesby’s bold confidence, and would not refuse to accept his decision, but he was still nervous. He guessed that Tom Percy, who was rash enough for anything, would insist on carrying out the whole plan as long as there was any chance.

  He was quite right. On the next day, November 3rd, Percy rode into London and joined Catesby at The Irish Boy in the Strand.

  Catesby told him the story of the unsigned letter which Mounteagle had taken to the King.

  “Two days ago,” Catesby said, “the tale of it was running all round Whitehall. Now it is all over London. I myself have heard men speaking of it over their ale in this tavern. Do you not think that the risk is too great, Tom? We must give it up.”

  “They have not searched the vault?”

  “No, Fawkes was here half an hour ago. He reports that the fuel had not been touched. He looks every few hours; John Johnson of course can easily go in and out of the vault where his master’s fuel is stored. But it is Fawkes—if we go on with it—who will run the greatest risk. He cannot leave the vault on November 5th until he has set a light to the fuse.”

  “He is not the man to shrink from the risk,” Tom Percy said. “He would dare anything for the Catholic faith, as I would myself. And so would you, Robin. What! Give up now when success may be only two days away? I would as soon hang myself.”

  In Percy’s company Robin Catesby forgot the doubts that had been growing in his mind since Tom Winter’s visit.

  “And so would I,” he exclaimed. “I am with you, Tom. Whatever happens I am with you to the end.”

  Chapter 13

  The First Search

  During those first days of November, Guy Fawkes, still playing the part of John Johnson, spent most of his time in Whyniard’s house alone. Two or three times a day he went round to the vault under Parliament House to make sure that no one had discovered the gunpowder. He went as usual to buy food for himself, and from time to time he reported to Catesby, who was within easy reach at The Irish Boy. But, for long hours, Guy Fawkes was alone in the empty house. He was an exceptionally brave man with a deep, narrow devotion to his faith that blocked his mind to a good many other things. He had always been prepared to die in battle and he was prepared now to die, if necessary, but he was set on blowing up Parliament House first. Even he grew nervous as every hour brought the Opening nearer and also brought more stories that the King and his Ministers were afraid of a Catholic Plot.

  But still every time Guy visited the vault the logs of wood were as he had left them. Could the King and Salisbury really be so stupid as not to have taken warning from the letter? Did they really propose to open Parliament on the 5th without making a thorough search of the premises? As November 4th dawned and the morning hours passed, it almost seemed to Guy Fawkes that no one was going to look in the vault.

  He went there just before noon and rearranged the logs of wood in another complicated pattern, more for the sake of doing something than for any other reason. He returned to Whyniard’s house, ate some cold meat and bread, and occupied himself by sweeping out the room. He liked to keep his quarters in good order. It was a wet afternoon, the sky heavy with low hanging cloud. Dusk came early. About four o’clock Guy Fawkes took his horn lantern and went round to the vault. He lit the candle with his tinder box, and shone the light onto the pile of fuel. Not one log of wood had been moved.

  Guy Fawkes was just about to leave the vault when he heard footsteps and voices in the great hall overhead. No doubt cleaners were up there, brushing the carpets and shaking the dust out of the cushions. There would be other preparations to make for next day’s ceremony; the Lord Chamberlain’s people would have to see that every seat was in order. But Guy did not want to be seen leaving the vault, and there was a chance that somebody might come down to it. If they did there was nowhere to hide. He blew out the candle in his lantern, pinching the wick with his fingers so that there should be no smell of tallow.

  He waited for half an hour. The footsteps and voices overhead continued. Fawkes shifted his feet and swung his arms to and fro. It was very cold in the vault. Presently he heard no more sounds overhead. He still waited, hoping to hear the clang of the big doors as the cleaners shut them. What he heard instead were footsteps and voices from the staircase leading down to the vault. He stiffened himself against the wall. Several people, led by a servant carrying a lantern, came into the vault through the doors at the far end.

  Guy Fawkes knew the Lord Chamberlain, Thomas Howard Earl of Suffolk, by sight. He did not recognize Lord Mounteagle nor the pale, anxious-looking man who came with him, but he heard the Lord Chamberlain speak to him.

  “Master Whyniard, you rent this cellar as well as your house, I believe. For what purpose do you use it?”

>   “I do not use it at all, my Lord. It is not I who rent it. It is let, as my own house is let, to Master Thomas Percy of the household of my Lord of Northumberland.”

  “Thomas Percy,” the Lord Chamberlain said as though making a note in his mind. “What does he want with it?”

  Whyniard, who felt unhappily that he was in disgrace without knowing why, said, “I do not know, my Lord.” He looked nervously round the vault, and added, “There is Master Percy’s servant, John Johnson, standing over there in the corner. He will be able to tell you more than I can.”

  The Lord Chamberlain called out sharply, “You there.… Johnson, if that is your name. Come forward.”

  Guy Fawkes came forward, touching his hat.

  A fine, tall fellow, the Lord Chamberlain thought, but sullen looking, and what did he want with a dagger and a pistol in his belt? He looked like a man one would not care to meet in a lonely place after dark. “You are the servant of Master Percy?”

  “Yes, my Lord.”

  “You know me?” the Lord Chamberlain said sharply.

  “By sight, my Lord, naturally.”

  The Lord Chamberlain looked round the cellar.

  “There is a great quantity of wood stored here. To whom does it belong?”

  “To my master. It is his store of fuel for the winter, for the house next door which he has rented from Master Whyniard.”

  “Why does he need so much wood?”

  “It is cheaper, my Lord, to have it all carted here at once, and then there is no fear of running short if the winter is hard and the roads are blocked by snow, so that supplies are delayed coming into London.”

  “Give me the lantern.”

  The Lord Chamberlain took the lantern from his servant’s hand and held it high, turning it so that the beams of light explored the whole of the vault. He said to his companions, “There is nothing more to see here. Let us go.”

  They tramped up the staircase and went out, leaving the doors open behind them. Guy Fawkes breathed a sigh of relief. What fools they were! That they should have been here, standing only a few yards from the store of gunpowder, that they should have noticed the piles of logs and never even poked a stick into it … that they should have been satisfied with his answers … it seemed too good to be true.

  Chapter 14

  Growing Suspicion

  The Lord Chamberlain and his companions walked away from the Parliament House towards the Palace of Whitehall.

  During the short walk the Lord Chamberlain only spoke once; he said half to himself, “Thomas Percy lives in the household of his cousin the Earl of Northumberland, and travels about on his affairs. Why should he need such a large stock of fuel for a house which he hardly ever uses and which is mostly left in the care of a servant?”

  Whyniard, puzzled and uneasy, did not know whether to answer or not. He felt that he had somehow been at fault in renting his house to Thomas Percy, but the Earl of Northumberland had asked him personally to cut short Ferris’s lease because his cousin needed the house for his service. Now Whyniard felt that the Lord Chamberlain was angry with him for letting it to Percy. It was very difficult to keep on the right track in these troubled times.

  Mounteagle, whose chief concern at the moment was to show himself a good Protestant and a loyal servant of King James, said eagerly, “Thomas Percy is a very devout Catholic. In Yorkshire they call him ‘the Chief Pillar of the Papacy’ and he is a man of a most fiery nature who would dare anything.”

  The Lord Chamberlain grunted but made no other reply. At the gateway of the Palace he dismissed Whyniard, who was only too glad to go, and Mounteagle, who would very much have liked to stay and hear what happened so that he could look after his own interests. But what the Lord Chamberlain had to say was for the ears of the King and Salisbury alone.

  He found James pacing the Private Gallery, while Lord Salisbury sat at a desk working through a pile of state papers. In Scotland, James had grown up among plots from his childhood. It was not surprising that the King was nervous and had a horror of violence.

  “Well, my Lord?” he asked impatiently.

  “Sire, the cellar below the Parliament House is rented, as is Whyniard’s small house next to it, to Thomas Percy, who as you know is cousin to the Earl of Northumberland, and does much business for him. Thomas Percy is an ardent Catholic and has the reputation of being a rash, violent man. There is a large quantity of wood stored in the vault under Parliament House, much more I think than Master Percy would need for two winters even if he lived all the time in Whyniard’s house, which he does not, being as your Majesty knows always about his cousin.”

  “Ai, Ai,” the King cried, plucking at his beard with a trembling hand. “This is sair news. My Lord, I am sure that there is gunpowder stored under all that wood.”

  “Thomas Percy’s servant was in the vault when we went down there, and seemed to be trying to hide himself in a dark corner. He is a tall, desperate-looking fellow.”

  The King turned pale. “This will not do. This will not do at all, my Lord. You must have the vault searched thoroughly. Every log of wood must be turned; and let Whyniard’s house be searched afterwards. It is my order. I will speak to the Earl of Northumberland about his cousin. But let there be as little stir as possible about the searching. If there is a Catholic plot, we do not want every Catholic in England in revolt to support or to rescue the plotters. We must take these men privily and find out who are behind them. You must arrest this servant, and the vault must be searched tonight. Where is Thomas Percy?”

  “I believe he is at his lodging in London, Sire.”

  “There, you see,” the King said quickly. “What does he want with a lodging, as well as with Whyniard’s house? Why should he need so much fuel for the house when only his servant lives in it? I do not like that. I do not like it. And I remember how the Queen told me that this Thomas Percy has been coming into Prince Charles’s nursery every day and bringing him toys and playing with him. The Prince’s nurse spoke to the Queen about it. Now why should Thomas Percy do that? He has some design upon the Prince. Oh, we are in great danger from evil men! We must watch Thomas Percy closely. Meanwhile, my Lord, let the search be made tonight. To whom will you entrust it?”

  “I thought, Sire, to send Sir Thomas Knyvet, who is a Justice of the Peace for Westminster and a very prompt and discreet servant of the Crown.”

  “Send him then, and a troop of soldiers with him. Let him go late tonight so that, if there is a plot, the conspirators will by that time think themselves safe and may the more easily be caught. And let me have word at once of what Knyvet finds.”

  The Lord Chamberlain kissed the King’s hand and left him to go and send for Sir Thomas Knyvet.

  Meanwhile, the conspirators did not feel as safe as the King imagined. Early in the evening, Guy Fawkes went round to Thomas Percy’s lodging, where he also found Robin Catesby and Jack Wright. He told them about the Chamberlain’s visit to the cellar.

  “They will search again,” Catesby said, “and find the gunpowder. We are finished there. We had better put all our strength into the uprising in the Midlands. Everard Digby waits for us at Rugby.”

  Guy Fawkes wondered if Catesby really supposed that an uprising which had been so sketchily prepared and which depended on the destruction of King, Lords and Commons would be likely to take place if those authorities were not destroyed.

  But Tom Percy struck in. “We go too fast. They may not search again. They have seen the vault empty of anything except wood. Fools only see what is before their eyes. Let us not give up hope until the last moment. Let Guy remain in Whyniard’s house for tonight and hide himself in the cellar before tomorrow morning if the gunpowder is still undiscovered. Are you willing to do that, Guy?”

  Guy Fawkes nodded. He would see the thing through to whatever might be the end. He went back to Whyniard’s house.

  Besides Catesby, Jack Wright and Tom Percy, four more of the conspirators, Ambrose Rookwood, Robert Keyes, Ch
ristopher Wright and Thomas Bates were still in London. So was Francis Tresham, but he did not come near the others. He had evidently decided to play no further part in the plot. He knew better than anyone that the King had been thoroughly warned and that the whole affair could only end in disaster.

  Tom Percy, who was bold enough for anything, sat down to dinner that night with his cousin the Earl of Northumberland as though nothing unusual was happening. He even asked his cousin if there was any special news about the Opening of Parliament.

  Chapter 15

  Arrest

  Through the long dark hours of the evening of November 4th, Guy Fawkes waited alone in Whyniard’s house.

  He did not mind being alone. He had never married, and never had close friends. Soldiering and the Catholic faith were the two things that really mattered to him. He was doing now what be believed to be a soldier’s duty in the cause of his religion.

  He thought is safer not to light a fire, nor even to burn a candle. Better that Whyniard’s house should seem to be empty to anyone who might come to look. If they searched the vault again and found the gunpowder they were certain to come here, too. It was a very cold evening with a chill mist from the river. Guy Fawkes wrapped himself in his cloak and walked up and down to warm himself.

  Every hour or so, he walked round to the Parliament House, unlocked the door of the cellar, and cautiously flashed his lantern light on the pile of fuel. Each time he saw, with relief, that nobody had touched it. He carried now inside his doublet the fuse and the slow match which he was going to use to light the gunpowder. If all went well the match should burn for fifteen minutes before setting off the gunpowder. Guy Fawkes would have fifteen minutes in which to save his own life. It should be enough for him to slip out of the vault and be halfway up the Strand before the explosion. But if he was discovered in the vault by searchers, as he might well be even at the last minute, he intended to put the match to the gunpowder at once, and blow himself up with those who came to capture him.