When Toby called the next day and told Mrs Trott that Annie was to join the team she could barely keep her anger under control. She’s fair spitting, Annie thought as she watched her wrinkled neck and then her face turn scarlet.
‘’Rest of ’team’ll not be happy about it. We know nowt about her. She could be spying on us and then we’ll be done for.’
‘What rubbish. And anyway,’ Toby’s voice rose and he stared long and hard at Mrs Trott. ‘I run this team and I make the decisions. If anyone doesn’t like what I choose to do, then they don’t have to stay.’
Mrs Trott squirmed and spluttered but Toby stood his ground. ‘We need someone else, you know that. We need someone to watch the river. It’s too cold for you to be doing it now that winter is coming.’
He patted her arm and said in a gentler tone. ‘I’m thinking of you, Mrs Trott. You should be tucked up in your bed at night, not wandering along the river-bank.’
She thinks of him as hers. Annie watched as Mrs Trott had a change of mood and fussed over Toby, cutting up bread for him and slicing cheese. He’s like a son she never had. That’s why she doesn’t like me. She’s jealous. She thinks I’m going to take him away from her.
‘Who’s ’rest of ’team?’ Annie asked and unbidden helped herself to cheese, whilst Mrs Trott glared at her. ‘I thought it was just thee and Robin and Mr and Mrs Trott.’ And whoever it was with thee by ’henhouse, she mused, and Mrs Trott doesn’t know yet what I saw there.
‘No!’ A harsh whispered duet came from Toby and Mrs Trott.
‘Mr Trott knows nowt, and don’t thee dare tell him.’ The old woman pushed her face close to Annie’s. ‘He knows nowt. Does tha hear?’
Annie backed away. ‘I hear thee. I hear thee. And Robin?’ She turned to Toby.
‘He knows nothing. He simply sells my legitimate goods. He’s a good cover for me. It gives me a reason for travelling the countryside, to visit my customers. But I wouldn’t want to involve the lad. The rest of the team? Well, you might meet them, and then again you might not.’
He leaned his elbows on the table and looked into Annie’s eyes. ‘We don’t go in for names. Some of the men wouldn’t be happy to give them, though I suspect that they all know each other, but under cover of darkness they make believe that they don’t. This is a dangerous game, Annie, we won’t pretend that it’s otherwise. If the revenue men get wind of a run taking place we have to watch our backs, and if they bring in the military, then we’re doubly careful, for they’re armed. But,’ he said cheerfully as he rose to leave, ‘we’re lucky along this river, there are numerous creeks that they can’t reach and tall reeds to hide us, and we’ve had Lady Luck on our side up to now.’
He said he would collect Annie later that evening. ‘Henry’s at work tonight, isn’t he?’ he asked.
Mrs Trott nodded. ‘Aye. He’ll not be around to notice she’s not here.’
After Toby had left, Annie did her best to ingratiate herself with Mrs Trott. She fetched in wood and drew water, and then swept and washed the floor of the cottage while Mrs Trott sat outside on a stool and sewed a piece of linen.
‘I was never any good at sewing.’ Annie sat down on the doorstep when she’d finished. ‘Me ma never learned me.’
‘Hah. It seems to me tha ma learned thee nowt.’ Mrs Trott smiled complacently. ‘I had a good teacher. ’Best ever.’ She rested her sewing on her knee and gazed out towards the river. She didn’t speak for sometime and Annie peered towards her, wondering if she had fallen asleep.
‘Aye, she was a good teacher, in spite of her being so young. She was not much more’n a bairn when I met her. Master Toby’s mother, I’m talking about.’ She turned towards Annie, speaking slowly and carefully; as if I’m slow in ’head, Annie thought.
‘Aye. I guessed that’s who tha meant. Tha was fond of her, I can tell.’
The old woman nodded. ‘I was onny kitchen maid to begin with, but mistress took a fancy to me.’ She gave a cackling laugh, ‘and she would have me upstairs wi’ her. Her mother and father weren’t too pleased I can tell thee, but she could get anything she wanted from them. She was that sweet and pretty, they just ate out of her hand. She told them she’d teach me, and she did. I learnt to read and write, and I can talk proper. I haven’t forgotten.’
She stared at Annie and her voice took on a lighter, haughtier tone. ‘I didn’t say thee and thine, but you and yours, and I learned how to serve tea and dress her hair. She was such a lovely lady and when she married, I went with her and helped her with her babbies.’
Mrs Trott rubbed her eyes and sighed and picked up her sewing. ‘Still, all that’s done wi’ now.’
‘But tha’s lucky. Tha’s found Master Toby again, and he’s fond of thee, and tha’s got Mr Trott. Tha’s luckier then me who’s got nobody.’ She sniffed loudly. ‘And I made a promise.’ Annie crossed her fingers behind her back. ‘When me husband died I vowed I’d never know another man.’ She nodded her head meaningfully. ‘Tha knows. In that way.’
It was a lie, but only a small one, for after Alan had died, Francis Morton had swept her off her feet with his promises, promises which everyone else knew to be false. I was so stupid not to see, she thought, I should have known. But never again.
She thought she saw a softening of Mrs Trott’s face at her words and when she added. ‘I’ve found a real good friend in Toby. He wants nowt more than friendship, and as we both know, Mrs Trott, there are’nt too many men around who’d be satisfied wi’ just that,’ the old woman almost gave her a smile as she rose and said she would make them a dish of tea.
Mr Trott had been left for work only five minutes when they heard the creak of the gate. ‘That’ll be Toby,’ Annie said, picking up her shawl. ‘I’d best be off.’
‘Wait.’ Mrs Trott reached to the peg behind the door. ‘Take this. It’ll keep thee warmer than what tha’s wearing,’ and handed Annie a long black woollen cloak.
Annie put it on and felt the warmth. ‘Oh, it’s grand, Mrs Trott.’ She whirled around. ‘I feel like a lady.’
‘Aye. Well it was once a lady’s, many years ago. My lady’s. She gave it to me one winter when she got a new ’un. But it’s as good as new. Cloth like that doesn’t wear out.’ She sighed, ‘and tha might as well have use of it now, it’s cold down by ’river at night.’
Annie thanked her profusely. She guessed that Mrs Trott’s pride and antagonism had softened considerably since their talk earlier in the day.
Toby opened the door. ‘Come on, Annie. Let’s go.’ He nodded to Mrs Trott. ‘We’ll only explore the river bank tonight. Nothing more. A reconnoitre only, to make sure all is ready.’
He took Annie’s hand as they crossed the paddock. ‘I don’t go near the haven when Mr Trott is on duty. I wouldn’t want him to become involved. He’s as honest as the day is long, but who would believe him if I should be caught, knowing as everyone does, that he is a friend of mine?’
‘But I saw thee,’ Annie began. ‘That first day.’
‘Yes.’ He stopped close to the hedge. ‘But that was just a game that night, to find out if the watchman was aware of us. There were two of us but you only saw me. And the watchman didn’t see either of us.’
He put two fingers to his lips and gave a low piercing whistle and Annie heard a muffled clomp. She gasped as in the darkness a large shape appeared in front of them and she smelt the warm breath of an animal close to her face.
‘Aagh.’ In fright she clung to Toby. ‘What devil’s this?’
‘No devil. This is my faithful Sorrel. Have you ridden before, Annie?’
‘Ridden? On a horse? No never. I can’t. I’d be afeeard to.’ The animal snuffled up to her and whinnied softly and she backed away.
‘Well you’re going to have to learn because we haven’t the time to walk.’ He put his foot in the stirrup and heaved himself up. ‘Come on, give me your hand.’
‘I can’t. I can’t. He’s too big, I’ll tummel off.’ She flinched and fell against the hedge.
He loosened his foot from the stirrup and leant down towards her. He seemed to be at a great height above her. ‘Put your foot in the stirrup and give me your hand,’ he demanded. ‘We can’t stay here all night. Just do as I say.’
Awkwardly she lifted her leg and tried to put her foot in as he commanded, but she hopped and hopped and finally fell on her back onto the path and she was glad of the darkness as her skirt flew up over her knees.
‘Please, Annie. Show a little sense. Put your foot in the stirrup. Take hold of the saddle with one hand, and give me the other. That’s it. Now jump.’
She felt herself fly through the air and somehow or other land on the horse’s back behind Toby. She clung to him desperately. ‘Tha won’t let him gallop, will tha? Not ’till I get used to ’feel of it.’
Beneath her arms as she clung to him, she felt his body shake with suppressed laughter. Finally he could contain himself no longer and gave a great guffaw. ‘Oh Annie, what a tonic you are. You make me laugh so.’
She grunted. She felt as if the breath was being shaken out of her body as the horse at a soft command moved forward in a firm trot. ‘I’m glad I’m making somebody happy,’ she gasped. ‘It’ll be ’first time ever.’
With her eyes shut tight and her head hunched down, she hung on for dear life as they moved swiftly over rough terrain. Then as the hooves made a different crunching sound, she cautiously opened her eyes and saw that they were riding along the foreshore of the river with the water breaking over the horse’s hooves.
‘Where ’we going? Is it far? All me bones is breaking.’
‘Ssh. Speak in whispers. Voices carry out here. They’ll hear you over in Lincolnshire.’ He turned in the saddle towards her. ‘Are you all right? Try to get the feel of him. Ride with him, not against him. We’re going up to Ferriby and maybe beyond. We’ll ride on the shore as far as we can, then turn across country again.’
‘Tha’ll have to watch ’tide,’ she whispered. ‘We could get swept away. Hast tha seen ’strength of ’waves?’
‘Yes, I have, but don’t worry, it’s low water tonight.’
The sky was light though there was no moon showing and in the distance she could see the shadowy spire of a church. As they drew nearer towards it, Toby suddenly wheeled the horse’s head to the right and with a swift leap they took the bank.
‘Hold on,’ he said in a hoarse whisper, and again a leap and another, and they cleared a hedge and a ditch and cantered into pasture land.
He reined in after a while. ‘We’ll have to walk for a bit. We’re going to head back towards the river but it’s too muddy to ride, and with two of us on his back the prints will be deep.’
Annie thought she would never walk again. The muscles in her stomach and buttocks were stretched with pain and her thighs were burning as if they were on fire. She stumbled after Toby. ‘Wait. Wait. Don’t leave me. I’m crippled.’ She could barely talk, all the breath had been pummelled from her.
But if she was expecting sympathy there was none forthcoming. Toby put his hand up in warning. ‘Be quiet.’
She put her hand to her mouth. She suddenly felt frightened. She shivered. She also felt wet. Her boots were squelching. She shuffled her feet and felt the mud oozing beneath them.
‘Toby,’ she whispered. ‘Me feet are wet. Are we—?’
He put his hand over her mouth. ‘I said be quiet. There’s someone down there.’
He’d been leading the horse by its reins but now he put them into Annie’s hands. ‘Don’t move,’ he said. ‘Stay right there until I come back.’
She was terrified. Not of the unseen presence somewhere below the bushes where Toby had disappeared, but of the snuffling horse who kept nudging her with his big head, his warm breath on the back of her neck, and his great hooves trampling on her feet. She tried to move away, to hold him at a long rein’s length, but each time she moved he followed her, his large teeth nuzzling her hair.
‘Oh, Toby, hurry up,’ she muttered. ‘What’s tha doing?’ She strained her ears to catch any sound. She could hear the ripple of water and a rustle in the reeds as the breeze ran through them, and guessed that they were near a creek or a stream; she didn’t think that they were yet on the river-bank, as the rush of tidal waters would have been stronger, more vibrant in its impetuous flow.
She ducked her head as a snipe suddenly flew into zigzag flight above her, a dark shadow that flew high and then dived, the wind vibrating through its stiff tail feathers as it circled its invaded territory.
Sorrel pricked his ears and whinnied softly as he caught his master’s voice. There was a murmur and a drift of laughter, and then a low whistle. Sorrel moved off at the command, pulling Annie in his wake slipping and slithering on the wet grass as she tried to keep tight hold of his reins.
Toby’s head and shoulders appeared at her feet out of the darkness of the bank and he jumped up to join her. He took the reins from her and fastened them to a scrubby bush and patted Sorrel on his neck, speaking softly into his ear.
‘Toby?’
‘Ssh. Don’t speak. Pull your hood over your head, and then follow me. Don’t say a word unless you really have to.’
He took hold of her hand and helped her down the bank to a narrow path, a mere foothold only, and they held on to the reeds as they made their way along the side of an overflowing creek. He put his fingers to his lips in warning and she saw in the darkness a shadow of a man. Someone whose height was no more than hers and who spoke to Toby in a husky whisper as they approached. The same person she assumed, who had been at the henhouse and whom she had mistakenly thought was Robin.
As her eyes became accustomed to the darkness she saw the square stern of a coggy boat tied to a spar which protruded from the water.
Toby nudged her. ‘Get in,’ he said in a low voice, and to the man, ‘thanks, tomorrow then, as arranged.’
Annie thought that the man looked towards her, but she put her head down so that the hood of the cloak dropped over her face as she stepped into the boat.
She smiled to herself. It had been a long time since she had been in such a boat. She felt the sway and roll of the water beneath her and thought of the times when she and the other children used to watch from beneath the piers of the Horse Staithe on market days, and wait for a boat to come in. When the occupants had unloaded themselves and their baskets and taken themselves off to market, they would climb into the boat and unfasten the painter, and row off down the river. They’d return after an hour and fasten it up again so that the owners never knew that their boat had been away on a very precarious voyage.
Then they would wait again for the next victim. Sometimes they would be lucky and find the owner’s dinner, maybe a hunk of bread or some fruit and they would sit in the middle of the river watching the town, seeing the hubbub of life from a different angle as they gorged themselves on stolen vittals.
‘Are you all right?’ Toby took an oar and pushed away from the bank. ‘I didn’t want the fellow back there to hear your voice. As you’re wearing Mrs Trott’s cloak, I’m hoping he thought you were her. The fewer people who know about you the better.’
‘Who was he?’
‘I told you, we don’t go in for names, though he knows mine, and Mrs Trott’s.’
‘So he could tell ’law of thee, but tha couldn’t tell of him? It seems a bit one-sided to me.’
‘He won’t tell of me. His supply would dry up and he has a nice little business going with a regular tub of geneva and a half anchor of rum, not to mention a parcel or two of tea and tobacco. No, he won’t give me away.’
‘So they can’t do ’run without thee?’
They slipped out of the creek into the river. Annie felt the swell dipping beneath her and watched as Toby now took both oars and rowed up river.
‘Me or my brother,’ Toby answered, pulling with long strong strokes. ‘And Matt wouldn’t risk a run with anyone else, he just wouldn’t trust anybody else. His life and liberty depends on me.’
‘Does he have his own ship? How is it he hasn’t been pressed?’ Annie was curious. The press-men were notorious on the seas, even going as far as boarding whalers, and with the threat of firearms they would try to press the crew, even those with exemption tickets, to join the navy.
Toby laughed. ‘He’s captain of his own ship and he’s had many a battle with the press-men, he’s even lost some of his crew, but so far he’s escaped them.’
‘He keeps weapons, then?’
‘Of course.’ Toby manouvered into another creek, so narrow and covered by reeds that Annie ducked as the tall reeds closed about her. ‘What seaman doesn’t these days?’
He shipped the oars and pulled on the reeds and Annie followed suit, feeling the sharpness of the stems cutting into her palms as she pulled.
‘There, that’s far enough. We’re well hidden, we’ll not be seen here.’ He pulled in and fastening the mooring rope securely to a tree stump, he climbed out. There was a nervous croak of a disturbed marsh hen somewhere in the reed bed.
‘Now what do we do?’ Annie asked as she stepped on to the bank. ‘How do we get back to thy hoss.’
‘We walk,’ Toby grinned. ‘How else?’
‘But we’ve come miles,’ she gasped. ‘Why did tha have to move ’boat?’
‘Questions, questions,’ he complained, grabbing hold of her hand and pulling her along. ‘You never stop asking questions.’
‘How else can I find out,’ she retorted, shaking him off. ‘Tha’s just brought me out on a wild-goose chase, and never explained owt.’
He smiled. ‘You’re right, of course. But I didn’t know when we came out, that we would have to move the boat. Not until we met the fellow back there. He told me that the soldiers have been patrolling that part of the river-bank. That’s why he was there, waiting for me. I’ve moved the boat up river to this creek because they can’t come down here on horseback; it’s too wet and marshy. They’ll only patrol the top road.’
‘Well that’s all right then, just so long as I know.’
She bent down and started to unfasten her bootlaces.
‘Annie! What are you doing?’
‘I’m taking me boots off,’ she said as she knotted the laces together and hung them around her neck. ‘This is onny pair I’ve got, and I’m not having ’em ruined wi’ all this walking.’