Page 163 of The Armor of Light

Riddick said: ‘What do the accused say to the charge?’

Colin said: ‘Not guilty.’

Sal said: ‘There is no combination. The union has been dissolved. We were carrying out the wishes of the clothiers, not conspiring against them.’

Riddick said: ‘Alderman Hornbeam, what are the facts?’

Hornbeam spoke in a flatly emotionless tone. ‘Box and Hennessy came to my house yesterday at about eight o’clock in the evening. They said I had bought a large new scribbling machine and I needed the permission of my hands to install it. They threatened a strike if refused.’

Riddick said: ‘Well, it looks to me as if they combined to interfere with trade in a way that clearly violates the Combination Act.’

Sal said: ‘No, it doesn’t.’

‘Sal Box, I knew you in Badford, when you were Sal Clitheroe, and you were a troublemaker then.’

‘And you were a violent drunk. But we aren’t in Badford now, we’re in Kingsbridge, and the clothiers of Kingsbridge have an agreement with the hands. The agreement ended the strike and Hornbeam’smills reopened. But he won’t keep to the agreement. He is like a man who prays for the Lord’s help but afterwards won’t go to church. Last night, Colin and I told him he was breaking the agreement, and I said that keeping the agreement was the best way to avoid strikes. That’s not a threat, that’s a fact, and there’s no law against facts.’

‘So you admit that you combined, and you admit that you tried to interfere with Alderman Hornbeam’s business.’

‘When you tell a fool that he’s doing something harmful to himself, is that interference?’

Will did not answer that question. ‘I find you both guilty,’ he said. ‘And I sentence you to two months’ hard labour.’

24

Dear Spade,

Well, here I am in the Netherlands, and I have had my first experience of battle, and I am still alive and not badly wounded. The rest of the news is all bad.

We mustered in Canterbury, and I must say their cathedral is even bigger than ours in Kingsbridge. A lot of the lads had joined up from the militia like me, so we were mostly ‘green’ as they say, meaning we had not done any real fighting. Well, that did not last long.

We landed at a place called Callantsoog, funny names they have here, and right away the enemy came at us over the sand dunes. Well, I was so scared I would have ran away but behind me was only the sea so I had to stand and fight. Anyway our ships fired all their cannons over our heads and into the enemy and it was them as ran away.

They left us some nice empty fortresses that we moved into, but not for many days. Soon we had a fight at Krabbendam where the French general was a man called Marie Anne, you see what I mean about names, anyhow he can’t have been much good because we won.

Then the duke of York arrived with some reinforcements and we thought we were sitting pretty. We marched to a city called Hoorn and took it but soon we left it and went back to where we had started, this kind of thing happens a lot in the army, good thing you don’t run your business that way Spade ha ha.

We had a bad time marching along a narrow beach where we had no fresh water, we were fired on by the French, not sure whether we would die of thirst or bullets. My pal Gus was shot in the head and died, you make friends fast in the army but you can lose them just as quick. Then it got dark, and we were told the enemy had retreated, I don’t know what we did to scare them off!

Disaster struck at the town of Castricum. It was pissing with rain but that was not our biggest problem unfortunately. The French attacked with bayonets which was very bloody and we ran. We were chased by the French cavalry. I was bleeding from a cut on my arm and would certainly have been killed but for some light dragoons who sprang up from a sort of valley in the dunes and sent the Frenchies back.

We lost a lot of men in that battle and the duke decided to withdraw so there was a truce and he has gone back to London. I think this means we have been defeated.

We are on the coast waiting for ships to take us away. No one knows where we will be going, but I’m hoping for home so perhaps you will soon be able to drink a tankard in the Bell Inn with me –

your affectionate brother-in-law Freddie Caines.

*

HORNBEAM WATCHED THEgiant scribbling engine at work. It was a marvel. Driven by steam, it never took a break, never went to the privy, never fell ill. It never got tired.

He was not bothered by the deafening clatter of machinery: it was making money for him. He did not even mind the smell of the hands, who did not own bathtubs and would not know what to do with one. It was all money.

The new mill had doubled his capacity. On his own, he could now supply all the cloth required by the Shiring Militia, and handle plenty of other business as well.

He just hoped that peace would not break out.

This pleasant moment of contemplation came to an end with the sudden appearance of Will Riddick, in uniform, looking angry. ‘Damn it, Hornbeam,’ he said, shouting over the noise. ‘I’ve been moved.’