The Guinea Thief - Chapter 16 - The Long Way Home

An hour later the court had reconvened. Sir Toby got through his cases with remarkable swiftness. Two thieves were sentenced to seven years transportation each. The first was a young chamber maid who had stolen a lace handkerchief from her lady, the second a boy of twelve who had stolen a pie from a window sill as it cooled off from baking. There was no appeal and no mercy.
Within an hour Jack, Fred and Robert were before Sir Toby again. All three in the dock together.
Mr Bell read out the indictment.
“Robert Goody, Frederick Williams, Jack Wilson, all three of you are charged that on the night of 28th October last you did land a cargo and carry out an act of smuggling expressly with the intention of avoiding the excise duty due on your cargo.”
“How do you plead?”
“Guilty, Your Honour.” said Robert.
“Guilty, Your Honour.” said Fred.
“Gulity, Your Honour.” said Jack.
“Mr Bell, we can dispense with Mr Fielding services’s and the jury and move straight to the sentencing. Ordinarily in my court the sentence I impose on criminals guilty of tax evasion, an affront to the crown and dignity of His Majesty the king would be three years hard labour on the hulks. However , on this occasion I believe such leniency would be misplaced. I wish to make an example of you men before all that are here present. I therefore sentence Robert Goody and Frederick Williams to ten years Transportation as the masterminds of this operation. Young Jack Wilson here I believe in many ways felt he had no choice but to join this enterprise, so I am minded to give a lesser semtence. Jack Wilson, you will serve seven years Transportation. ”
Boo's erupted from the gallery.
"Silence in court." The clerk banged his gavel, but murmurs of displeasure continued. Up in the gallery Delphine whispered to Eliza, “What does it mean Transportation?”
Eliza’s face had gone white. “Transportation means they send you on a ship across the ocean and you work as a prisoner in Australia. If you make it over there that is. Not everyone survives the journey. It’s awful.”
“Australia, where is that?”
“It’s the other side of the world. In the old days they used to send you to Virginia, Robert says it’s not so bad. But Australia sounds a wicked, terrible place.”
“Why Australia?”
“There’s no room in the prisons here. So they send the prisoners from England as slave labour over there. Out of sight and out of mind.”
“And do they come back?”
“ Some do. But not many. Seven years is a long time to be away from home. At the end of their sentence they are free to make new lives there. I’m so sorry, Dearie.”
“Eliza, what are we to do?”
“Bear it. Learn to live with it. Bad things happen all the time and there is nothing you can do to prepare yourself for them. When I was first married, Robert would be at sea for years at a time. I never knew if he was going to come home. So many of my friends lost their husbands. And years later when Robert had come home safe, I lost Nicholas, my beautiful boy. Jack was such a blessing for me, but what god gives with one hand, he can also take away. Now it seems I have lost them all.”
Eliza wiped away her tears and put her arms around Delphine. “Life is short, life is hard, we take the bitter with the sweet and you have to learn to make the best of everything. It’s all we can do.”
“What if I can’t?”
“You can, and you will. You are young and strong. You may think that your world has come to an end, but it hasn’t. It’s a new chapter, that’s all. The end is a long way off yet.”

Jack, Fred and Robert had been led back to the cells by the constable.
“Jack, Fred, I have to apologise. If you hadn’t come to court today you wouldn’t be in this cell right now.”
“No, that’s true. But you would also be on your way to the gallows, so let’s drop that right now. We did the right thing, and I don’t regret it.” said Fred.
“Jack. You’re very quiet?”
Jack scuffed the straw on the floor of the cell. Moving it raised a sweet, musty smell of stale urine. Jack immediately wished he hadn’t done it. The room was cramped and uncomfortable enough already. There were three others in the cell in addition to himself, Fred and Robert , and there really was only room for four.
“Australia........I just can’t imagine it.”
“They say it’s a land of opportunity.” said Robert
“I heard it was a desert with giant rats.” Said Fred.
“Fred!”
“Well it’s true. I have heard them say that. No point filling the lad’s head with fairy stories. It’s a desert full of giant rats that can leap across fences. They’ve got poisonous spiders with huge fangs that can kill a man with one bite. It never rains. Oh and the native black fellas are cannibals that snatch babies at night and eats them.” said Fred.
“Well believe that if you will. But that sounds like drink talking to me. Who is it that has told you this?”
“Some fellow down the Red Lion, that come back after seven years.”
“Who was buying the beers?”
“We was. It was fascinating the stories he told.”
“And would you have bought him the beers if he’d told you what a beautiful place it was?”
“Robert, you’re a much smarter man than me. Always have been, always will be. Let’s agree neither of us know what’s on the other side of the world for sure. But if I sees any giant rats, or you get’s bitten by a man eating spider, I want the satisfaction of being able to say I told you so.”
“If it’ll make you feel any better, when you are watching me writhing in agony, I give you leave to say that. Jack I’ll be relying on you to do something more constructive, like save my life perhaps.”
“Robert you know I’d put my life on the line for you.”
“Fred, I do know it. You both just have and I shall never forget it.”
The balding gaoler ran his keys along the iron bars of the three cells.
“Listen up. It’s a long walk back to Portsmouth, but it might be the last bit of a fresh air you’ll get for a while so make the most of it. Don’t give the guards no trouble, it’ll be worse for you if you do. I need you to line up one at a time, we’ll get you to the smith and get the shackles on you, then you’ll be off. Have a nice life gentlemen and God have mercy on all our souls.” he said.
Outside at the back of the courthouse stood a makeshift smithy. For the first time Jack noticed that Robert had iron bands around his ankles, he must have had them on the whole time he was in court. The smith used a link chain to connect Robert’s ankle rings with a central ring in his belt. Next the smith riveted iron bands round Jack’s ankles and again threaded them through with a chain fastened to his waist belt. He was shocked by how heavy they felt. So heavy it was impossible for him to raise his feet properly, he could no longer walk but had to shuffle instead. This was indeed going to be a long walk back to Portsmouth. By coach they had made it in three hours, on foot, at a snail’s pace they wouldn’t get there till tomorrow.
The fifteen prisoners shivered in the biting January wind. This was no time of year to be making a forced march overnight across half a county. It was already dark, the court had been in session all day and the last case finished at seven in the evening. Sir Toby would have happily carried on longer, if it wasn’t for the large supper which awaited him courtesy of the mayor and his good lady wife. Jack pulled his winter coat tightly around him.
“Don’t worry lad, once we get moving it won’t feel quite so bad.” said Robert.
“Will they make us walk all night?”
“No Son. The guards’ll be wanting some rest themselves. We’ll stop halfway and camp somewhere. We should be back in Portsmouth by lunch time tomorrow.”
Jack nodded, he could feel his lips stinging in the cold air and Robert’s breath freezing as he spoke. It would be a bitter night, he hoped there would be a fire and a blanket. But he couldn’t see any signs of blankets, the guards were travelling as lightly as their prisoners. Their only extras were the guns and whips to keep their charges in line.
“Let’s go.” said the Captain of the guards.
He alone had a horse, which must have been an inconvenience in some ways as the prisoners travelled so slowly he and his horse could cross the same ground three times over in the time it took for the column to move. Occasionally the Captain would go ahead, to check the way he said, but to Jack it seemed more likely it was out of sheer boredom. The men shuffled as best they could over the cobblestones of Winchester’s streets. After half an hour the cheering lights of the city began to fade and they were climbing the hills east of Winchester and through the village of Twyford. The place names were unfamiliar to Jack, he had never ventured this far inland. Portsmouth was his city, the Point was his home, he was used to being surrounded by sea on all four sides; this vast rolling land of hills stretching as far as the eye could see was completely alien to him. The river run valleys kept the wind at bay, but every now and then they would climb higher and the wind would begin to bite. Robert had been right, it was warmer now they were moving. But still it was cold and Jack’s blood felt like ice in his veins. He thought he would never feel warm again. The prisoners said little as they walked, concentrating on the way ahead. The guards carried lanterns, but the pools of light they cast fell short of the prisoners and more than once a prisoner had stumbled and fallen in the dark, sometimes taking another man down with him. Patiently the others stopped and waited while he picked himself up. If he took too long a flick of the whip soon motivated him to get up and the long march south continued.
The captain came back from one of his forays forward. He had been gone some time, this time.
“We’ll stop at Bishops Waltham, camping at the old palace. I’ve arranged supper with the Priory Inn. You guards can take it in turns to have yours. If any of you prisoners have money they’re happy to send something over to the camp. If you can’t pay, there’s some biscuits for you in the morning.”
They arrived at the palace ruins. The old stones covered in weeds afforded a little bit of shelter and the prisoners huddled close together to stay warm. As soon as the prisoners were settled, two of the guards headed to the Inn back along the main road. Robert had given them three shillings for three suppers and a penny for each of the two guards to make sure the dinners came back warm. An hour later the extra two pennies were worth paying, as the three of them tucked into hot roast chicken, the juices running down their chins and glistening in Robert’s beard. Chicken had never tasted so good.
Supper over, the three men settled down to sleep. Miraculously the Captain had thought to provide blankets from the inn and so hunger sated, they slept as best they might on cold ground in the middle of winter. Jack’s sleep was disturbed by dreams of the ocean, of being lost at sea miles from land, the endless horizon unbroken, clinging on to a single timber from some ship that had sunk without trace. He woke and felt a cramp in his leg. He jumped up forgetting the shackles around his ankles and promptly fell to the ground again, landing on Fred, who was still asleep.
“Mind yerself lad. I was just having a lovely dream, bet if I try and go back I’ll find that plump young thing will have grey hair and a beard.”
Jack picked himself up, apologised and tried to ease the cramp by rubbing his calf. By then Robert had been woken up too.
“You’ll get used to them lad. I’ve been wearing shackles these past three months on the hulk. Just don’t make any sudden moves. They will chafe and rub in the beginning, but in the end you’ll almost forget they were there.”
Jack looked at him unconvinced.
“Alright you won’t ever really forget they are there, because of the infernal noise they make every time you move, but you will forget what it was like not to wear them.”
Soon it was time to get moving again. A ration of biscuits was handed round to the prisoners. Those who had not eaten the night before fell upon them gladly. They were soft and salty and tasted like sawdust. Jack decided he would manage without, but Robert insisted he eat them.
“From now on lad you don’t know where or when the next meal is coming from. You might be alright and have an officer who will let you buy your own, because the official rations can’t even keep the rats satisfied. But you might be unlucky. So eat and be grateful, that biscuit could be the one thing that keeps you alive.”
Jack ate the biscuit slowly. The captain passed round a flask of rum and everyone took a swig, including the prisoners. It was fierce rough stuff, the heat scorched Jack’s throat and burned his belly inside. But he was glad of it. It took the foul taste of biscuits from his mouth and thawed the blood in his veins.
“Right then lads. Let’s get you to Portsmouth. Sooner we are there the sooner I’ll be in the Spice Island Inn, so make me a happy man, keep the pace up and we’ll have a pleasant enough morning. Dawdle and whine and you’ll be sorry.”
“You heard the Captain, let’s go.” The guard kicked Jack in the ribs as he said this.
Jack scrambled to his feet and started walking.