Lanky Jones Page 9

  ‘A turn?’

  ‘Yes; she is given to epileptic fits.’

  Mr Jones felt his face stretch slightly. So that was it: the screaming, the goings-on in the night. Why on earth had they kept it a secret? And he said as much. ‘Why have you tried to hide it, I mean, her being epileptic?’

  ‘Because she was so ashamed of anybody knowing. She can go months on end and not have one, then excitement, something new like your visit and being in the company…sympathetic company of Daniel, set her off again the first night you were here.

  ‘She sleeps up in the attic when there’s company. But we rarely have company, except one or two members of the family who know of her condition. Even then she sleeps in the far room in the attic in case she should disturb anyone. You didn’t hear her?’

  ‘I didn’t the first night, but Daniel did.’

  ‘I told you.’ Michael was nodding at his mother now. ‘He looked at me as if I’d been hammering her. Stupid, anyway, to try and keep the thing hidden; it always comes out sooner or later. She’s got to face it, I’ve told her.’

  ‘She’s only a child yet, Michael; she doesn’t really understand. Anyway, there is hope.’ Mary now looked up at Mr Jones, ‘I understand there’s been a breakthrough and that there’s a new treatment. It doesn’t answer for everybody and as yet only for light petit mal cases and these have been cured. But unfortunately Sally’s isn’t a light case. Still, the attacks are not nearly so frequent as they used to be. She’s on special pills and up till now they’ve worked wonders.’

  ‘How long will it be before she comes round?’ The question from Mr Jones sounded urgent and Mary answered, ‘Oh, she can sleep for eight solid hours, sometimes less. She must already have been sleeping for some time now.’

  ‘You couldn’t waken her? Her mentioning Daniel, she might…’

  ‘It was likely only because she was looking for him,’ Michael said quietly now. ‘If she had seen him he would be along of her, wouldn’t he?’

  ‘Yes, yes, I suppose so.’ Mr Jones straightened his back and turned away, muttering as he did so, ‘Damn that woman! Why couldn’t she leave him alone?’

  Chapter Nine

  Daniel thought that Combo was about to go completely insane when he came back into the room and found Sally gone. There was another man with him, short, thickset with ginger hair, and Combo turned to him and screamed, ‘She’s gone! Where the…!’ And there followed a string of expletives as he rushed to the door from where he shouted, ‘You, Arthur!’ then immediately turned back and, approaching Daniel, began to scream at the top of his voice. His arms flailing, his feet stamping, he looked as if he was dancing with rage, and when finally his hands went round Daniel’s throat and he screamed at him, ‘Where is she?’ Daniel, almost choking, gasped, ‘Home. Home.’ Combo left hold of his throat and turned to where the bearded man was now standing in the doorway, and screamed at him, ‘Where the hell do you think you’ve been? What have you been doing? The girl’s gone!’

  ‘Gone?’ The man stepped further into the room and stood looking down at Daniel. ‘Where’s she gone?’ he said stupidly. ‘What’ve you done with her?’

  As Combo yelled at him, ‘Don’t be such a senseless idiot!’ Daniel yelled as loudly, ‘I sent her home. By now she’ll be there and you can all look out. As for you, Combo, it won’t be just a black eye you’ll get. When Michael and those farmers get you…get all of you, you won’t be able to walk to jail. I’ll tell you that, the lot of you…’

  The kick that Daniel received from Combo’s boot knocked him onto his side and almost made him vomit. He lay gasping with the pain and for a second was only conscious of a confusion of angry voices without making any coherent sense of them before Combo, forcing his mouth open by the simple method of digging his fingers and thumb into his cheeks, stuffed the dirty rag back into it again, while hissing, ‘You’ll be sorry you ever crossed me, lad. Just you wait and see.’

  ‘I’m gettin’ out of this,’ the short man said; ‘I didn’t like it in the first place.’

  ‘You’re in it as much as we are and you’ll stay and see it through now.’

  ‘You should have sold them to the butchers as I said.’ It was the bearded man Arthur speaking and as Combo hoisted Daniel roughly to his feet he cried at his mate, ‘Don’t talk through the top of your hat! Sell them for what? Pin money, when we can get twenty pounds a head from the captain. Shut up and start loading.’

  ‘What about the skins?’

  ‘Leave them. If that little fit case has reached home the skins won’t be any surprise to them when they arrive here…Come on, you, jump!’

  Daniel tried to hop but he fell forward onto his knees, and Combo called towards the small man who had already gone into the yard, ‘Give me a hand with this one, Tollgood. He’s not skinned yet but he soon will be.’

  The man Tollgood came back into the room and said to Combo, ‘What do you intend to do with him?’

  ‘You leave that to me.’

  ‘I don’t want to be in on any dirty business.’

  ‘Who’s askin’ you? Just drive us to the quay.’

  ‘You’ll never get him on board without being seen. There’s the river pollis and always somebody about.’

  ‘In fog like this? The radio says it’s all over the place. Anyway, he won’t be walkin’, hoppin’ or jumpin’ on board, he’ll be in a sack like the rest.’

  ‘I don’t like it. Sheep’s one thing, people another.’

  ‘Look, get a hold of his arm and shove him into the back of the van, because, let me tell you, if you don’t get at that wheel pretty soon it’ll be like he said, we ourselves mayn’t be able to walk to jail.’

  Between them they now dragged and hopped Daniel to the back of the van; and there Combo, standing him up against an opened door, reached inside the van and pulled out two sacks. Then suddenly he pushed Daniel so that he fell backwards onto the van floor with his legs dangling downwards, and ignoring the excruciating moan that penetrated the gag he pulled a sack over Daniel’s legs and tied it round the boy’s waist. The second sack he pulled over Daniel’s head but left loose. Now he commanded, ‘Heave him!’

  As Daniel felt himself being thrust among the bodies of the sheep, he thought for a moment he was going to suffocate. He was so full of fear that, had he been able, he felt sure he would have screamed like a girl.

  As the minutes passed and he felt more carcasses thrust around him, he prayed earnestly that Sally would have reached home and that the men would be on their way. But when the van began to move down the uneven road a sense of utter hopelessness enveloped him.

  He had no idea how long the journey took, he only knew that every minute his fear increased, if that was possible, and that he had to fight to keep breathing. He knew too that all the hate Combo was capable of had been concentrated against himself. And what would this hate cause him to do? Daniel shuddered at the thought that entered his head. If they got him on board a ship he could be easily dumped. He had heard stories of it happening before, especially after a body had come in on the tide.

  The thought made him struggle, but his struggling only settled the carcasses of the sheep more firmly around him…He was going to suffocate. He wanted air. If only he could get this rag out of his mouth…If only he could get his head out of the sack. If only…if only.

  If only he had gone with his mother when she asked him, or, more to the point, if only she hadn’t come pestering him, this would never have happened.

  He mustn’t give way, he must try to keep a clear head. Surely somebody somewhere would come to his aid. That other man, the driver.

  Don’t be silly. Don’t be silly. His body slumped. He stopped struggling, both mentally and physically, and lay limp awaiting events.

  He was only half conscious when he felt the sack being lifted from his head. When the light of a torch flashed into his eyes, he screwed them up against it. But he could not close his ears to Combo’s voice hissing softly at him now, ‘Feel that,’ whereupon he experienced a sharp jab in his neck that would have made him cry out in pain if that had been possible, and Combo went on, ‘In a few ticks you’ll be slung over somebody’s shoulder and feel yourself being carried. Now you make one wriggle in protest and this will go right through your gullet.’ Again he felt the pressure of the knife against his neck, but not so hard this time.

  The next instant the sack had been pulled over his head again and he lay still, listening. They were removing the sheep and doing it very quietly.

  When his legs were tugged forward and pulled over the edge of the van he thought his back would break, and he groaned inwardly, only for this to be checked when he felt his body being hauled upwards. And then he knew he was being hoisted over someone’s shoulder. Whoever was carrying him he realised must be very strong, for he himself was no light weight. And under his weight the person’s steps were even, until his gait changed and then Daniel knew they were ascending a slope…a gangway. Yes, that was it, he was being taken on board the boat.

  The steps were on the level once more; then when he felt he was going to fall head first downwards, he knew they were descending a ladder set at a steep angle.

  Again he was being borne along on the level; then once more his head was thrust forward and within seconds he was dropped to the ground. The next minute the sack was taken from his head and he was immediately aware of two things: first, he was staring up at a man who seemed to be of enormous proportions; and secondly, that the air he was breathing now stank with a rankness that was sick-making.

  ‘Not very light sheep, that one.’ The man was obviously a foreigner and he was speaking to someone who was descending an iron ladder. It was Combo, and Combo answered the big man, saying, ‘What did you take the sack off him for?’

  ‘Can’t cause no harm now. And I wanted to see what he looked like…Just a boy, big, but still a boy. Why?’

  Combo answered the big man’s question by repeating his word, ‘Why?’ he said. ‘He knows why and I know why.’

  ‘Captain will want straighter answer than that. Captain won’t like it.’

  ‘He’ll like it all right, because if that one was to go free’—he aimed his foot towards Daniel but didn’t reach him—‘I wouldn’t be the only one on skilly for the next year or so. He knows too much, damn sight too much.’

  ‘He has no passport. What’ll he do at other side?’

  Combo turned away towards the ladder, saying, ‘Where he’s going he won’t need a passport, Blondie.’

  Now the big man turned his gaze from Combo and looked down on Daniel, and his eyes narrowed slightly before he said, ‘No?’

  And Combo repeated, ‘No.’

  ‘Oh.’ The big man continued to stare at Daniel for a moment or so longer; then shaking his head slowly, he lifted one shoulder upwards before turning away and following Combo up the ladder.

  When the iron hatch clanged shut Daniel was left in a blackness that was frightening. He seemed to feel it on his skin. His heart began to beat rapidly. He seemed more afraid now of this utter darkness than he was of his impending end. And then there was the silence. But he needn’t have worried about this for his legs jerked upwards as something ran across them…a rat. He was in the bowels of a ship and there were always rats in ships, so he understood.

  If only he could get this filthy rag out of his mouth. Combo had secured it with a piece of string that ran in between his teeth and was knotted at the back of his head.

  If only he could get his hands free.

  If only, if only…If only he could stop himself saying that. He ceased his struggling and lay limp on the filthy floor, and there settled on him an overwhelming feeling of despair. He knew now that it was very unlikely that when Sally did reach home she’d remember anything about a ship. Even if she did, what could she tell them precisely, there were so many ships coming and going up the river. Even if they started searching now there was little hope that they would reach this one before it sailed.

  How long he had lain in the blackness he didn’t know. He did know that for a time he must either have fallen asleep or had become unconscious, which was a good thing because his body was now so racked with pain that it was almost unbearable. But when he heard the hatch being lifted once more, he made an effort to raise himself on his elbow and to peer upwards. And he felt a strange stirring of curiosity when he realised that whoever was coming down into the hole was doing so very stealthily.

  But his curiosity was obliterated by a feeling of panic as he thought: It’s Combo, he’s going to do me in now.

  Painful as the action was, he pulled himself into a sitting position and when the light from a torch almost blinded him he turned his head away, then jerked it back again as a thick North-country voice said, ‘It’s all right, it’s only me. Eeh! By lad, you’re in a state. Got you trussed up like a chicken. Here, let’s get rid of that.’

  The next minute Daniel drew in one great long gasp of breath and although the air was foul, the first gulp of it going down his throat tasted sweet.

  As he sat gasping he looked at the figure bending over him and illuminated now in the light of the torch, a thin sharp face above a thin short body. At first Daniel thought he was looking at a young lad, yet there was an adultness about both the face and the voice that belied this. For now he was speaking, saying, ‘I’m Jackie Cummings, I’m a hand on this old tank, an’ as a rule I usually mind me own business. That’s how you keep out of the water.’ He grinned now, and then went on, ‘An’ you can take me word for it there’s some business goes on here that would raise your Aunt Mabel’s eyebrows. But this last…I mean you—’ His voice now sank to a whisper as he asked, ‘How did you get on the wrong side of that little rat, the Combo fellow?’

  ‘I came on him stealing sheep.’

  ‘An’ he’s gonna do you in for that?’

  There was a pause before Daniel said, ‘It seems like it.’

  ‘It doesn’t seem like it, it’s a sure thing. He means to finish you off. This is the third trip I’ve come across him. I didn’t like him on first sight an’ I like him less now. And Blondie isn’t for it either.’

  ‘Blondie?’

  ‘Aye, he’s the mate. He brought you down here. He’s not above using a knife himself where it’s necessary, I’ve seen him at it, but he doesn’t like this last affair. I heard him try to talk the little fellow out of it. But no, you’re for being thrown in at the deep end. They’re gonna keep you until the morrow night. That’s if everything goes according to plan. But the last word’s the captain’s, an’ if I know owt about him he won’t like this set up one bit. Not that he’s afraid of dumpin’ anybody. Oh no. Shave his mother’s hair off and sell it he would, skin a louse for its hide, that’s our dear captain. And the little rat Combo doesn’t know him like the rest of us does. For you know somethin’?’

  Daniel remained quiet, just waiting, and the young fellow went on. ‘They’re already takin’ bets on what the captain will do with Combo after the little fellow’s finished with you. Likely see he follows you down an’ so quick an’ all that he’ll keep you company. That’s if you go down.’ There followed a short silence before Daniel’s companion ended, ‘Well, what are we gonna do about you?’

  And Daniel replied quickly, ‘You could loosen these ropes and let me make a fight for it.’

  ‘Aye, aye, that’s what I thought of doin’ in the first place. I didn’t risk me neck comin’ here just to say hello. Yet even if they found me, Blondie himself wouldn’t dare do anything to me, I’m in with the captain, you see. I make him laugh an’ I listen to his prattle when he’s drunk. He cries sometimes, aye, he does, a great big fellow like him. He had two sons and he lost them. That’s why he’s taken to me. But he’s gonna get a surprise one of these days for he’s gonna lose me an’ all.’

  All the time the young man was talking he was pulling at the tarred ropes; then impatiently he let rip an oath, ending, ‘Never undo these! Where’s me knife?’

  Within seconds Daniel’s arms slowly fell apart and he groaned audibly. Next, when his ankles were freed he turned over, and on his hands and knees crawled a short distance before levering himself to his feet with the aid of a stanchion.

  When at last he was upright, he turned and leant his back for support against the strength of the stanchion; then looking down on his rescuer, he said, ‘Thank you. Even if I get no further than this, thank you.’

  ‘I’ve been thinkin’.’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘It’s not likely anybody will come near you until the captain comes aboard. That should be an hour afore high tide around seven o’clock. Now at six they change the watch. It wouldn’t be any use makin’ a run for it at night unless you’re a very good swimmer. Are you?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Anyway, on the quayside the gangway’s up. And there’s always a lookout there, either big Nick or Andy the Norwegian. But Nick’s worse than any Norwegian, he’s mean, is Nick, another Combo type only twice the size. No, the best time is when they change the watch, there’s no ceremony about that, a couple go down and a couple come up. That’ll be your chance during the time nobody’s on deck. You say you’re no swimmer, how are you at jumpin’?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, she’ll be ridin’ a bit high about that time, you might have to take a runnin’ jump from the deck onto the quay.’

  ‘I can jump. But what’ll happen if they find out you’ve helped me escape?’

  ‘Oh, I wouldn’t have helped you escape, not me. There’s one or two fellows on this ship who are known to do anythin’ for a backhander. The captain’ll get it out of them. They’ll confess to anythin’, if it’ll save their necks. And it won’t in the long run.’ He grinned, and Daniel shook his head in wonderment at such cool courage, and his thoughts went back again to his early schooldays and young Tommy Thirkell. It would seem that what little men lost in stature they gained in gumption. ‘How did you come to join this ship?’ he asked.