saw that he was drawing ahead he slowed down a little into a firm gallop and let Keyser close in. The excited shouts and halloos of the troopers reassured Tom that they had him well in sight. Every few seconds there came the bang and thud of a pistol or carbine, and a few balls flew close enough for him to hear them pass. One struck his saddle only inches from his buttocks and went whining off into the night. If it had hit him, it would certainly have inflicted a wound that would have ended it all there and then.
Although he knew exactly where the gate was and he was looking ahead to find it, it still surprised him when it appeared suddenly out of the darkness ahead of him. He saw instantly that Dorian had done as he had asked and left it wide open. The hedge on each side of the opening was shoulder high, thick and dark with matted thorn. Tom had only a moment to steer away from the gateway, and aim at the hedge. As he gathered his mount for the jump with the pressure of his knees and his hands on the reins, from the corner of his eye he saw the glint of steel. Dorian had wrapped each end of the chain around the heavy wooden gate-posts and the links were stretched at waist height across the opening.
Tom let the horse under him judge the moment of take-off, moved his weight forward and helped him surge upwards. They brushed over the top of the hedge and landed well in hand on the far side. The instant Tom recovered his balance and steadied his mount he turned and looked back. One of the troopers had pulled well ahead of his comrades, and tried to follow Tom over the hedge. His horse shied and refused at the last moment, running out while his rider flew off his back
and came sailing over the hedge, flying free. He struck the ground in a tangle of limbs and equipment and lay like a sack of beans.
Colonel Keyset saw his man unhorsed, waved his sword over his head and shouted, 'Follow me! Through the gate!'
His squadron bunched up close behind him and he charged into the gateway. With a metallic clash the chain sprang tight as the combined weight of animals and men crashed into it. In an instant the entire column was cut down, horses piling into each other as they fell. The bones of their legs snapped like dry firewood as they hit the chain. Their bodies filled the gateway in a struggling, kicking, screaming mass. Men were caught under the animals and their cries swelled the tumult.
Even Tom, who had engineered it, was appalled by the shambles. Instinctively he turned back his horse, tempted for a fleeting moment to try to render assistance to his victims. Dorian rode out from behind the wall of the kraal where he had been concealed and stopped beside Tom. The two stared in horror. Then Keyser struggled to his feet almost under the noses of their horses.
As the first into the trap, Keyser's mount had struck the chain cleanly, and as they went down Keyser was hurled from the saddle like a stone from a sling. He struck and rolled across the earth, but somehow retained his grip on his sabre. Now he stood up unsteadily and gazed back in disbelief at the pile of struggling men and horses. Then he let out a cry of rage and despair mingled. He raised his sword and rushed at Tom.
'For this I shall have your hide and heart!' he bellowed. With a flick of his sword Tom sent the sabre spinning from his grip to peg into the earth ten paces away. 'Don't be an idiot, man. There has been enough damage done for one day. See to your men.' Tom glanced at Dorian. 'Come, Dorry, let's go on.'
They turned their horses. Still half stunned Keyser staggered to retrieve his sword and as they rode away he shouted after them, 'This is not the end of the business, Tom Courtney. I shall come after you with all the might and authority of the VOC. You shall not escape my wrath.' Neither Tom nor Dorian looked back and he ran after them shouting threats, until they had pulled away and he had run out of breath. He stopped, panting, and hurled his sabre after them. 'I shall hunt you down and root you out, you and all your seed.'
Just as they were disappearing into the night, Keyser bellowed his last taunt: 'Koots has already captured your bitch-born bastard. He is bringing back Jim Courtney's head, and the head of his convict whore, P'ckled in a keg of brandy.'
Tom stopped and stared back at him.
'Yes, Koots has caught him,' Keyser shouted, with wild laughter.
'He is lying, brother. He says it to wound you.' Dorian laid a hand on Tom's arm. 'How could he know what has happened out there?'
'You are right, of course,' Tom whispered. 'Jim has got clean away.'
'We must get back to the women, and see them safely aboard,' Dorian insisted. They rode on and Keyser's shouts receded behind them.
Struggling for breath, Keyser tottered back to the tangle of men and horses. A few of his troopers were crawling to their feet, or sitting holding their heads or nursing other injuries. 'Find me a horse,' Keyser yelled.
His own horse, like most of the others, had broken its legs when it struck the chain, but a few animals, who had been in the rear rank of the charge, had been able to heave themselves upright and were standing, shivering and shaken. Keyser ran from one to another, checking their legs. He selected the one that seemed strongest, hoisted himself into the saddle and shouted to his men who could still walk, 'Come on! Find yourselves a mount and follow me. We can still catch them on the beach.'
Tom and Dorian found the last wagon descending the final slope of the dunes. The women were walking beside it. Sarah had relit the lantern and held it high when she heard the horses galloping up.
'Will you not hurry, woman?' Tom was so agitated that he shouted at her from a distance.
'We are hurrying,' she replied, 'and your rough seaman's language will make us go no faster.'
'We have delayed Keyser for the moment, but he will be after us again soon enough.' Tom realized his mistake in adopting that brusque approach to his wife and, despite his agitation, tried to ameliorate his tone. 'We are in sight of the beach, and all your possessions are safe.' He pointed ahead. 'Will you now let me take you to the boat, my sweeting.'
She looked up at him and, even in the poor light of her lantern, could see the strain on his face. She relented. 'Lift me up, then, Tom.' She raised her arms to him like a small girl to her father. When he swung her up and placed her behind him she hugged him close, and
whispered into the thick curls that bushed down the back of his neck, 'You are the finest husband God ever placed upon this earth, and I am the most fortunate of wives.'
Dorian gathered up Yasmini and they followed Tom down to where Mansur waited with the lighter at the water's edge. They placed the two women firmly on board. The wagon came trundling down, and as it reached the lighter it sank axle deep into the wet sand. But this made it easier to transfer the last of their possessions into the boat. Once the wagon was empty the oxen were able to haul it away.
While this was going on, Tom and Dorian kept glancing back into the darkness of the dunes, expecting the worst of Keyset's threats to materialize, but the harpsichord was at last lashed down and covered with a tarpaulin to protect it from the spray.
Mansur and the crewmen who were shoving out the boat were still waist deep, when there was an angry shout from the dunes and the flash and clap of a carbine shot. The ball slammed into the transom of the boat, and Mansur leaped in.
There was another shot and again the ball struck the hull. Tom pushed the women down until they were sitting on the deck, in an inch or more of bilge water, protected by the pile of hastily loaded cargo.
'I entreat you now to keep your heads well down. We can argue the merits of this suggestion later. However, I assure you those are real musket balls.'
He looked back and could just make out Keyser's distinctive outline against the pale sand, but his stentorian bellows carried clearly: 'You will not escape me, Tom Courtney. I shall see you hanged, drawn and quartered on the same scaffold as that bloody pirate, your grandfather. Every Dutch port in this world will be closed to you.'
'Take no notice of what he says,' Tom told Sarah, dreading that Keyser would repeat his gruesome description of Jim's fate and torment her beyond bearing. 'In his pique he utters only monstrous lies. Come, let us give him a farewell tune.'
To drown Keyser's threats, he launched into a hearty but off-key rendition of 'Spanish Ladies', and the others all joined in. Dorian's voice was as magnificent as ever and Mansur had inherited his ringing tenor. Yasmini's soprano lisped sweetly. Sarah leaned against Tom's reassuring bulk and sang with him.
'Farewell and adieu to you, fair Spanish ladies, Farewell and adieu to you,' ladies of Spain For we've received orders to sail for old England, But we hope in a short time to see you again...
Then let every man here toss off a full bumper,
Then let every man here toss off his full bowl,
For we will be jolly and drown melancholy,
With a health to each jovial and true-hearted soul...'
Yasmini laughed and clapped her hands. That's the first naughty song Dorry ever taught me. Do you remember when first I sang it to you, Tom?'
'My oath on it, I will never forget it.' Tom chuckled as he steered for the Maid of York. Twas the day you brought Dorrie back to me after I had lost him for all those years.'
As Tom clambered aboard the Maid of York he gave orders to his
