The Baroque Cycle - The System Of The World Part 63

"You have a bit less of it now," Miss Barton said playfully. Then she turned her head to one side, attending to some subtle noise without, that Daniel had not heard. "Who is there?" she called, and gathered up an arm-load of tarp, ready to give it a heave. "Don't!" Daniel called, for he was most indecent.

"The servants have seen ever so much worse!" she returned with a roll of the eyes, and heaved. The curtain flew back and ended up creased over Daniel's head like a little roof. He gazed out upon the face of Sir Isaac Newton, who was standing there with his back to the volcano, beaming lanthorn-light at him.

"I came as soon as I heard the dreadful news," he announced crisply, at some point during the approximately half an hour during which Daniel was rendered speechless. Isaac had not evinced the slightest surprise at seeing Daniel here, in this pose. This raised interesting questions. Had he been eavesdropping the entire time, and therefore had ample time to master his rage and astonishment? Or was his opinion of Daniel's character now so abyssal that he simply felt nothing at all?

"It seems, however," Isaac went on, "that matters are well in hand here."

"That they are, uncle," said Miss Barton, and glided down off the bed of the chariot to give her kinsman a chaste peck on the cheek.

"Is there any way that I might be of a.s.sistance?" Isaac was desirous of knowing.

Daniel could not think of anything to say. He would have ample time to re-live the moment later, to savor and amplify his embarra.s.sment. What struck him now, as he sat there in a half-ripped-off night-s.h.i.+rt, gazing upon fully dressed Isaac, was that word of Roger's death must be out; and all over the metropolis at this instant, people were awake, and out-maneuvering Daniel in ways that he probably would never even know about.

The Castle, Newgate Prison 29 SEPTEMBER 1714.

A TURRETED CASTLE BESTRODE TURRETED CASTLE BESTRODE Holborn. On the side where the gentleman and his host were taking tea, the building sported a n.o.ble facade, to make a great impression on riders entering into London from the west. The ground floor was mostly accounted for by the vaulted arch of the gateway. The floor above that contained the machinery for raising and lowering the siege-grade portcullis; this was hidden behind a row of niches in which Liberty, Justice, and other n.o.ble ladies took shelter from the rains. This had not prevented their turning a mottled black from coal-smoke. So they glared down like Furies at all who pa.s.sed beneath. But the next floor up was adorned by a triple Gothick window centered above the highway, rather like the hatch at the top of a German clock, whence the cuckoo popped out on the hour. Behind those windows lay Jack's new abode. He would not be popping out, however, as they were heavily barred. Indeed, the first resident of this flat must have been a blacksmith, who must've lived there for a month, forging those gridirons and setting them into the stone frames. But they were excellent windows, taller than Jack and wider than the span of his arms, and despite the ma.s.sive bars they admitted a fortune in light. Holborn. On the side where the gentleman and his host were taking tea, the building sported a n.o.ble facade, to make a great impression on riders entering into London from the west. The ground floor was mostly accounted for by the vaulted arch of the gateway. The floor above that contained the machinery for raising and lowering the siege-grade portcullis; this was hidden behind a row of niches in which Liberty, Justice, and other n.o.ble ladies took shelter from the rains. This had not prevented their turning a mottled black from coal-smoke. So they glared down like Furies at all who pa.s.sed beneath. But the next floor up was adorned by a triple Gothick window centered above the highway, rather like the hatch at the top of a German clock, whence the cuckoo popped out on the hour. Behind those windows lay Jack's new abode. He would not be popping out, however, as they were heavily barred. Indeed, the first resident of this flat must have been a blacksmith, who must've lived there for a month, forging those gridirons and setting them into the stone frames. But they were excellent windows, taller than Jack and wider than the span of his arms, and despite the ma.s.sive bars they admitted a fortune in light.

The Castle, as this part of Newgate Prison was called, was meant for Prisoners of Quality. So it lacked certain facilities that were present in abundance in other parts of the gaol, e.g., iron wall-rings to which difficult prisoners could be fettered. The gaolers had been forced to improvise. A hundred pounds of chain had been looped round some of the window-bars and dragged along the floor to Jack and locked to his ankle-fetters. The chain was long enough that he could hobble to any part of the apartment, save the exit. For the nonce, he was seated at his table, sipping tea.

Standing before his great window and gazing through the grid-work, the visitor enjoyed a view along the road up Snow Hill to the place where it bridged the Fleet Ditch some quarter of a mile away. Beyond that it swelled to twice or thrice the width, and rambled off among posh squares and courts that had been cow-pastures when Jack was a lad. Much nearer to hand, no more than a bow-shot away, to the right, lay the Church of St. Sepulchre. It was an ancient English church of that school of architecture known to scholars as A Big Pile of Rocks. There, Jack and his fellow Tyburn commuters would be subjected to a tedious rite in one month's time. So Jack preferred not to let his gaze rest on that Church and especially not its Yard, which had swallowed more dead than it could cleanly digest.

"All of the best apartments in London, it seems, are in b.l.o.o.d.y Prisons," said the visitor, "and all of them are occupied by men who are troublesome to me, in one way or another."

Against those windows he made a perfect Fopp-silhouette, like something snipped out of black paper by an ingenious miniaturist on the Pont-Neuf. From the high-styled ringlets of his periwig down to the bows on his shoes, back up the curves of his well-muscled calves and the perfectly cut skirts of his coat, traveled the eyes of Jack. He wore a scabbard and a small-sword, and Jack thought of flattening him with a swing of the mighty chain, and s.n.a.t.c.hing the weapon. But this would boot him nothing and so to think of it was idle. Jack snapped out of this hyper-violent reverie, and tried to make conversation.

"What, are you speaking of that bloke in the Clink? The famous Dappa?"

"You know that I am," said Charles White, and turned his back to the view. He reached out absent-mindedly and stroked Jack's chain where it was looped about the window-bars. "Before this country became so disorderly, all all of those who were troublesome to their betters were pent up in places such as this. I am pleased that there are still remaining of those who were troublesome to their betters were pent up in places such as this. I am pleased that there are still remaining some some vestiges of civilization." vestiges of civilization."

"But isn't that Dappa more more trouble for you in the Clink?" trouble for you in the Clink?"

"I have plans for Dappa," said White, "and I have plans for you. And that that is why facilities such as the Clink and Newgate are so useful; they hold men like you in one place long enough for men like me to make plans." is why facilities such as the Clink and Newgate are so useful; they hold men like you in one place long enough for men like me to make plans."

"All right," said Jack, "I knew we'd get round to this, and I am ready for it. You are a tedious and obvious bloke, Mr. White. So I need only ask myself, what's the most tedious and obvious plan that a man could devise? Why, to have me done away with. Not much of a threat, as one month from to-day I've an appointment with Mr. Jack Ketch at Tyburn Cross; and there is no way you could murder me here here that could be worse than how he'll carry it off that could be worse than how he'll carry it off there there. So you are powerless to issue threats. You must, therefore, offer inducements."

"You rush ahead so!" White exclaimed. "It were proper, first, to speak of what it is that you must do."

"There's nothing in the world I must must do," Jack reminded him. "In that sense I'm the freest man in the world. What is it that you are trying to do," Jack reminded him. "In that sense I'm the freest man in the world. What is it that you are trying to get get me to do?" me to do?"

"You are charged with High Treason in the form of coining. Sir Isaac Newton has enough to prove it; there's little point in offering up a defense. You'll be asked to plead, guilty or not guilty. It is a necessary formality. If you refuse to enter a plea, you'll be subject to the peine forte et dur peine forte et dur-pressing under weights-until you die, or change your mind."

"I have been coming to Newgate since I was a wee lad, and well know the Standard Procedures," said Jack. "What is your point?"

"If you agree to make a statement, I'll see to it that several men are present-not just Sir Isaac. In the presence of those men, you will say that Sir Isaac Newton debased the coinage, and took the gold that he skimmed from Her Majesty's coffers, and-"

"Pocketed it?"

"No."

"Gave it to prost.i.tutes?"

"No."

"Drank it up?"

"No. Used it to perform Alchemical research in the Tower."

"Oh! Of course. Stupid me," said Jack, and slapped himself in the forehead so briskly that his ankle-chains jingled. "That were a far more credible accusation."

"My lord Bolingbroke got wind of it," White went on, in a peculiar singsong cadence meant to remind Jack that this was the made-up Romance that he was supposed to be memorizing, "and quite properly began to make preparations for a Trial of the Pyx. Hearing of this, the guilty Newton flew into a panic, and reached you, Jack, and induced you and your gang-"

"Gang. Gang. Why is it ever 'Gang?' Don't call them that. It sounds so-I don't know-criminal. They are my family and friends."

"Induced you and your a.s.sociates a.s.sociates to break in to the Tower, open the Pyx, remove the debased guineas that would prove Newton's guilt, and replace them with sound ones. To make this possible Newton led me and others on a wild goose chase to s.h.i.+ve Tor. You achieved your mission; but it went awry in some small way-here you can make up something plausible-and people found out about it, and now Newton is trying to commit judicial murder on you and your... to break in to the Tower, open the Pyx, remove the debased guineas that would prove Newton's guilt, and replace them with sound ones. To make this possible Newton led me and others on a wild goose chase to s.h.i.+ve Tor. You achieved your mission; but it went awry in some small way-here you can make up something plausible-and people found out about it, and now Newton is trying to commit judicial murder on you and your...a.s.sociates, to cover his traces." to cover his traces."

" 'Twould make for a lively half-hour, relating such a yarn in the presence of my persecutor, and a panel of a-mazed Big-wigs," Jack admitted. "As if 'twere a Statue set up in the middle of my Apartment, I shall, in weeks to come, circle round your Proposition and view it from diverse angles and in different lights, and peruse it for Defects."

"Did you say, weeks weeks?" asked the amused/perplexed White. "Because-"

"There is ample time for me to consider it," Jack said authoritatively. "And I shall consider it far more seriously if you can let me know what I might get out of it, other than a few minutes' entertainment."

"Escape," said Charles White. "Escape to America for you and your...a.s.sociates in the Fleet Prison."

Now at this Jack felt moved, at last, to bestir himself, and shuffled across the floor, dragging the chain behind him until he stood at the window, next to Charles White. It had been the tendency of White to gaze down the street and off to the right, which was his not especially subtle way of trying to draw Jack's attention to the Church of St. Sepulchre, and other grisly land-marks and way-stations along the route of the Hanging-March. But Jack looked rather to the left. Several buildings of note happened to be arranged in a straight line marching off to the southwest. Nearest to hand, just within musketry range, and therefore almost as convenient to the Old Bailey as Newgate, was the Fleet Prison. It was a great thick wall of Building, fuzzy with myriad chimney-pipes, spreading along the banks of the mighty s.h.i.+t-ditch after which it was named. Beyond that, on the opposite side of said ditch, and down a bit, sprawled Bridewell, infested with Females in Trouble. Then there was the Thames, and finally, miles off, he could see the odd spire belonging, he thought, to the Hall or the Abbey at Westminster. All of these were packed firmly in a matrix of unremarkable London buildings, post-Fire, therefore made of coal-blackened brick, and built wall to wall with nothing green, except for the odd fleck where some nest-building bird had stolen a bit of moss or turf from somewhere and been forced to drop it to evade a.s.sault by ravens, Nature's footpads. The only reason that the Fleet Prison could be identified as a separate Inst.i.tution was that its buildings rose up from the middle of an open plaza; it had grounds, and a perimeter.

"You'd have me believe, then," said Jack, "that you can spring three blokes out of there, there, as well as as well as me me out of out of here, here, on the same night? For you'll have to do both at the same time. To me it would seem a most difficult thing to put into execution-even if the Whigs on the same night? For you'll have to do both at the same time. To me it would seem a most difficult thing to put into execution-even if the Whigs hadn't hadn't beaten the stuffing out of your party and sent half of 'em packing to beaten the stuffing out of your party and sent half of 'em packing to La France La France."

"I must say that I am disappointed to hear such timid and doubtful words from the conqueror of the Tower," White said.

"I had had resources resources. You-"

"You underestimate the tenacity and the wealth of my Party. Do not be misled by the temporary departure of Bolingbroke. Rebellion is brewing, Jack. It might take a year or two, but mark my words: Jacobite armies will soon be on the march in this country and shall sweep away the Sp.a.w.n of the Usurper."

"That would be the King of England you're referring to, there?"

"As some style him. To arrange a simple jail-break, or two of them on the same evening, is really a trivial matter, Jack. Particularly from Newgate Prison, which has a history of escapes, by prominent prisoners, almost as ill.u.s.trious as that of the Tower."

"As to that I shall have to accept your word," said Jack, "since none of the blokes I knew here as a lad, ever escaped save via the Treble Tree."

"Then only ponder the immense value, to my Party, of discrediting Sir Isaac Newton, the coinage of this Realm, and the Whigs, all at a stroke; set aside which, the cost of arranging two jail-breaks is derisory."

"Sir, you may consider your proposal On the Table," said Jack, "and after I have waited a decent interval for competing proposals to join it, I shall weigh them all, and arrive at some judicious decision, provided that my old mate, the Imp of the Perverse, does not get the better of me."

The Black Dogg of Newgate 4 OCTOBER 1714.

NEWGATE WAS THE MOST versatile building in town. It was the Middles.e.x county gaol, not only for malefactors, but for debtors of both the honest and the dishonest type, and for fines as well. But this was also the City of London's prison for criminals. It was in that capacity that it now played host to Jack Shaftoe, and hundreds of others who only versatile building in town. It was the Middles.e.x county gaol, not only for malefactors, but for debtors of both the honest and the dishonest type, and for fines as well. But this was also the City of London's prison for criminals. It was in that capacity that it now played host to Jack Shaftoe, and hundreds of others who only wished wished they were Jack Shaftoe. But grades and distinctions could be found even within that cla.s.s. Not all London criminals were footpads, horsepads, shoplifters, file-clys, night-gamesters, running-smoblers, or till-divers. There were also the Unfortunate Gentlemen, guilty of Treason, Murder, Highway Robbery, Rape, Scandal, Debt, Duelling, Bankruptcy, or Coining. Of all of these except for Rape and Debt, Jack Shaftoe was guilty as charged. they were Jack Shaftoe. But grades and distinctions could be found even within that cla.s.s. Not all London criminals were footpads, horsepads, shoplifters, file-clys, night-gamesters, running-smoblers, or till-divers. There were also the Unfortunate Gentlemen, guilty of Treason, Murder, Highway Robbery, Rape, Scandal, Debt, Duelling, Bankruptcy, or Coining. Of all of these except for Rape and Debt, Jack Shaftoe was guilty as charged.

To create a distinct Ward or Hold for each of these cla.s.ses were a task to which only Noah were equal. But to mix them all in one room were unnatural, or, at least, un-English. Accordingly, Newgate possessed three great divisions. Below the aristocratic confines of the Press-Yard and Castle, where Toffs in Trouble paid their debts to society playing cards in ventilated apartments, but above the loathsome flesh-pits of the Common-Side, was the Master-Side of Newgate. One part of this was for Felons, the other for mere Debtors, but in practice they were all commingled, especially in that part of the prison called the Black Dogg.

Inhabitants of the Press-Yard and Castle looked indistinguishable from any other Persons of Quality, save that they were fettered. Common-Side prisoners tended to be flagrantly, almost gloriously wretched, and even without the heavy chains that they were obliged to wear, could never have been mistaken for anything other than prisoners. Occupants of the Master-Side, however, bore to free Londoners the same relations.h.i.+p as a dried and salted cod, hanging on a rack, did to a live one swimming in the sea: which was to say that most of the same bits were there, and with some squinting, head-c.o.c.king, and generous dollops of imagination, you could make in your mind's eye a picture of what they'd once been. Family and friends would show up from time to time bearing clothing, food, candles, and toiletries, and so most of these were able to keep up some vestiges of whatever looks they'd had before they'd been clapped into irons.

The Visitor looked like one of those. The patches that held his clothing together might have been taken as stigmata of poverty up on Newgate Street, but down here in the Black Dogg, people were apt to look on them as badges or decorations proving that someone out there still knew his name. His black periwig, so ratty and bedraggled, would have earned him mockery had he worn it in Charing Cross, but in the Black Dogg it proved-well, it proved he still had a periwig. More remarks in the same vein could be made concerning his shoes, his stockings, and the three-cornered hat pulled down low over his face. Even his insistent, raspy cough was very typical of Newgate prisoners, as was his low murmuring way of speaking. All in all, anyone familiar with Newgate would have marked him, without a moment's thought, as a long-term Master-Side Debtor. But then, upon a second look, they would have noted two oddities about the man: one, that there were no irons round his ankles. He was free to leave. Two, that the ankle-chained bloke he was conversing with was a clean and well-dressed Press-Yard and Castle prisoner, only slumming for a short interval here in the Black Dogg. Divers cudgel-wielding Gaolers and Bailiffs had crowded into the place to keep an eye on this inmate while he pa.s.sed the time of day with his visitor. But soon enough it had become evident that this old, coughing, out-of-breath, patched, raggedy, down-at-heels gager could not possibly be here as part of any scheme to break Jack Shaftoe out of prison. Or if he were, he could be stopped simply by throwing him an elbow. So the guards had relaxed, and shooed prisoners off benches and away from tables, and taken seats, bought drink from the prisoner-barman, and bided their time, each keeping an eye on Jack from across the room.

"Thank you for coming round," Jack said to his visitor. "I'd have nipped round to see you, but I'm chained to a great b.l.o.o.d.y window-grille most days."

The Visitor twitched and coughed.

"Thought you might like to know," Jack continued, "that I have been receiving offers from other quarters that are right tempting. More attractive, by a long chalk, than aught that I've heard from you you."

The Visitor murmured some hot words, and, when words failed him, made flat slicing gestures.

"Oh, I've no illusions as to that, that," Jack a.s.sured him. "All has changed since we met here on the 28th of July. There is abundant evidence-as people never tire of telling me-to send me and the boys to Tyburn. So, I am not about to ask you for what we spoke of before: the farm in Carolina. That That is a pipe-dream. But for Christ's sake! A man of your intelligence must know that is a pipe-dream. But for Christ's sake! A man of your intelligence must know that this this is no kind of tempting offer! A merciful hanging, that is to say, a long drop, a short stop, and a decent burial for me and the boys. You cannot seriously expect me to a.s.sist you in exchange for such floor-sweepings. b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l, if I want to die fast, I can make it so in the privacy of my own apartment!" is no kind of tempting offer! A merciful hanging, that is to say, a long drop, a short stop, and a decent burial for me and the boys. You cannot seriously expect me to a.s.sist you in exchange for such floor-sweepings. b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l, if I want to die fast, I can make it so in the privacy of my own apartment!"

The Visitor spoke for some little while now, but was cut off, at the end, by a coughing fit; which seemed to bring him such discomfort that he s.h.i.+fted about and writhed on his chair.

"Sore ribs," was the diagnosis of Doctor Jack Shaftoe. "Oh, I've had what you've got, sir, a time or two. b.l.o.o.d.y torture, ain't it? An arm or a leg heals in a trice, but ribs take forever." This seemed to be a sort of patter while he waited for the Visitor's fit to subside. When the other had finally stifled himself with a handkerchief to the lips, Jack went on: "It is easy enough for me to stand up before anyone you like, put my hand on a Bible, and testify that the coins I took out of the Pyx-your coins-were sound, and the ones I put into it- coins-were sound, and the ones I put into it-my fakes-were debased. But you quite correctly ask, who the h.e.l.l is going to take fakes-were debased. But you quite correctly ask, who the h.e.l.l is going to take my my word for it? No one in his right mind. So. Yes. Indeed. You, sir, require word for it? No one in his right mind. So. Yes. Indeed. You, sir, require hard hard evidence, in the form of the evidence, in the form of the hard hard currency that I stole. Where is it, you'd like to know? Well, I already told you before that I gave all of that swag to the late Marquis of Ravenscar. I hoped that'd satisfy you. But as you have been so tiresome on this topic, I have, since the Marquis's death, made certain inquiries among those of my friends you've not yet murdered, thrown into prison, or chased out of the country. And they tell me, sir, that those Sinthias from the Pyx were taken out of Ravenscar's house after he died by that friend of his, that Daniel Waterhouse, and that this Waterhouse cove placed 'em for safekeeping in a vault or something below the ground out in Clerkenwell-I see by your face that you know the place I mean!" For the greasy wig had begun to bob up and down as the Visitor nodded. currency that I stole. Where is it, you'd like to know? Well, I already told you before that I gave all of that swag to the late Marquis of Ravenscar. I hoped that'd satisfy you. But as you have been so tiresome on this topic, I have, since the Marquis's death, made certain inquiries among those of my friends you've not yet murdered, thrown into prison, or chased out of the country. And they tell me, sir, that those Sinthias from the Pyx were taken out of Ravenscar's house after he died by that friend of his, that Daniel Waterhouse, and that this Waterhouse cove placed 'em for safekeeping in a vault or something below the ground out in Clerkenwell-I see by your face that you know the place I mean!" For the greasy wig had begun to bob up and down as the Visitor nodded.

The Visitor pointed something out, and then it was Jack's turn to nod. "You'll never come out and say what you mean, but I can translate it well enough into plain talk: without the King's Messengers to act as your bully boys, you must go through channels now. You can no longer just raid a place like Clerkenwell Court on your personal say-so. You must secure the Authority first. If you would like me to testify before a magistrate that the Pyx coins are secured in that vault, why, I'll do that, sir, I will. But in exchange I must have freedom for Jimmy and Danny and Tomba. And for myself I want life, is all. Keep me locked up forever, if that is your will; but I'll not be subjected to all of that rudeness out at Tyburn, and my parts pickled in Jack Ketch his Kitchen."

The Visitor mumbled something, and clawed at the tabletop until he'd dragged himself to his feet. "See you in a week, then!" Jack said. The Visitor said nothing in return, but turned round, keeping his face to the wall, and tottered out of the Black Dogg.

NOW SOME OF THE G GAOLERS were of a mind to jump up and fetch Jack straightaway back to his parlor up in the Castle. But others had not yet finished their pints. Jack himself had ordered a round for the house only a minute earlier, and had not even begun to quaff from the fresh mug that had just been set before him. It seemed indecent to drag him out just now. So Jack sat, and shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with several prisoners who had the temerity to approach his table, and even kissed a Common-Side wench-almost certainly a Felon, by the looks of her-on the cheek. But after a few minutes there was movement from an adjacent table. Two free men had been sitting there all through Jack's interview with his visitor: one, younger and quite bulky, the other, of indeterminate age (because of a wig and a turned-up collar) but with the bony physique of one of those fortunate chaps who has found the knack of spiting age. The big one stayed in his chair, only s.h.i.+fting position so as to bring Jack's table into the corner of his eye. The slight one got up, went into the corner, and helped himself to a seat. He was gripping a mug-courtesy of Jack! He had not, however, brought it to his lips. Rather, he kept it clenched between his hands so that they would not shake so much. They wanted to shake with rage. No, they wanted to close round the throat of Jack Shaftoe. were of a mind to jump up and fetch Jack straightaway back to his parlor up in the Castle. But others had not yet finished their pints. Jack himself had ordered a round for the house only a minute earlier, and had not even begun to quaff from the fresh mug that had just been set before him. It seemed indecent to drag him out just now. So Jack sat, and shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with several prisoners who had the temerity to approach his table, and even kissed a Common-Side wench-almost certainly a Felon, by the looks of her-on the cheek. But after a few minutes there was movement from an adjacent table. Two free men had been sitting there all through Jack's interview with his visitor: one, younger and quite bulky, the other, of indeterminate age (because of a wig and a turned-up collar) but with the bony physique of one of those fortunate chaps who has found the knack of spiting age. The big one stayed in his chair, only s.h.i.+fting position so as to bring Jack's table into the corner of his eye. The slight one got up, went into the corner, and helped himself to a seat. He was gripping a mug-courtesy of Jack! He had not, however, brought it to his lips. Rather, he kept it clenched between his hands so that they would not shake so much. They wanted to shake with rage. No, they wanted to close round the throat of Jack Shaftoe.

Jack enjoyed watching his new visitor for a few minutes. For it took that long for the old man to contain his fury enough to speak.

"How long," he finally said, "how long have you been whispering those-those abominable lies into the ear of Sir Isaac Newton?"

"For as long as I have been privy privy to his eager ears," said Jack, "going on two months now. It is something I never looked for. Great men in this town will do backflips to get Ike's attention for even a moment. Who'd have thought he would listen so avidly to a Vagabond? And yet since he clapped me in irons, I've had better entree to him than the b.l.o.o.d.y King of England himself. I snap my fingers-there he is, ready to listen for hours." to his eager ears," said Jack, "going on two months now. It is something I never looked for. Great men in this town will do backflips to get Ike's attention for even a moment. Who'd have thought he would listen so avidly to a Vagabond? And yet since he clapped me in irons, I've had better entree to him than the b.l.o.o.d.y King of England himself. I snap my fingers-there he is, ready to listen for hours."

"Since the Marquis of Ravenscar went to his long home," said Daniel, "Isaac Newton is my oldest friend. Or was was; for your lies have made him into a bitter and dangerous enemy."

Jack snorted. "I could see what excellent friends friends you were when you came here to parley with me on the evening of July the 28th. The suspicion on old Ike's face was quite obvious. Oh, not suspicion you were when you came here to parley with me on the evening of July the 28th. The suspicion on old Ike's face was quite obvious. Oh, not suspicion of you only of you only but of but of everyone everyone. I knew then that a few words from me would set him off. And so now you are enemies. Which is of as much significance to me, as that flies are, at this moment, swarming on camels' a.r.s.es in Cairo. Your old friend, enemy, or whatever he is, wishes to tear me limb from limb. Now. This bloke, who would do this terrible thing to me, is, it seems, a sorcerer or alchemist of some stripe, straight out of a bleeding faery-tale! Just like elves and trolls, his sort are fading away, and soon to vanish from this world. A state of affairs that is as plain to them, them, as it is to you and me! But where you and I look on this as a dying-off-and good riddance!-Ike and his chums mistake it for an Apocalypse that will be their great and final triumph. Ones such as he used to come and pester us in Vagabond-camps, and we would sport with them, lacking other diversions. Just as the proprietor of a gin-house uses his customers' l.u.s.t for booze to get money to feed his family, why, I am using Ike's l.u.s.t for the Solomonic Gold to get what I require for myself and the boys. Which I'll go on doing until I have achieved satisfaction. If the result is a raid upon the Whig Mint hidden at Clerkenwell Court, and if in consequence you and your learned a.s.sociates are brought hither in chains, it is nothing to me." as it is to you and me! But where you and I look on this as a dying-off-and good riddance!-Ike and his chums mistake it for an Apocalypse that will be their great and final triumph. Ones such as he used to come and pester us in Vagabond-camps, and we would sport with them, lacking other diversions. Just as the proprietor of a gin-house uses his customers' l.u.s.t for booze to get money to feed his family, why, I am using Ike's l.u.s.t for the Solomonic Gold to get what I require for myself and the boys. Which I'll go on doing until I have achieved satisfaction. If the result is a raid upon the Whig Mint hidden at Clerkenwell Court, and if in consequence you and your learned a.s.sociates are brought hither in chains, it is nothing to me."

"Fine. It is all clear. What is it then that you want?"

"Jimmy, Danny, Tomba, and I, free men, on a s.h.i.+p bound for America."

"It is so noted," said the other. "However, there is a complication of which I am obliged to make you aware."

"My gla.s.s is only half empty, Dr. Waterhouse, and you have not even touched yours; so it seems there is ample time, if you will abandon this guarded cryptic way of speaking and only come out and say what you mean."

"You may-supposing some escape were to be possible-board s.h.i.+p and go to America. But may-supposing some escape were to be possible-board s.h.i.+p and go to America. But she she will not." will not."

Jack almost shot back some waggish riposte, but then a serious look spread over his phizz, and he settled back, and waited. "You cannot possibly be talking about what I think think you're talking about!" he said finally. you're talking about!" he said finally.

"I know it is difficult to believe," said Daniel.

"Even supposing-well-supposing any number of things I'm unwilling to suppose-why would she employ you you as a go-between?" as a go-between?"

"It is an eminently reasonable question," said Daniel. "The answer is that she is not. I am doing this at the bidding of another-a friend of the lady in question."

"Then I do not think much of this person's friends.h.i.+p," said Jack, "for a true friend would not dream of trying to mend what was broken so long ago. Some friend! Ha!"

"None the less," Daniel said, "I have been asked, by the friend in question, to make inquiries. The friend is young, and she has fanciful notions concerning the power of true love, et cetera, et cetera et cetera, et cetera."

"Yes, as depicted in plays," Jack said. "And by that I do not mean the vile, merry plays of the Restoration but older ones such as I attended as a lad."

"Of a simpler aera."

"Indeed. Yes. Though I am by no means fatuous enough to believe in such mawkish phant'sies, sir, I know how it is that young ladies, perhaps over-fond of the Theatre and the Italian Opera, can fall under its influence for a time, until Age and Experience slap them back to their senses. And so I'll allow that this young lady who sent you may be merely daft, daft, and not the least bit malicious." and not the least bit malicious."

"She will be ever so gratified," said Daniel, "to know that the King of the Vagabonds thinks so."

"No need to jab at me, there, Doctor. 'Tis a sufficiently trying conversation, even without your biting asides. I am getting round to telling you something of great moment, which you must relay to this meddlesome la.s.s, and that is as follows: the woman in question said to me, a long time ago, that I'd never again see her nor hear her voice until the day I died. And she's not the sort to renege."

"Well, then, it follows that if you escape death, and board s.h.i.+p for America, you won't get to see her or speak to her," Daniel pointed out.

"That were a very sad fate indeed," said Jack, "but it is the fate to which I have been doomed for twelve years; and another few years of it wouldn't kill me; whereas hanging around London would would."

Fleet Prison AFTERNOON OF 5 OCTOBER 1714.

'TWAS NATURAL TO a.s.sUME of a prison that, like the of a prison that, like the Inferno Inferno of Dante, it would only get worse as one worked one's way in through the gate and pierced its concentric wards. Daniel had been circ.u.mventing the Fleet-a largely autonomous city of about a thousand souls-since he'd been tiny. The prison building proper (burned down in 1666, rebuilt in 1670) was a bit shy of two hundred fifty feet in length from the Poor Side common-room on the south end, to the Chapel on the north; forty feet deep; and forty high (sufficient for five storeys of low-ceilinged apartments, if one counted its half-buried cellar). But this structure, big as it was, could no more be confused with the Prison as a whole, than, say, the White Tower could be mistaken for the Tower of London complex. The Fleet Prison, as Daniel had always known it, was a squarish town about five hundred feet on a side-so, on paper, six acres or so. But seen up close it was like one of those writhing horrors that Hooke used to view under his microscope, which was to say it felt a thousand times larger than it was, because so complex and seething. Its outer boundary was understood to run, on the western side, right up the bank of the Fleet Ditch. On the north, all of Fleet Lane lay within it, but the buildings on the north side of the street lay without; so a prisoner could walk down the lane, trailing a hand along the fronts of the buildings, but if he or she stepped thro' a doorway it would be deemed an Escape, and set in motion a train of financial consequences for the Warden. Similarly on the street called the Great Old Bailey (which coincided with the eastern boundary) and Ludgate Hill (southern), though along the latter it was more complicated because the prison had thrust out three narrow tendrils along as many small Courts that depended from the south side of Ludgate. Thus the squarish, six-acre of Dante, it would only get worse as one worked one's way in through the gate and pierced its concentric wards. Daniel had been circ.u.mventing the Fleet-a largely autonomous city of about a thousand souls-since he'd been tiny. The prison building proper (burned down in 1666, rebuilt in 1670) was a bit shy of two hundred fifty feet in length from the Poor Side common-room on the south end, to the Chapel on the north; forty feet deep; and forty high (sufficient for five storeys of low-ceilinged apartments, if one counted its half-buried cellar). But this structure, big as it was, could no more be confused with the Prison as a whole, than, say, the White Tower could be mistaken for the Tower of London complex. The Fleet Prison, as Daniel had always known it, was a squarish town about five hundred feet on a side-so, on paper, six acres or so. But seen up close it was like one of those writhing horrors that Hooke used to view under his microscope, which was to say it felt a thousand times larger than it was, because so complex and seething. Its outer boundary was understood to run, on the western side, right up the bank of the Fleet Ditch. On the north, all of Fleet Lane lay within it, but the buildings on the north side of the street lay without; so a prisoner could walk down the lane, trailing a hand along the fronts of the buildings, but if he or she stepped thro' a doorway it would be deemed an Escape, and set in motion a train of financial consequences for the Warden. Similarly on the street called the Great Old Bailey (which coincided with the eastern boundary) and Ludgate Hill (southern), though along the latter it was more complicated because the prison had thrust out three narrow tendrils along as many small Courts that depended from the south side of Ludgate. Thus the squarish, six-acre rules rules (as it was, for some reason, called) within which certain prisoners could roam about un-chained and unguarded, provided that they had taken out a (as it was, for some reason, called) within which certain prisoners could roam about un-chained and unguarded, provided that they had taken out a Warrant of Attorney to confess a judgment to the amount of the debt with which the prisoner stands charged, with a defeazance on the back declaring it is to be void in case no escape should take place Warrant of Attorney to confess a judgment to the amount of the debt with which the prisoner stands charged, with a defeazance on the back declaring it is to be void in case no escape should take place. This and other such securities, by very long-standing tradition, made it at least theoretically possible for those who'd been put in prison for debt-which meant most of the Fleet's population-to move, and in some cases set up domiciles, outside of the Prison proper but within the rules, rules, which was nearly indistinguishable from other seedy neighborhoods of London. The only way you'd really know you were in a prison was that certain chaps had odd habits of locomotion-in the interior of the six acres they'd move about like anyone else, but as they approached the boundary streets they'd become tentative, as if they could sense an invisible barrier, and would sidle along cautiously, lest a misstep or traffic accident push them over the border and make them guilty of Escape. which was nearly indistinguishable from other seedy neighborhoods of London. The only way you'd really know you were in a prison was that certain chaps had odd habits of locomotion-in the interior of the six acres they'd move about like anyone else, but as they approached the boundary streets they'd become tentative, as if they could sense an invisible barrier, and would sidle along cautiously, lest a misstep or traffic accident push them over the border and make them guilty of Escape.

All of this was an accommodation that like other inst.i.tutions in this country had grown up insensibly during the half-dozen centuries since the Norman Conquest. When those actual Normans had burst in on the place, they'd found a patch nearer to one acre in extent, shaped like the hoof-print of a horse, its flat side defined by the bank of the Fleet River (in those days, one phant'sied, a babbling rural freshet) and the rest of it bulging out to the east. In any case it had somehow picked up a privileged legal status: the Bishop of London had authority over all the land around it, but not this one-acre hoofprint. Which anomaly could presumably be traced back to some more or less interesting yarn involving mailed Angles whaling on each other with gory battle-axes, but none of that mattered now-what mattered was that this oddity had somehow been leveraged, over the better part of a millennium, into the hoofprint's current status as the Prison for the Courts of Common Pleas, Chancery, Exchequer, and Curia Regis. It had served in like capacity for the Court of Star Chamber until that had been abolished, and so Drake had once been chained up here, before Daniel had been born. In those days, for that reason, it had been a more interesting place, and more profitable to the Warden. But now it was thought of almost entirely as a debtors' prison. There were a few exceptions to that rule, which had lately become very important to Daniel. But in order for him to come to grips with the exceptions exceptions he had first to know and understand the he had first to know and understand the norms norms.

This had entailed a negligible amount of preliminary research. Negligible because small, but also because he simply could not believe what he'd been reading about how the place was run. Like a general planning a campaign, he'd sought to draw up an Order of Battle: a list of the opposing forces, an inventory of their battalions. Yet no matter how many doc.u.ments he perused, or debtors he bought gin for in the sad taverns that competed against cut-rate slaughterhouses and brothels for real estate in the rules, rules, he could only turn up references to the following officials: he could only turn up references to the following officials: A Warden, who had bought the t.i.tle as a sort of Investment-possibly the most complicated financial security in the history of the world-and who was never there.

A Deputy Warden, who had entered into some manner of indenture with the Warden, so as to s.h.i.+eld the Warden from the liability he ought to have incurred whenever a prisoner was found to have escaped-the details made Daniel's head spin, and were not important-suffice it to say that the arrangement only made sense if the Deputy Warden were essentially no better than an imprisoned debtor himself, so that when any liability fell on him him as a result of an escape, he could simply shrug off the now inconvenient t.i.tle, plead insolvency, and dissolve back into the Fleet's general population. as a result of an escape, he could simply shrug off the now inconvenient t.i.tle, plead insolvency, and dissolve back into the Fleet's general population.

A few Tipstaffs, who were officials charged with escorting prisoners to and from the several Courts; these were not resident in the Prison and had no weapons [other than painted staves] and no power to help or hinder Daniel.

A Scavenger, who as far as could be made out was a parasitical species of janitor.

A Crier.

A Chaplain.

Three Turnkeys.