Andrew Pepper - The Revenge of Captain Paine

The first of the horsemen swerved at the last minute to avoid the obstacle and buffeted the soldier right behind him, the collision sending both horses sprawling on to the track and dismounting their riders. Another two horses were downed in the melee but the two riders at the back managed to avoid the carnage and jump clear. A rifle shot whistled over Pyke’s head. He could hear the panting of the horses, and the rattling of the wheels and harness. There was one suitcase left and he tried the same trick, but this time the riders were prepared for him and easily avoided the intended missile. The two soldiers were less than fifty yards behind them and Pyke could see their determined grimaces. Yellowplush had served in the army, he remembered. Perhaps they had come across his body and were hell-bent on avenging one of their own. But this didn’t explain how they had mobilised so rapidly.

Pyke could see their crimson uniforms clearly and, with less weight to carry, one of the soldiers had almost caught up with the slower-moving carriage. But it was only at the last moment that Pyke saw the pistol in his hand, heard the blast and flattened himself against the roof of the carriage, narrowly avoiding the ball-shot as it whistled over his head. Rolling over on to his front, he retrieved the rifle Jackman had given him, steadied himself and took aim. It was an easy shot. The bullet struck the soldier in the chest and lifted him cleanly off the horse, sending him crashing to the track, dead before he’d even landed. The other soldier had seen what had happened but didn’t stop to check on his fallen comrade as Pyke had hoped he might. This last remaining soldier had a pistol in his hand but this time the shot missed by some margin, and it gave Pyke a chance to hurl the rifle with both hands in his general direction. The weapon collided with the horse just as it was pulling alongside the carriage and as quickly as it had started the pursuit was over. Both horse and rider went down, and soon there was nothing behind them except trees and an empty track snaking its way across flat, barren terrain.

‘You, shut up now,’ Pyke spat at Chauncey Bledisloe, who had been panicking and shouting at Pyke ever since he had killed the soldier. Morris’s assistant flicked his mop of greasy brown hair away from his eyes and folded his arms, sulking. He was the same age as Pyke but that was where the comparison ended: with his wan complexion, bony frame and hunched shoulders, he was every bit the runt of his particular litter. ‘If I hear another word from you before we reach London, I swear, I’ll throw you out of the carriage while it’s still moving. Is that understood?’ Turning to Morris, he added, without changing his tone, ‘Did you know anything about the reception party waiting for me in Huntingdon? I want the truth.’ Pyke wiped his mouth with his sleeve and sat back against the horsehair cushion. They were travelling at a more sedate speed and his nervous energy had abated into a hard, cold anger.

‘I had no idea it would come to this. I’m so sorry, Pyke. You have to believe me. It’s terrible, terrible.’ Morris shook his head, colour draining from his cheeks.

‘But you knew there was going to be trouble?’

‘All I knew was what Peel told us in his office: that some radicals might try to agitate among the navvies.’

His response drew some of the sting from Pyke’s anger. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. ‘I shot and killed a soldier. Injured five others. Do you think they’ll just let me walk away from it?’

Morris stared down at the wet straw on the floor of the carriage. ‘Perhaps the men who chased us weren’t acting on official orders.’

It was a thought that had crossed Pyke’s mind, too, but he looked up at Morris. ‘What makes you say that?’

‘After Peterloo, the military brass has been much more careful about turning their soldiers on the civilian population.’

‘A man’s dead. I killed him. The regiment won’t let it go.’

For a while no one said anything, the clattering of the horses’ hoofs and clanking of the harness filling the carriage.

Morris loosened his cravat and wiped the sweat from his forehead. ‘How many of the navvies perished?’

‘I don’t know.’ Pyke closed his eyes, his mind returning to the events on the bridge. ‘Given the strength of the current, it can’t have been easy for the ones who jumped off the bridge.’

‘You have to believe I didn’t know about any plans to attack the navvies, Pyke. I wouldn’t have sent you there if I’d known. I’m not that kind of man.’

Pyke stared out of the window and thought about the old crone and the drowned navvies. He thought about the glass-eyed man whose assault on Mary had instigated the whole affair and the bloated, decomposing body he’d inspected in the cellar of the watch-house, too. Perhaps Morris was telling the truth. Perhaps he was just as surprised by what had happened as Pyke. But someone, somewhere had planned it, someone with the power or the contacts to call upon six armed dragoons, and when he found them, Pyke intended to make them suffer.

‘What will happen to the railway construction now?’ Pyke asked.

They had eaten supper at an inn south of Bishop’s Stortford and were continuing their journey back to London.

‘There will have to be an investigation, of course, and doubtless pressure will be brought to bear on all parties to blame the navvies.’ Morris’s face was haggard and drawn. ‘That’s the reality of the situation. And the construction work will be put back by months. If, that is, it happens at all.’

‘Why wouldn’t it happen?’

‘I didn’t tell you about the meeting, did I?’ Morris shook his head. ‘It would seem there’s a growing feeling among the proprietors that we should terminate the railway at Cambridge.’

‘Not go all the way to York?’

Morris shook his head glumly. ‘It’s become a straightforward question of money, Pyke. The proprietors are concerned about our stagnant share price, and who can blame them? They look at our competitor, the London and Birmingham Railway, and they see a spectacular success. The Birmingham railway was consolidated at the same time as us and they’ve already contracted eighty-six miles of track; they’ll have the whole line under contract by the start of next year, as well. Meanwhile, we’ve only contracted thirty-eight miles of track — thirty-eight out of one hundred and eighty-six — and we’ve purchased less than a fifth of the land we’ll need to get to York.’

Pyke could see that this failure weighed heavily on Morris’s mind and decided not to push him.

‘Whereas the Birmingham’s shares have more than doubled in the last six months alone, ours are worth less than the proprietors have already paid in instalments. They’re looking out for themselves.’ He smiled ruefully. ‘They couldn’t care less about my tales of woe, the difficulties we’ve been having, problems with subcontractors and the battles with landowners like Rockingham. They just want a section of the railway to be completed as soon as possible so that we can begin to earn freight and passenger income; it’s the only way our shares will ever become attractive to investors.’

Pyke struggled to grasp the implications of what Morris had told him. ‘And that’s why they want to focus efforts on getting the section of the line as far as Cambridge built before the rest of the work is attempted?’

‘If only it were that straightforward. No, I think it’s far worse than that. There’s a faction in the company that would like to see us raise the white flag and make Cambridge our final terminus. Forget about Lincoln and York.’

‘Why?’

‘It’s very simple. As soon as we start to earn money, they’ll begin to receive their dividends.’