Half a Sixpence by Evie Grace

Author:Evie Grace
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2017-07-13T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

The Battle of Bossenden

Pa, George and Ma, having heard the commotion, came quickly to hear what Stephen had to say.

‘There’s been a battle over in Bossenden Wood. Matty has been taken prisoner at the Red Lion.’

‘We must go to him,’ Catherine said, trying to take the cob by the reins.

‘Let’s hear the details first,’ Pa said. ‘Forewarned is forearmed. Fetch the lad a drink, Ma. Not small beer. Something stronger. He looks as if he’s had quite a shock. George, turn the horse out, let it roll and have some grass. Catherine, restrain yourself.’

Stephen sat on the bench by the woodpile. Catherine knelt in the grass alongside him. Pa stood with his fingers through his braces, tugging on them as if to hold himself upright. Ma returned swiftly from the house with a bottle of spirits. She pulled out the cork and handed the bottle to Stephen, who glugged back the contents. He rested his hands on his thighs and leaned forwards, coughing like a dying man.

‘That sounds like it has bones in it.’ Pa retrieved the bottle from his grasp. ‘Now, tell us everything you know.’

‘Go on, my son.’ George offered Ma the remaining space on the bench, but she turned it down with a shake of her head.

‘I hope I say this right,’ Stephen began. ‘It goes like this. Knatchbull – he’s the magistrate – and a party of men followed Sir William to the osier beds.’

Catherine knew where the osiers were – they were clumps of coppiced willow grown for making withies, for thatching and basket-making.

Stephen continued, ‘They didn’t stay there all that long. Sir William gave a blast on his bugle to call his followers together and they returned to Bossenden. Knatchbull left some of his men to keep a watch on them from a distance while he met Doctor Poore at the inn at Dunkirk. By this time, the soldiers were there – a hundred of them, can you believe? Anyway, Doctor Poore read the Riot Act to the crowd outside the inn and the soldiers separated into two groups. One party entered the wood through Old Barn Lane. The other, led by a captain by the name of Reid, made their way into the wood further east.’

‘And?’ Pa said, when he paused for a moment.

‘Something went wrong. A lieutenant who was with Captain Reid’s party moved too quickly and was shot as he advanced to arrest Sir William.’

‘Shot? Oh no.’ Catherine pressed her fingers to her lips.

‘Sir William fell in a hail of bullets. His men, armed only with staves of flayed oak, fought fiercely, so it is said. Eight are dead. Seven are injured. The rest have been rounded up and taken prisoner.’

‘Matty?’ she whispered hoarsely.

He nodded. ‘And Jervis.’

‘What were they doing there?’ Pa exclaimed. ‘Why did Matty risk everything, and on his wedding day?’

‘How many times have I told him to mind his own business? All I wanted was for him to find Jervis so he could see his poorly ma, not get involved with Sir William’s cause.

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