The next morning, leaving Adie cleaning the pub, I went into town, but when I returned around lunchtime, she was nowhere to be seen. All morning I’d told myself there could be no danger in leaving her on her own, that Tom would still be licking his wounds and there was no possibility of him returning to the Boar so soon – especially after Elizabeth passed on Sam’s warning. But now, as I moved from room to room and Adie was nowhere to be found, all my confidence began to drain away. Having looked in the kitchen and upstairs, I had just returned from checking the orchard and the stable when the cold thought struck me – I hadn’t checked the well. Close to panic, I was just turning to go outside again, when from behind the bar Adie appeared. She’d been in the one other place I hadn’t checked; covered in dirt and cobwebs, she’d clearly been in the cellar.
Mostly from relief, I couldn’t help laughing at how she looked. But blowing away a cobweb that was creeping towards her mouth, she clearly wasn’t amused.
“I don’t know why you’re laughing ’cos it’s a death-trap down there. The floor’s bumpy and even with a candle, there’s things hiding in the dark just waiting to trip you up.”
Brushing down her smock unnecessarily she added,
“And it’s really dirty.”
I tried not to smile, but the glare she gave me let me know I’d failed, so I said quickly,
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere and I was beginning to worry. What made you go in the cellar? You’ve never been down there before, have you?”
“I was looking for something. I’ve had an idea I think will help you move the salt more safely. If I’m right, you should even be able to move it during the day.”
“But you didn’t find what you were looking for?”
I was interested in what she might be thinking, although I couldn’t see that there was any way I could move salt during the day without being caught.
“Oh yes, I found what I was looking for. It’s just too big for me to lift out of the cellar on my own. I need one of your empty barrels; there’s loads of them down there.”
I tried to hide my disappointment. Barrels had been used to smuggle many things and I knew they would never fool the Excise men. I tried to explain this to Adie but she stopped me.
“What if when they open the tap, all that came out was beer?”
Seeing that I didn’t understand, she said,
“If you get me a barrel from the cellar, I’ll show you.”
She seemed so certain, I did as she asked.
“Right. This is what I think we should do.” She rested one hand on the barrel. “First, we need to take the bands off and take the barrel apart and if it’s still wet, leave it to dry. Next, and I know this might be difficult, we’ll need a thin sheet of wood that’s just big enough to divide the barrel in two and it needs to be shaped to fit the sides. Then, when the barrel’s rebuilt, it’s going to need a larger second bung hole made to be hidden by the grain of the wood. All that will be left to do then is to seal the piece of wood across the middle of the barrel and fill one half with beer and the other with salt. Then, if you’re stopped by the Excise men and they want to see what’s in the barrel, when they pull out the bung all that’ll pour out is beer.”
It was an interesting idea, but as I explained to her, there was still a problem.
“I can see how it might work, but it would take a skilled man to re-build the barrel, especially with your, er… modifications. I certainly couldn’t do it.”
That didn’t trouble her; she’d obviously thought I might say something like that.
“Well, isn’t there someone you know, someone you trust, who could do it for you? What about Harry and John? They’re always looking for work and I bet they’d do it for you no questions asked.”
She looked at me expectantly. What she said was true. Harry and John Chester were blacksmiths, not coopers, but I was sure with all their experience, they’d be able to turn their hands to barrel-making. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense, because the smithy burnt a lot of wood and I knew that apart from heating the forge, the wood also produced sealing pitch; I’d once bought some from them to seal a leak in the Boar’s roof. But most importantly, I knew I could trust them – Adie was right as well when she said times were hard for them and I knew if I put work their way, any work, they’d be grateful and definitely would keep quiet if they thought they might lose it.
“Alright then,” I said. “They should be in tonight and I’ll have a word with Harry; see what he thinks. As long as he doesn’t know what the barrel’s for and I’m sure he won’t want to, it should be fine. I’ll get him to make one and then we’ll show it to Sam.”
“Show Sam!” She looked alarmed. “Why do you need to show him?”
I reminded her that Sam had made it very clear he didn’t expect any changes in his arrangements unless he agreed to them first.
“So if he doesn’t like it, even though you think it’s a good idea, even though it is a good idea, you still won’t use it?”
Although she was annoyed, I pointed out to her that as soon as I delivered salt in a barrel to him, his cousin was bound to tell Sam who, I reminded her, wasn’t the type of man to make a threat lightly. She still looked disappointed, so I added that I thought her idea was a good one and I was sure Sam would agree.
As expected, that evening Harry and John walked in. Harry had been a regular at the Boar since Mr Dodds’ time, so we knew each other very well. He could tell from my tone that the work I had in mind was not something I wanted to discuss anywhere we might be overheard. So he told me,
“If we’re able, we’ll do whatever you need. We’ll be down at the smithy in the morning. I’ve got a horse who’s thrown a shoe being brought in first thing. I should be clear by nine though, so how about you leave it ’til ’bout half-past, just to be sure.”
When I told Adie, she of course wanted to go with me, so she was less than happy when I said I’d go on my own. I reminded her that she wasn’t supposed to have anything to do with the salt smuggling and that the fewer people who knew she was involved the better. For the rest of the evening whilst she was her usual bright and cheerful self with my customers, all I had from her was silence and scowls, but by morning she’d decided reluctantly that I was right.
It was barely light when I heard her leave her room and when I joined her downstairs I was greeted with a bright ‘good morning’ and a bowl of porridge. Whilst I ate, she got on with setting the bar straight, but stopped as soon as I finished eating and came and sat with me.
“I suppose you’re right when you say people like Harry shouldn’t know I had anything to do with the barrel, but when you show it to Sam you will tell him it was my idea, won’t you?”
My first instinct was to tell her it would be better if he thought the idea was mine, but I realised if I was to fully regain her trust, this was one way that might help. So I smiled and told her that of course I’d tell him the design was hers.
She hesitated, then handed me a piece of paper, saying shyly,
“I’ve done some drawings. I know they’re not very good, but I thought they might give Harry an idea of what we’re looking for.”
She handed me the drawings and, without another word, went back to cleaning the bar. They were very simple sketches without any explanation and I was sure they would add little to the description I would be able to give Harry, but I still promised to pass them to him. Something else dawned on me and I also promised myself that, as soon as we had time, I would teach Adie to read and write.
It was already past nine and as I had promised Harry I’d be at the smithy by half-past, I took the empty barrel we’d left behind the bar to dry out and rolled it to the stable where, with Adie’s help, I secured it on the jack.
When I arrived at the smithy, Harry was still shoeing the horse he’d told me about, so I was met by John. He stood with me outside the smithy and we talked about how he and his father’s business was going, what trade at the Boar was li
ke and how Adie had taken to her new life; in fact we talked about anything except the reason I was there.
Eventually, the horse and its owner left and as I’d already tethered the donkey and John and I had relieved it of its burden, we rolled the barrel into the smithy. After explaining he’d been so long because he’d persuaded the horse’s owner to replace all four shoes, I handed Harry Adie’s sketches and told him what I wanted him to do. He stood scratching his head for a while, then turning to John, said,
“I reckon this is more the job for a carpenter than a smithy, don’t you son?”
My heart sank. It wouldn’t be a problem to find a carpenter, but I didn’t know anyone that well, certainly not as well as I knew Harry and John and none that I was sure I could trust.
Fortunately, Harry hadn’t finished.
“You’re better than me working wood, ain’t you John. Reckon you can do what Jabez is asking?”
Before John replied, I thought he should know that this barrel was to be only an example.
“Before you answer your dad, I need to tell you, if this works the way I hope it will, I’m going to need a dozen more barrels like it.”
Harry looked questioningly at his son, but all John wanted to know was how soon I needed them.
"It depends really, as I told your dad, what’s most important is that the two sections keep wet and dry apart. So if you let me know when the first one’s ready, I’ll come and pick it up. Then, as long as it works as well as I hope it will, I’ll want the rest as soon as you can let me have them.
“Oh, and there’s one last thing. I need this kept between the three of us, that won’t be a problem, will it?”
Harry frowned.
“We’d already worked that one out Jabez, and no, it won’t be a problem.”
I wished I hadn’t added that ‘last thing’, but Harry just said,
“To be honest, we’re just glad to have the work. We’ll let you know when the first one’s ready. It shouldn’t be more than a week, should it John?”
John had agreed with his father it might take him a week, but after only four days, the pair of them walked into the pub and John told me the first barrel was ready. So early the next morning, after collecting it from the smithy and returning to the Boar, I took the barrel straight to the barn, where Adie was anxiously waiting to see if John’s handy work was as she’d imagined. Satisfied with John’s modifications, she looked closely at each join and then ran a finger slowly across the length of each seal; after a few minutes, she declared that, as far as she could tell, the barrel was sound. Lastly, she turned the barrel over and both of us admired the hidden plug which, disguised as it was in the wood grain, could only be found by touch.
But to be really sure, and we had to be, the barrel needed to be tested for leaks. Although Adie had looked as closely as she could, we needed to be certain that the two halves were watertight – the smallest leak and the salt would be ruined. Salt was too expensive to waste, so I fetched my fire buckets; I had two, one by the fire and the other by the front door. We filled one side of the barrel with sand from the buckets and the other with water then rolled it across the stable floor so any leaks would show. After draining the water and carefully removing the sand, we were glad to find that the sand was completely dry.
“There you are. I told you it would work.”
I had to admit to a proud Adie that the barrel was everything she’d said it would be, but I also reminded her that my opinion wasn’t important as we still needed Sam’s approval.
“He’s not going to stop us using it, is he? He’ll see it’s a good way to hide the salt, especially for a publican like you, won’t he?”
Adie knew I couldn’t really answer her, but I assured her that the next time any of Sam’s men came in the pub, I’d ask them to let Sam know I wanted to see him. Satisfied, she helped me move the barrel back into the cellar.
As luck would have it, or at least that’s what I thought at the time, the very next evening Sam himself walked into the pub accompanied by three of his men. I was barely acknowledged as I served them and they quickly became involved in a quiet but intense conversation. When they called for another round, I couldn’t stop Adie stepping forward ahead of me and I knew she was going to say something to Sam about the barrel. But before she had a chance to speak, Sam leant across the bar and whispered at length into her ear. She didn’t say anything, just glanced at me and then nodded, but when she finished serving them, she came over to where I was standing at the end of the bar; I could tell she was trying unsuccessfully to suppress a smile.
“We’re in luck,” she breathed. “Sam says he needs to talk to you. Apparently the Excise Supervisor has caught two of his men red-handed. He doesn’t think they’ll talk, but he can’t be sure. He says he needs to shut his operation down for a while, but I think it’s our big chance.”
She looked at me and I hoped she wasn’t thinking what I knew she almost certainly was. I agreed, it was our big chance, our chance to get out of smuggling, at least for a while. But then Adie confirmed my fears.
“Don’t you see? If we can prove to him that the barrel works, we could be the only smugglers he keeps using. He wouldn’t have to use you just to take salt to his cousin. He could send you to whoever was willing to pay the most and you can insist on bigger payments in return.”
As she was standing close speaking quietly into my ear, she couldn’t see the alarm she’d caused me, so it was with no less enthusiasm she added,
“Anyway, he wants to talk to you as soon as you close the pub.”
With that, she returned to serving some waiting customers, leaving me to acknowledge the enquiring look I got from Sam Baker.
Just as the last time they were in the pub with Sam, when it was time to leave, his men drank up together, rose together and left as one. There may have been less of them this time, but they were no less striking. I don’t think it was deliberate, but when they saw Sam had remained alone, the rest of my customers hastily finished their drinks and, with almost identical unity, got up and left.
I bolted the door and when Adie had drawn the blinds, Sam drew up a table. He didn’t question Adie’s presence when the three of us sat down together, instead began immediately to talk about what had happened.
“Adie’s told you?”
I explained she hadn’t told me too much because she was worried she might be overheard.
“She told you that two of my men were caught. You know that much?”
I told him that was about all she’d told me.
“But I didn’t tell her which two men.”
The light was beginning to dawn.
“Not your cousin? You’re not saying he was one of them?”
Sam looked grim.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Usually relaxed and sure of himself, he now seemed tense and uncertain.
“My cousin and the man who works for him on the farm were running that last load to my Liverpool customer. There was a high wind blowing when they left Foulk Stapleford, but at least when they set off, it blew in their backs. But there came a point where they changed direction which meant the wind now blew straight at them. Although their progress was slowed, this wouldn’t have been a problem if a sudden downpour hadn’t blown straight into their faces. The rain came out of nowhere and completely obscured their vision, so when they ran straight into the Supervisor and two of his men, they had no chance of getting away or disposing of the salt. It came on so suddenly that even though they got an oilcloth over the salt as quickly as they could, rain had already penetrated the sacks and ruined the salt; it was worthless. But the Supervisor didn’t take that view and I doubt the Magistrate will either.”
He laughed, but there was no humour in his voice.
“Dick won’t talk. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t know my cousin’s name. It’s bound to come out soon enough. But Rob, even though he doesn’t know anything about you, does know some of my other customers.
Dick’s worked for me for longer than anybody, so over the years he’s handled a lot of my deliveries and for at least five years, Rob has helped him.”
He smiled grimly.
“Now, because I can’t be sure they won’t make him talk, I’ve had to stop all deliveries.”
“Jabez’ barrel could help.”
It was Adie. I’d forgotten she was there. I think Sam had as well. Turning to her and in a voice that left no doubt that he was irritated by her interruption, he said,
“Barrel? What barrel?”
I don’t know if she heard the impatience in his voice. If she did, she ignored it.
“Jabez had it made, but it was my idea. He said the next time any of your men came in the pub, he was going to ask to see you; he was going to show you what we had made.”
At least Sam’s voice was even when he answered her.
“You’re talking about using barrels for smuggling, is that right?”
“Yes, but…”
Sam didn’t let her finish.
“Using barrels to smuggle anything is the oldest trick in the book and it won’t fool that Supervisor. If he’s got Rob or even Richard to talk and they’ve got some very persuasive ways of making a man beg to tell all he knows, then they’ll be watching my customers as well as my men. No, sorry Adie. It wouldn’t work.”
I knew if this was a chance to stop spending the night leading two donkeys to Foulk Stapleford and back, even if it was only for a short while, then it was a chance I didn’t want to miss.
“Don’t worry Adie. I’m sure Sam will be interested in your barrel just as soon as his deliveries start again.”
Ignoring me, she said,
“But I bet they wouldn’t watch too closely if they knew it was just a publican delivering ale.”
Admonition Page 19