“I need those other six barrels you had made. I can’t get the six back from Manchester. The Supervisor has the place watched night and day. He’s still suspicious about your delivery there, you know. I hear he’s got an informer who keeps insisting you were delivering salt.”
He must have seen the questioning look on my face because he added,
“You have still got them, haven’t you?”
That wasn’t the problem.
“Yes Sam, I’ve still got them. It’s just that Harry and John haven’t been paid for any of them yet.”
“Nor has Jabez.”
Adie was sitting quietly and listening. She had been trying to write ‘the Boars Head’ when we’d been interrupted, but now she was clearly keen to hear his reply.
Sam looked preoccupied but he said,
“Yes, you’re right Jabez.” Half turning to Adie, he added, “You both are.”
“I’ll tell you what we’ll do. I’m going to come back tonight after you close and I want you to have put the barrels in the stable. When I come, I’ll pay you in full for all twelve. Agreed?”
He didn’t wait for an answer but rapidly made for the door and as I heard it shut, I breathed,
“Agreed.”
Turning to Adie, I said,
“Right, I think we should get the barrels moved before we open. By the sound of it, we won’t have much time after we close.”
As the barrels were empty, between us we rolled them quickly into the stable. The evening was quiet, but Harry and John were in and delighted when I told them I would be able to pay them in the morning. As expected, Sam turned up about half an hour before I shut. With him was a man I didn’t recognise but I assumed was from his gang.
As soon as all my other customers had left and I’d locked up, Sam paid me for the barrels. As promised, he paid me twice the amount due and though I hadn’t asked, he also paid me double for taking the salt to Manchester. Then, after confirming with me they were in the stable, Sam and his companion slipped out the back, took the remaining barrels and were gone.
We hadn’t seen or heard from Sam in over two months and we had no reason to expect to see him again for another two. So when, just three days after he collected the barrels, I answered a loud knocking at the front door, I was startled to be confronted by a very angry Sam. The metal bar he held looked threatening and its purpose plain, though I had no idea how I’d angered him. But the anticipated blow never came and in a moment, the real purpose of the bar became clear. When I opened the door, I’d seen only Sam and the bar he was holding, but now, standing a couple of yards to one side of him, was a barrel and I knew it could only be one of mine. Turning to it, he said,
“I thought this barrel was supposed to keep the salt and beer apart.”
I realised then the real purpose of the bar because, not waiting for a reply he put its flattened end, something I previously hadn’t noticed, under the lid of the barrel and prising it away, grabbed a handful of salt.
“Look at this stuff.”
He opened his hand revealing a brown, grainy mess that had the familiar ale smell. I was fast catching up and it wasn’t difficult to guess what had happened. But Sam made sure I was in no doubt.
“You told me they wouldn’t leak and I delivered this one along with the rest. This morning it was brought back and as you can see, the salt is ruined.”
It didn’t seem necessary to tell him he’d already proved that point, but he hadn’t finished.
“My buyer was so angry. He risked travelling in broad daylight all the way from Chester to bring it back. Now I’ve got to replace it by tomorrow morning or he’ll make trouble for me, he’s promised me that, and I don’t doubt him. Now, how do you think I’m going to get a replacement while that Excise man is snapping at my heels?”
Because he’d talked from the moment I’d opened the door, I’d had time to think. So after apologising, I asked him to wait and with Adie’s help (although she’d stayed in the bar, she’d heard every word) fetched the first barrel John had made, knowing it had an advantage over all the others. Rolling it out the front, I stood it on end and said,
“This is the barrel I had made to show you Adie’s idea and if you remember, we tested it in front of you to prove it was leak-proof.”
In his rage, he’d clearly forgotten about this other barrel and though still angry, he realised it gave him a solution to his problem. Apparently remembering for the first time that I still had his mare, though he must have seen her when he’d collected the six barrels from the stable, he told me to bring her round and secure the barrel to her. I did as he said and then, without another word, he rode off. As I watched him gallop away, I realised he’d left me with the barrel of ruined salt; something I’d find very hard to explain, should the Excise Supervisor come looking. So with Adie’s help, I quickly put it in the furthest and darkest corner of the cellar, promising myself I’d destroy it just as soon as things quietened down.
But things didn’t quieten down, because two days rather than two months later, word came that Sam was on the run along with several of his gang. The night after he’d collected the barrel, one of his men had set off to take it, now full of salt, to his Chester buyer. He had gone barely a mile when, turning a corner, he ran straight into Herne and his men; he said he thought they were waiting for him. Because he’d heard about my delivery to Manchester, even though he’d been stopped, he was still quite confident and had expected to go through the same routine. Herne told him to untie the barrel from the mare, but that was where things changed. Instead of telling him to open the tap, Herne stepped forward. He had a bar in his hand that sounded much like Sam’s and without hesitating he wrenched the lid off the barrel.
Of course, he found the salt straight away and arrested the man, but what Sam didn’t understand was how they knew where to wait for him. It was a bigger mystery that Herne knew how to find the salt. Word was that Sam believed someone in the Manchester factory, or even John or Harry, had told Herne about the barrels. Of course I knew that Tom Rider was almost certainly behind Herne’s discovery, but what I didn’t understand was why he hadn’t raided the Boar; I was sure it could only be a matter of time.
At first nothing happened, giving Adie and me time to talk. We agreed that we must expect a raid at any time and when that happened, planned what we would do and say, especially if one or both of us got arrested. I knew there was something we should do, but previous experience made me hold back. But after a week, rumours started to spread from the Nantwich pans about the Manchester factory, and when on Friday night the Boar was full of talk of the Excise’s raid on the factory, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer.
As soon as the Boar was empty and I’d locked up, I told Adie to stop clearing the bar and to join me at a table. This time, I wasn’t nervous or embarrassed. I knew what I had to say was for the best. So wasting no time, I told her exactly what was on my mind.
“Adie, I’ve been thinking. I know you refused me when I asked you to marry me, but I think that was because I asked you for the wrong reasons.”
I knew I had my own reasons for asking her again, but for the time being, I kept them to myself. I just hoped she’d accept the reasons I gave her.
“But now I think it’s really important for both of us that we marry.”
She looked at me suspiciously, but I pressed on because I knew we needed to marry before we were arrested and I knew that was likely to happen soon.
“We both know we’re likely to be raided at any time. If we’re arrested but already married, we can’t be made to give evidence against each other. But we need to do it quickly. If you agree, I’ll go and see Reverend Grace in the morning and see if he’ll marry us tomorrow afternoon.”
She looked at me long and hard and then said,
“So I couldn’t be made to speak against you?”
“Nor me against you, not if we were married.”
“I didn’t know that.”
Again she stared at me. I wanted to promp
t her, give her more reasons to say yes, but something made me wait for her reply; I was so glad I did.
“Why should we wait until tomorrow afternoon? If I go with you in the morning, why can’t we get him to marry us straight away?”
I felt only relief. I’d clearly persuaded her that we had good reason to marry and she hadn’t suspected my real motives.
In the morning, we both dressed as well as we could and set off for the village. I had on the clothes I’d bought for Mr Dodds’ funeral, which may have been alright when I was in my early twenties, but were now decidedly ill-fitting – and in the most unlikely ways. My shoes, which I expected to fit if nothing else did, I managed to squeeze on but was unable to tie, my feet clearly having swollen after so many years of standing behind a bar. I knew my waist had expanded over the years, so I expected my breeches to give me the greatest difficulty. But the waist button fastened quite easily. The problem was that my thighs had thickened, making it difficult to keep the legs of the breeches over my knees. My waistcoat also rode up, but I told myself that was the modern fashion.
For Adie, it was easier. She only owned two smocks and two dresses, one dress she wore in the day and one she wore behind the bar in the evening. Since she believed her evening-wear bore less stains and tears, and there was no good reason why I should disagree, that was the one she chose to wear to our wedding.
We hurried towards the village, hoping we wouldn’t be seen but knowing that was unlikely. In fact, although we were hailed by a couple of Boar regulars who, nudging each other, pointed and laughed at the way we were dressed, we were almost at the church before we saw anyone else we knew. But then we saw the very last person we wanted to see, someone who stopped us in our tracks. Emerging from the same gennel that Adie had run from that first time we met, was the man who had been chasing her on that occasion.
Seeing us, Tom stopped and so did Adie. I knew she wanted to say something to him, but I also knew it was more important we completed the task we’d set out to perform and even more so because I was more certain than ever that Tom was the Excise Supervisor’s informant. Without a word, I put my arm around her shoulders and steered Adie along the Church path.
Before we left the Boar, I had wondered whether Reverend Grace would be in the church so early and now wonder turned to hope because, if he guessed what we were doing, I didn’t want Tom alerting the Excise Supervisor before we were married – Herne was certain to try to stop us.
When we entered the church, hope turned to despair. Though gloomy, the church was so small that I could see all of it. Eight rows of pews, unevenly divided so that six could sit together on one side but only two on the other, sat between plain white walls and were fronted by a baptismal font and a lectern. Behind the lectern, where Reverend Grace would make his fiery sermons and to his and the lecterns side stood the church’s only other notable feature, an ancient organ, said to be older than the church itself.
I smiled to myself, remembering how Adie had said I sounded like that organ’s wheezing bellows, when she’d run into me on the first occasion we met. But the smile was fleeting as it appeared we were the only ones there. I was about to suggest to Adie that we had no choice but to sit and wait for Reverend Grace to arrive, when movement at the far end of the larger front pew caught my eye. As I turned, Reverend Grace stood up and looked at us – clearly, he’d been on his knees praying and from the back of the church couldn’t be seen. In the pulpit, he had a fearsome reputation for breathing fire and brimstone, but when he spoke, although still brusque, he sounded welcoming.
“Good morning, Jabez, Admonition.” He gave a small nod towards Adie. “I was wondering when you two would come to see me.”
Although he was never seen in the Boar, the church was the villagers’ main centre of conversation and gossip, so it was hardly surprising that Reverend Grace had learnt that Adie was living at the Boar. Exactly what he’d heard and what he made of it was about to become clear.
“And you want me to marry the two of you and by the look of things, in a hurry as well. So I suppose there’s a baby on the way, is there?”
Adie was quicker to react than me.
“No, it’s nothing like that. Well, we do want to get married, but not because I’m having a baby.”
As we talked, the vicar reached us.
“But I’m right you’re in a hurry, yes?” Adie nodded. “So why is that then?”
Adie hesitated because she knew she couldn’t tell him the truth. Quickly, I said,
“Because we’re tired of all the gossip. I want to make an honest woman of her.”
I could see he didn’t believe me. He knew there must be something else, but I could also tell he wanted to see us married.
“We hoped you could marry us this morning. We thought that way we could have a quiet service and no one need know until it’s over.”
With a resigned smile, he said,
“Very well then. I need to change into my vestments and I need to be clear in an hour for our morning service. I suggest I re-join you here in about ten minutes.”
So that was that. I’d judged him correctly and ten minutes later, we met Reverend Grace at the lectern and in another ten, he had joined us in matrimony.
As we left, Adie suddenly took my arm and whispered,
“Let’s walk like newly-weds.”
She pulled in closer and I wondered if the marriage ceremony had affected her. For no reason I could really explain, I looked behind me and then understood her sudden change of mood. Tom hadn’t followed us into the church, but must have remained at the end of the gennel waiting for us to reappear. I had failed to notice he was there when we left the church because I was keen to return to the Boar – there was something I needed to do. I told Adie to ignore him and explained why we needed to get back. Adie paled and though she didn’t release my arm, she did start walking much faster. Looking back over my shoulder one last time, I was left with the haunting image of Tom grinning at me and as we walked, I thought how in all the years I’d known him, I had never even seen him smile. He must have guessed the reason we were in the church and that should have made him very angry, so the question I kept asking myself was what was making him grin now?
I didn’t have to wait long for an answer, because when we returned to the Boar, everything became very clear.
Four of them: Herne, his two men and Dick Sweetman were all gathered around the Inn’s front door. As we got nearer, they stepped back two or three paces and I could see that between them, they were holding a large piece of tree trunk and were about to use it as a battering ram. Detaching myself from Adie and breaking into a trot, I shouted,
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Of course, I knew exactly what they were doing. They were about to break down my front door, but I hoped hearing me made them hesitate long enough to allow me to reach them. Herne looked annoyed, as turning to me, he said,
“I want to see your cellar. Let us in and we’ll find our own way, you and your wife, I suppose that’s what I have to call her now, can stay out here with Sweetman.”
He didn’t appear to realise, or maybe didn’t care, but he’d just confirmed that Tom was his informer – his only thought was to get inside the Boar. I unlocked and open the door and he pushed past me, but before he and his men disappeared, he turned to Sweetman and said grimly,
“I’m expecting them to be here when I come out. I’ll hold you to blame if they’re not, understood?”
He didn’t wait for a reply. Instead, he and his men made their way inside. All Adie and I could do was wait for them to reappear. We stood there in silence for what seemed like forever, but probably was not more than twenty minutes, not daring to look at one another in case we somehow gave ourselves away; we both knew what was in the cellar and we didn’t want Herne to find it.
Herne and one of his men reappeared first, and from his thunderous look I knew their search had proved fruitless. I expected the second man to be right behi
nd them, but he failed to appear; Herne looked back. He clearly had no idea what was keeping him, but then we all heard the urgent call and Herne and his man rushed back inside. Reappearing shortly after, he was followed closely by both of his men, carrying between them what I knew to be the barrel that had leaked. They put it down and removed the lid so that Herne could lean over and take out a handful of the ruined salt. Holding out his hand, the salt falling from between his fingers, he asked,
“And how do you explain this then, Payne?”
I already knew if the barrel was found, there was little I could say that would help me, so I remained silent.
“Well, nothing to say for yourself, eh? Sweetman, go and fetch the cart. I’m putting them both under arrest.”
That wasn’t part of my plan.
“You can’t arrest Adie. She’s had nothing to do with it. She’s never even seen that barrel.”
He gave me a knowing smile and said,
“I was told you might say something like that. What you say might be true, but I doubt it – we’ll just have to let a judge and jury decide. Sweetman, I told you to fetch the cart!”
Richard Sweetman, who had been transfixed since Herne and his two men reappeared, was startled into action. Hurrying round to the orchard, he came back quickly, leading the horse and cart. Herne opened the back of the cart and with a sarcastically polite gesture of his hand, invited us to step up. I made one last, desperate attempt to stop him taking Adie.
“Herne, you’re making a mistake. I told you she had nothing to do with it. Let her go and I’ll confess. You won’t even need to convince a jury.”
Herne wavered. I think he was almost persuaded, but then Adie, who had said nothing since we arrived at the inn, ruined everything.
“That’s not true. I’ve known about Jabez’ work for as long as I’ve lived here. I even came up with the idea for the barrel.”
Turning to me, she said,
“I’m sorry Jabez. You’re a kind man and I know what you’re trying to do, but it’s not fair. I can’t let you take all the blame.”
With that, she stepped up onto the cart. Grasping my arm, Herne pressed me to follow. His men lifted the barrel up behind me and driven by a triumphant Herne, we were taken into Nantwich. Adie was taken down from the cart and put into the small gaol they have there, whilst I had to endure a much longer journey. A full two hours later, I was finally placed here in Northgate gaol.
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