Gideon the Cutpurse (17 page)

* * *

The carriage rumbled on through mile after mile of farming country. Rain had not fallen in this part of Staffordshire, and the roads and fields were dusty and parched. Sometimes they passed laborers in cotton smocks, toiling in the heat, their faces blackened by the sun. In one field Peter saw a great flock of rooks, easily a hundred or more, all gathered together. The large black birds were grazing on what was left after a pea crop had been harvested. An empty wagon had been left abandoned in the middle of the field and a lone rook perched on its end. The rook opened its white beak and made a raucous
Caw! Caw!
sound and bobbed its head to one side toward the carriage, occasionally flapping its wings. The sun sparkled in its black eyes and Peter fancied it was talking about them. The other rooks were silent and paused from rooting about in the earth to stare up at the lone bird. They appeared for all the world as if they were listening to a speech.
"Look," said Gideon to Peter, "a parliament of rooks."
The driver, who had been slowly coming round for the last half mile, was suddenly wide awake. "Mr. Seymour, sir!" he cried. "Listen! It is the front axle if I'm not mistaken."
Above the
Caw! Caw!
of the rook an ominous creaking and splintering of wood was audible. Gideon and the driver looked at each other in alarm.
"It's going to go, sir! You mark my words."
A moment later, as one of the wheels juddered over a rock in the road, the axle broke in two with a terrible
CRACK!
The carriage lurched heavily and Gideon reined in the horses, who shied and kicked and whinnied in fright. Someone flung open the carriage doors, and screams and shouts came from within. Startled by the noise, the rooks flew into the air in a dense black mass, circled the carriage three times, and alighted noisily in a giant oak tree to one side of the road. A dreadful
Caw! Caw! Caw! Caw!
from a hundred beaks resounded over the fields and seemed to make the very air vibrate. Inside the carriage little Jack covered his ears with his hands and buried his face in Hannah's skirt.

* * *

An hour later the party listened disconsolately to the driver's judgement that after two failed attempts to brace the axle, there was no way on earth the carriage would be in a fit state to get them to Birmingham.
"I am hungry, Hannah," said Jack.
"And so are we all," lisped Sidney. "And thirsty."
"I have some good red apples, Master Sidney, crisp and juicy. Here, there are enough for everyone."
Hannah handed them out and Peter and Kate tried very hard not to exchange glances as Sidney tried to bite into his without the benefit of front teeth. Hannah tactfully offered to cut it into segments for him.
"By heaven, Lady Luck is against us!" exclaimed the parson. "Still, we passed a village not more than two miles back, where we can hire a wagon from one of the farmers. What say you, Mr. Seymour?"
"The village was Shenstone, Parson Ledbury. A very small hamlet indeed. If we push on a little farther, I believe we will reach Aldridge, where we are more likely to be able to procure a carriage of the size we need. I fear that we must all walk there for we dare not risk dividing the party."
"Mr. Seymour," said Hannah, "I do not like the look of Master Jack--see how his eyes are turned glassy. I fancy he has one of his fevers coming on. And, pardon me for saying so, but surely Master Sidney and Martin would be ill-advised to go for long walks over rough country--"
"Come, Mr. Seymour," interrupted the parson, "take that anxious look off your face. It is broad daylight and we are in open country. Surely you cannot doubt that Martin, Sidney, and I are capable of defending the women and children for half an hour! Go! And take Master Schock with you!"
Gideon did not look convinced. "I do not like this place," he replied. "It is true that we are in open country and that makes it difficult to surprise us, and yet this works against us too. We stand out against this landscape. We could not have chosen a more exposed spot if we had planned it."
"Pish pash, Mr. Seymour," exclaimed the parson. "We have learned our lesson. And besides, if we all go to Aldridge with you, who is going to guard our valuables?"
Gideon sighed and walked toward Midnight. "Come, Peter," he said. "The sooner we start, the sooner we will return."

* * *

Kate shot Peter a withering look and whispered sarcastically, "Well, don't mind me, will you? I can always have a nice chat with Sidney."
Peter shrugged apologetically. "What can I do? It's not my fault you're a girl and have to wear long skirts."
"Don't say another word!" said Kate under her breath.
Then she sighed and gave a weak smile in the direction of Sidney, who was giving her coy, furtive glances and seemed very pleased at the prospect of having Kate all to himself again.

* * *

Midnight galloped toward Aldridge. Holding on to Gideon's shirt to keep himself steady, Peter turned around to look back at the companions they were leaving behind. Hannah, Jack, Sidney, and Kate had set off for a stroll over the fields. The driver was seeing to the horses and the parson was sitting against the oak tree, his hands clasped over his belly and his hat over his face. Above him the branches were laden with rooks. Every so often one of them would fly up and settle down again on a different branch. Because the farmland that stretched for miles around was flat, the tall oak tree was a prominent landmark. The broken carriage, piled up with luggage at the foot of the trees, was clearly visible from a great distance. The party seemed horribly exposed.
If the footpads are nearby,
thought Peter,
they will be a sitting target.
And he could tell by the speed at which they were galloping that the same thought had occurred to Gideon.
"We shall not ride to Aldridge," said Gideon. "We shall stop at the first farm and pay them to fetch a carriage for us. We need to get back as quickly as ever we can. It is likely that someone cut through the axle before we set off. The parson has a pistol, but I fear he is not a fighting man, and the driver has not recovered his strength. We need to act quickly and keep a steady nerve."

THIRTEEN
Pandora's Box
In which Dr. Pirretti shows her true colors and Gideon tells the story of his namesake

Sergeant Chadwick watched the four figures striding across the playing fields. He nibbled on a bar of chocolate and took a pair of binoculars from his coat pocket. He hesitated before telephoning Detective Inspector Wheeler at this time in the morning but decided that his boss would be angrier still if he did not phone.

* * *

There was a spring in Dr. Dyer's step as he guided the two NASA scientists and Tim Williamson over the sodden grass toward Kate's school. "I hope this is early enough not to draw attention to ourselves," said Dr. Dyer as he looked around at the deserted hockey pitches.
When they reached the towering rear wall of the school, he pointed to some worn stone steps leading to a coal cellar. Someone had stretched some wire across the steps in a halfhearted attempt to keep the girls out. Dr. Dyer stepped over it and motioned for the others to follow him into a dank little alcove.
"Megan--who has been Kate's best friend since nursery school--tells me that this is their special place. They creep down here at break time to be by themselves and to get out of the wind. Yesterday Megan was missing Kate so much she came here for a while to think about her friend--which is lucky for us because that is when she noticed
this
. Look. Come closer."
They all crouched down around Dr. Dyer, who took out a torch from his coat pocket and directed the beam close to an emerald green fern that had taken root in the wall. The mellow red bricks were covered in a tracery of carved names and initials. At the center of the beam of light was an ancient-looking piece of graffiti--still perfectly legible because it had been so deeply etched into the soft brick:

Kate Dyer wants to come home!
July 21st 1763

Underneath was a circle with four smaller circles grouped above it. "It's Kate's trademark signature--Molly's paw print," explained Dr. Dyer. "My clever Kate has left us a message. I don't think I need any more proof that your hunch, Dr. Pirretti, about the link between time and gravity, was justified."
There was a very long pause while the scientists took in the earth-shattering significance of Kate's simple message.
"Whoa!" breathed Dr. Jacob. "This is kind of...momentous. I never thought to witness this in my lifetime."
Tim Williamson stared, unblinking, at Kate's message. "She's gone back in time!" he exclaimed. "Somehow I've managed to make the first time machine! This dawn meeting at Bakewell will go down in history. People will write about this moment."
"Only if anyone gets to hear about it," said Dr. Pirretti under her breath.
Suddenly, as Tim realized that he had played a part in without a doubt the most important scientific discovery of this century--no, of this new
millennium
--he started dancing and punching his fists in the air. Dr. Pirretti, on the other hand, looked grim. She opened her mouth to say something but then pursed her lips together.
"Believe me, Andrew," Tim Williamson said to Dr. Dyer, "I'll work night and day to rebuild the antigravity machine to the nth specification. We'll reproduce the precise conditions. If we can do it once, we can do it twice--we'll get the children back."
Dr. Dyer had tears in his eyes. "We're going to bring them home!"
Dr. Pirretti clearly could contain herself no longer. "Get real, Tim! You didn't 'do it once.' It was a freak accident. We have no way of knowing for sure how to reproduce the same conditions. Meanwhile we have two defenseless children stranded in the eighteenth century."
"Don't underestimate Kate," replied her father. "She's intelligent and resourceful--"
"You know," interrupted Dr. Jacob, who had been so deep in thought he had not been following his colleagues' conversation, "after concentrating so much of our efforts on the relationship between gravity and dark matter, it really does bring up the question: Is there a link between dark energy and time? It's going to be so fascinating working on this--"
"Listen to yourselves!" Dr. Pirretti cried. "You're already seeing your names in the history books, congratulating yourselves on being part of this astounding new scientific development! Can't you see what this really means? This is a disaster! This is a tragedy for mankind! This is a million times worse even than the invention of the atom bomb! Don't you understand that we are playing the part of Pandora opening her box and releasing undreamed-of horrors into our universe. Look what terrible things we do to each other every second of every day all over the world. Before today the one thing that was totally safe was the past. Do you
want
to live in a world where the past will always be open to infinite future interference? If we don't do the right thing
now
, most of humanity, quite rightly, will curse us forever!"
"What are you saying?" asked Dr. Dyer, his fists clenched. "Do you mean that we should not try to go back and get them?"
Dr. Pirretti's eyes met those of Kate's father and softened. "No, Andrew. I don't--necessarily--mean that. We have a duty to Kate and Peter. I'm sorry to be brutal--I have a daughter too--but ask yourself this question: Would you put the safety of your children above the right of each and every individual on this planet to a secure history? What I mean is, somehow we have got to find a way to
undo
what has happened and leave history none the wiser."
Dr. Dyer covered his face with his hands. "Oh God! Why did this have to happen to Kate?" The other two men looked stunned at the ferocity of Dr. Pirretti's outburst. Dr. Williamson shuffled from one foot to the other uncomfortably. Dr. Jacob cleared his throat and said, "I had not realized how strongly you felt about this, Anita."
"Well, you do now. Until we've all thought this through and the consequences of going public, no one must find out about what we have seen today. No one. Not the police, not NASA, not even Peter Schock's parents. Is that agreed, gentlemen?"
They all nodded, although there was some hesitation on Dr. Jacob's part. Then Dr. Dyer said, "But, of course, Megan knows. And my wife--I couldn't not tell her mother."
"No." Dr. Pirretti sighed deeply and took out a penknife from her handbag and began scraping away at Kate's message until it was a pile of reddish dust at the foot of the sooty wall.

* * *

They rode bareback. Peter instinctively adjusted his position with every change in Midnight's speed or direction. At first he had found himself clinging rigidly to Gideon's back; now, after only a little tuition, he sat upright and easy, only grabbing hold of Gideon in case of real need. He watched the parched sandy fields fleeing before them and felt the impact of Midnight's hooves as they pounded the earth. Peter had never before experienced such freedom. He'd seen a picture of his father on horseback in his grandparents' photo album. If it had been okay for his dad to do it, why did his father always say that Peter might end up breaking his neck if he tried to ride? He wished his mum and dad could see him now.
"You've lost your fear, Master Peter," commented Gideon. "I fancy you might make a horseman yet. Hold on to me. Let us see if Midnight is as strong as I think he is!"
Gideon dug his heels into Midnight's sides, and the stallion erupted into a high-speed gallop despite his double load. The sudden acceleration took Peter's breath away. He held on tight to Gideon but then whooped with the thrill of it.
"So there is something that pleases you about my time," shouted Gideon over his shoulder. And it was true, thought Peter. A few hours earlier he would have given anything to be back in suburban London. Now, suddenly, he was not so sure.

* * *

After a couple of miles they spotted a boy balanced precariously on the back of a black-and-white carthorse. He was reaching up into the branches of a spreading cherry tree, picking off the last of the overripe black fruit that had been spared by the birds. The horse flicked its mud-spattered tail at some wasps that hovered drunkenly over rotting cherries at the foot of the tree.
"I don't think we need announce ourselves," said Gideon with a mischievous look in his blue eyes. He slipped off Midnight and glided noiselessly toward the boy almost as if in slow motion. The horse noticed him but, unconcerned, continued to tear up the sweet, yellowing grass. Peter watched in awe and could not help thinking about Gideon's previous profession.
I can see why he made such a good cutpurse,
he said to himself.
No wonder he never got caught--he moves like a cat.
The boy was straining to get to a couple of luscious black cherries that were just out of arm's reach.
"Good evening, young master," said Gideon very loudly. "'Tis true that forbidden fruit always tastes the sweetest."
The boy nearly shot out of his skin, and lost his footing. Gideon caught him in midair and, laughing, set him down gently on the grass.
The boy was perhaps seven or eight, and his grubby face was stained with cherry juice. He attempted to run away, but Gideon reached out and caught hold of his shirt. The boy was none too pleased with Gideon and he kicked him angrily about the shins.
"Are all the lads hereabouts made of such stout stuff?" asked Gideon half-amused, half-wincing as he held the boy at arm's length. The boy kicked him again.
"That's enough, lad! I am flesh and blood! How would you like to earn yourself a shilling?"
The boy stopped kicking him and eyed Gideon suspiciously. "What must I do for it, sir?"
"We are in urgent need of a likely lad such as yourself to fetch help. Our carriage is broken, the axle snapped clean through."
Gideon described the giant oak and asked if the boy knew it, which he did, saying that it was a landmark thereabouts. Gideon reached deep into his jacket pocket and gave him a sixpence. The boy set off at once on his lumbering carthorse in the direction of Aldridge, fingering his treasure as he went.
"Don't dally, lad," Gideon called after him. "There's another sixpence waiting for you."
They watched the boy disappear out of sight. The sky was already growing pink and the sun sinking low on the horizon. Swallows called to each other, so high in the sky that they were barely visible as they swooped and soared through the clear, dry air in search of midges. Gideon squinted up at them, his arm shading his eyes.
"We need not fear rain tonight at least," commented Gideon.
"How many sixpences are there in a pound?" asked Peter, who was wondering how much the boy could buy with his earnings.
"Forty. Twelve pennies in a shilling, twenty shillings to the pound."
"Money's a lot easier to work out in my time. What can you buy for a sixpence, then?"
Gideon thought about it for a moment. "Well, you can dine handsomely for sixpence. Or have the barber cut your hair. And sixpence will buy a quantity of wine sufficient to put even Parson Ledbury under the table."