Prison Ship by Paul Dowswell

Author:Paul Dowswell [Dowswell, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9780747584438
Publisher: Bloomsbury (UK)
Published: 2006-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Folly and Ruination

As we sat sipping beer with James and Orlagh in the Sailor’s Arms one Sunday afternoon, our thoughts turned to Lewis Tuck. ‘He’s working in the prison, I’ve heard,’ Richard told me. ‘One week in three he works overnight. I think we ought to pay his house a visit. See if we can play a little prank on him.’

‘You know where he lives?’ I asked.

‘Just on the edge of town. He’s bought himself a nice little cottage near the timber yard.’

We told our friends about what a bullying thug he’d been. Orlagh, in particular, was greatly amused by the idea of us carrying out some sort of revenge on the man. ‘I like to see a bully get a dose of his own medicine.’

We had another tankard of ale then all four of us walked over to the western side of Sydney to take a look. From a safe distance behind a high hedge we could see a pretty cottage surrounded by tall gum trees. Tuck had chosen his spot well. There was little else around the house other than lush meadows and a freshwater stream.

‘Are you sure it’s his?’ I said.

‘Yeah. I think so anyway. Rylett at the Navy office told me,’ replied Richard.

A wicked plan came to me in a flash of diabolical inspiration. ‘If we find out when he’s working the night watch we could sneak out here and see if we can cut one of those trees to fall right down on the roof!’ I thought it would impress Orlagh, and sure enough, in our drunken state, the idea seemed so wonderful we all laughed until our stomachs ached.

Just as we began to walk back home, Tuck came out of his front door and started to bustle around his small garden. We lay still by the hedge careful not to be seen. It was his house for sure. Seeing him strutting around, Orlagh said, ‘He does look like he needs bringing down a peg.’

Even when we had slept off our lunchtime drinking it still seemed like a good idea. ‘Not a word to Doctor Daniel, though,’ I said to Richard. ‘I doubt he’d approve.’

Our friend Rylett in the Navy office had a drinking partner who was one of the guards at the prison. We found out he worked the same watch as Tuck. When we saw him in the Sailor’s Arms, we always asked him how things were with the prison. One evening, when the moon was waning, he let slip he would not be in the pub all the next week because he was working the night watch. Our chance had come.

The night of Tuesday 16th May was pleasantly cool with a warm east wind blowing in across the town. Autumn had arrived in Sydney, but here it was like a lovely spring day back home in Norfolk. It rained a bit more, but it was still mild and rarely cold. We had thought our plan through carefully. Richard and me set off with Orlagh, who had begged us to take her along.

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