them delivered straight away to the moot hall, where the chairman of the bench had taken up residence. ‘Well then, gentlemen,’ he said, taking the stopper from a decanter of Madeira. ‘I imagine we have rather a lot of details to discuss!’
Sir Francis Evans arrived shortly before five. His ears were bright red as he stepped from the stirrups to the mounting block, and Hervey took note of the danger signal. His look was fearsome rather than merely angry, however, for there was a glint in his eye like a hungry bird of prey — a hawk which had spotted its quarry and was savouring the swoop. ‘Everything set, Hervey?’
‘Yes, General,’ Hervey replied surely. ‘There is just the bidding from the magistrate to come.’
‘Good. Better tell me your intention, then.’ Sir Francis pulled off his gloves and set about the dust on his sleeves with the utmost aggression.
Hervey took him to his map board, by which Johnson had already placed a steaming pot of coffee. ‘You don’t miss tricks much, do you, Hervey?’
‘Indeed, sir.’ Hervey assumed he meant the coffee.
‘Nor do I, Hervey. Nor do I!’
‘No, sir.’ Hervey was becoming a little lost, and thought he would press on with what he knew. ‘There is Cuckney, sir,’ he began, pointing out the little cluster of houses where the old Worksop and Chesterfield turnpikes crossed. ‘It’s eight or nine miles from here, and the roads are good. The Crow’s Nest was once a posthouse, and it has good-sized stables, with a few liveries still.’ He showed the general a sketch plan drawn from the recollection of the half-dozen dragoons who had visited there once or twice in the first days. ‘The Bow Street men say the Luddites will assemble over the space of an hour or so, under cover of regular taverners, and when all are come — by nine, they reckon — they will meet in the stables loft for about an hour and then disperse in time for the curfew.’
‘The trick will be judging the moment to take them. Has Barnaby instructed you?’
‘Yes, General. He arrived an hour ago. As I understand it, the new Act makes assembly for a seditious purpose illegal.’
‘Just so. It’s meant to stop jackanapes like Hunt from drawing the crowds and hotting ’em up, but it could serve our purpose, too, for if there isn’t enough evidence for charges under the common law for unlawful assembly, then we ought still to be able to net them for sedition. Either way it’ll be the rope.’
‘Mr Wilks says there will be an informer at the meeting, and that it will be his evidence that will convict.’
The general looked very satisfied.
‘But in the event that the man is not there, Mr Bartle will already be secreted in the loft to witness it.’
‘And how shall he get there without being seen?’
Hervey smiled. ‘It’s very ingenious, sir. He’ll take a—’
‘No,’ said the general sharply. ‘I don’t need to know.’
‘Very good, sir. So, we shall have our patrols about the roads before dark so as to give every appearance of the usual, and then they’ll make a proper show of retiring from the district, but they’ll assemble in the forest in subdivisions here.’ He pointed to half a dozen patches of green in a broad circle around Cuckney. ‘By the clock, they’ll leave their hides and make a cordon about the Crow’s Nest at a depth of about a furlong.’
‘That much is easy enough, Captain Hervey,’ the general agreed.
‘It will bring Spain back to mind, for sure, sir.’
The general saw that too. ‘And then what?’
‘Major Barnaby says that we stand to have things go badly against us if we do not call upon them to throw down their arms — assuming they will be armed, that is.’
‘It’s a very fair presumption, Hervey.’
‘And in truth, sir, I don’t wish to go in with fire against men who have not offered resistance.’
The general made a wry smile. ‘
Hervey sighed. ‘You yourself said it was a most objectionable business, firing on one’s own countrymen, General.’
‘Indeed I did, Hervey. Your forbearance does you credit. And, in truth, there’ll be more example in the gallows and the transport than dead meat.’
‘Quite, sir,’ he agreed, though a shade caught by the tone.
‘But see here, those are decent sentiments, and never should I wish the day to come when we had insufficient officers of that mind. But these will all be twisted-in men, looking the gallows in the face. You’re not to take any chances.’
Sir Francis’s robust support was very welcome. ‘No, sir. I intend that we shock them so greatly they will throw all in.’
‘Very well. And you shall have my best support.’
Hervey was not sure of his entire meaning. ‘Sir?’
‘I mean that I shall ride with you. I do not send men on such hazards while I warm myself by a fire!’
‘No, Sir Francis, indeed not,’ said Hervey, with a slightly anxious note. ‘But—’
‘If things go badly it’ll be me to answer for it, and I’m an infinitely harder fish to swallow than a captain of dragoons.’
‘I am
‘Well, then: do we eat before we go?’ said Sir Francis, with a proper smile at last.
‘Yes, General, in half an hour, when my cornet is back with the bidding from Sir Abraham Cole.’
‘Good. I’ll take a little Madeira with you until then.’
Johnson brought a new decanter.
‘There is one thing, Sir Francis,’ said Hervey cautiously as he took his glass.
‘Ay?’
He cleared his throat. ‘I am uneasy that I have not… not had the opportunity to speak with my commanding officer on this affair.’
Sir Francis Evans turned a gimlet eye on him, and his ear reddened. ‘Do not
Lieutenant Seton Canning moved like a seasoned woodsman along the forest track to where the last of the subdivisions stood waiting, the moon being up early and throwing all the light he needed. Corporal Clarkson was ready for him: ‘Subdivision fed and watered, carbines and pistols primed, nothing to report, sir.’ It had been the same with the others — all in their places, in good heart and eager for the chase.
‘Another half-hour, Corporal, and then we’ll break cover. Stand easy!’ Seton Canning lit a cigar.
Cuckney was about a mile to the south — the other subdivisions were a little closer — and timing was of the essence. The cordon had to be set by nine, so that if anything went wrong at the Crow’s Nest they would be able to net the assembly as they bolted. But there could be no movement from the coverts until the very last minute in case a latecomer detected them and alerted the rest. They might even bump into honest travellers, but that was a risk they would simply have to take, in which case they would detain the wayfarers until the affair was over. When the time came, Seton Canning’s dragoons would trot for half the distance to the hamlet along a green bridleway, which would take them four minutes; then, taking about the same time again, they would walk for the next quarter of a mile so as to make less noise, and then they would dismount and lead the horses the last furlong, posting dragoons at intervals until they met up with the other subdivisions and the whole village was encircled (this would probably take another ten minutes). They would therefore leave the covert at eighteen minutes to nine, a few minutes before the others.
‘It is just gone ten past eight, Sir Francis,’ said Hervey, closing his hunter.
‘Very well, then.’ The general’s orderly held down the offside stirrup as his principal mounted the handy little mouse dun, which he seemed excessively attached to, and beckoned to his ADC. ‘If that mare of yours is still horsing, and squeals so much as once, I’ll send the pair of you packing at once!’
‘Sir!’ The ADC was from the First Guards, and therefore wont to answer any enquiry or command with the simple affirmative, relying solely on its infinite tonal possibilities to convey meaning.
Hervey gave Henrietta a parting kiss, sprang into the saddle and gathered up the reins. Gilbert crabbed right and rear, backing into the ADC’s horse, which squealed and set her teeth at the grey’s rump.
‘For God’s sake, Harry!’ The general seemed much preoccupied with the behaviour of his ADC’s mare.
