respond by instinct.
The man himself appeared in a crooked doorway at the far end of the enclosure. He looked bewildered.
Anything he might have been saying to Hoare was drowned by a thunderclap behind him, a blast that threw Jaggery forward and Hoare backward. A cloud of fire followed the burst. Behind Jaggery, the shed roof collapsed, and the flames began to get a grip on it. Jaggery lay still, face up on the floor, half-buried in debris.
The choking battle reek of burnt powder filled the place. Hoare coughed, wheezed, and wept as he struggled over the fallen beams in the smoke toward the other man.
Jaggery lay supine, facing what had been the ceiling. From his waist down he was hidden under a massive joist that lay almost level with the bricks of the room's floor. He was breathing hard. From the ruins of the shed Hoare could hear the soft roar of flames as the fire tightened its grip.
'Help me up, Yer Honor. Somethin's holdin' me poor weak legs down an' I can't move 'em. Get it orf me, can't yer?'
Hoare freed a lighter beam and began to search for a spot that offered him leverage room. He found one, set the beam's end under the joist, and heaved down on the beam with all his weight. For all his frantic prying, the joist would not budge. Outside, he heard the jangling of a fire bell. The engine's feeble streams and bucket brigade would do as much good here as two old men in a pissing contest.
Another, smaller explosion sounded in the ruins. A flickering of fire reflected itself in Jaggery's wide eyes, and those eyes filled with fear.
'Smartly, man, can't yer? 'Eave!' he gasped. ' 'Eave!'
He choked and grabbed Hoare's shoulder with his free hand. It was the mangled one, but it could still cling to Hoare like a cargo hook.
Five minutes later, the heat of the fire was scorching Hoare's hair. Jaggery blew a pink bubble. It burst in Hoare's face as he stooped, chest heaving.
Jaggery was breathing hard. 'I'm a dead man,' he said. Hoare could not bring himself to deny it. He rested his hand on the other's shoulder.
'Yer a decent cove, Yer Honor,'Jaggery said at last. 'I've no… no mind to be roasted alive. Will yer put me down?'
'If you tell me who 'Himself is. Morrow's boss.'
'As Gawd is me witness, I dunno, Yer Honor. Morrow, 'e's the only one what knows his name.'
'Why did Kingsley bring one of Morrow's ankers aboard his own ship?' Hoare whispered. 'He might as well have shot himself.'
Jaggery shook his head. 'Kingsley, Yer Honor? 'E didn't take no anker aboard Vantage. I did. Like all the other times, I thought I was slippin' brandy to 'im, for 'im to give to officers that might 'ave interest, to get 'em on 'is side.'
The heat was beating on Hoare's face.
'It was only when Kingsley was dead, and Morrow weren't comin' into town no more, that I dared tap one of them ankers. Wouldn't do no 'arm now, I thought, to have a bit of 'is oh-be-joyful. 'Twasn't as though it belonged to no one anymore, bein' as 'e was dead.
'An' look what I tapped into instead. Oh, well, I guess I was dis-
… dis-…'
'Dispensable?'
'Aye. That's the word. Oh, 'urry, sir, 'urry! I can feel the fire on me toes.' By now, Jaggery's voice was as faint as Hoare's own whisper.
Hoare could not believe the man, dying though he was. At least one more layer remained in the Jaggery onion.
'You're lying, Jaggery. Tell me the truth, man, or I'll leave you to burn, all by yourself.'
Jaggery grunted, was silent. Then he sighed. A pink bubble formed at his mouth and broke. 'All right. I knew first thing 'e were up to no good, and I found out what was in them ankers first off. Then I thought, well, I never thought that much of the Navy, and there's me Jenny to be kept safe, so I went along with it. That is the truth, Yer Honor, the whole truth, and nothin' but the truth, so help me God.'
At last his words rang true.
'Will ye take care of me Jenny, Yer Honor? She's a good girl, she is, and she'll be a double orphing tomorrer.' His eyes stared intently into Hoare's. 'We puts up with Greenleaf at 'is Bunch of Grapes.'
'I'll do it,' Hoare said again. 'She'll be brought up a lady.'
'Lady, me arse. She's Wet Meg's get, she is, with no lines spoke between us. Just teach the lass to read an' write, will yer? Ye promise?'
'I promise, Jaggery.'
'Give her a kiss from her ol' da, then. Uh. Now, do it. Hope it won't be so hot where I'm goin'. Oh, Jesus.' Another pink bubble formed and broke.
Apalled at what he must do, Hoare took out his knife, tested the point against his thumb. Leaning away from Jaggery so the man's blood would strike the advancing fire instead of him, he slipped the point between Jaggery's ribs. Jaggery hissed, jerked like a salmon. Soon, the fire already charring his uniform, Hoare closed Jaggery's eyes and backed out of the wreckage. Time was pressing, but his new obligation pressed more heavily.
Jenny Jaggery remembered Hoare. When he told her her Da was dead, she stood thoughtful for a minute.
'I'm a norphing, then, for truth,' she said.
'I'm afraid so, child,' Hoare replied.
She went to the pallet where she slept and took a small threadbare purse from under the pillow. 'Ain't enough here to pay the rent,' she said, after counting the contents. 'So I might as well start doin' it now. 'Ow do yer want to do it to me, Yer Honor? Be easy on me, will yer? I never done it before.'
'You'll not have to 'do it' for anyone till you're grown-up, Jenny,' Hoare said, 'and not then unless you really want to. I promised your Da I'd take care of you, and that I'm going to do. Get your things together now, and we'll be off.'
At first, Mr. Greenleaf appeared reluctant to see Hoare about to vanish with the child, but when Hoare had explained the circumstances and assured him that she would only be moving to the Swallowed Anchor, where he and his good wife could readily reassure themselves of her well-being, he released her into Hoare's keeping with a smile and a ha'penny.
Hoare turned his tubular charge and her pitiful bundle of belongings over to the pink girl Susan at the Swallowed Anchor, telling her to feed the child and find her a corner she could call her own. Jenny took Susan's hand readily enough but looked over her shoulder at Hoare.
'Wait,' he whispered. 'I forgot. Your Da gave me a packet of kisses for you, and told me to give you one every night when you go to bed.
'Here's for tonight.' He bent over and kissed Jenny's cool, round forehead. It was a new experience, for him at least. 'Off you go, child.'
Susan came downstairs after a while. 'She's sleepin' peaceful, sir,' she told Hoare. 'She didn't even 'ave no dolly, so I give her the one I had when I were her age, an' she cuddled up with it as nice as could be.'
She paused and looked down at Hoare.
'If it ain't presumptive of me to ask, sir,' she said, 'what are yer plans for 'er? She seems like a good little mite.'
'To tell the truth, Susan,' he replied, 'I haven't thought it through. She's Janus Jaggery's child, you know.'
'Well, Janus Jaggery may have been a bad man, but he weren't a bad man, sir, if you catch my meaning. Now, you don't really want to set up to be a da to her, do you? You never struck me as a marryin' man, an' she orter have a mam.' Susan's look grew speculative.
'We'll just have to see, Susan,' Hoare said thoughtfully. 'Meanwhile, take good care of her.'
That done, Hoare was ready to see that Edouard Moreau was brought to the King's justice. For this, there was again not a moment to be lost-though, Hoare confessed, he himself had wasted several precious hours in
