Part 40 (1/2)
Daniel said, ”By the time that Brother Norman has this galley s.h.i.+p-shape, which will be-?”
”A week,” said Orney. ”G.o.d willing.”
”By then I shall have damaged quite a few more, and they shall be ready to s.h.i.+p to St. Petersburg. If the Tsar is pleased by the results, the project in question may then move forward. But as this has nothing to do with the Clubb, let us set it aside for now.” And he literally did, putting the card back in the chest and setting it aside.
”Well, if we're to speak no further of Brother Daniel's entanglements in Muscovy,” said Mr. Orney, ”perhaps Mr. Threader would now care to explain his presence.”
”I would speak to the Clubb of an Opportunity,” said Mr. Threader-who had finally composed himself and re-established his customary dry and dignified mien. He was gazing pensively out the window, and so did not witness the other members rolling their eyes and glancing at their watches. After a pause for effect, he made a half-turn and began looking them in the eye, each in turn. ”Dr. Waterhouse has raised the possibility that the Infernal Device that nearly killed him and me in Crane Court, might not have been intended for either one of us-but rather for Sir Isaac Newton, who was known to frequent Crane Court late of a Sunday evening. This hypothesis was roundly hooted down at our previous meeting, and I shall be the first to confess that I was extremely skeptickal of it. But everything has changed. In the Clubbs and coffee-houses of the City, one name is now on every tongue: Jack the Coiner. At Westminster, in Lords, and in Star Chamber, who is the man they speak of? The Duke of Marlborough? No. Prince Eugene? No. It is Jack the Coiner. At the Tower of London, rumors abound that Jack the Coiner goes in and out of the Mint at will. Why is my lord Bolingbroke investigating the fineness of Her Majesty's coinage? Why, because he fears it has been adulterated by Jack the Coiner. Why has Sir Isaac Newton suffered a nervous collapse? Because of the mischief committed against him by Jack the Coiner. Now, I ask you men of the Clubb: supposing, for the sake of argument, that we credit the extraordinary hypothesis of Dr. Waterhouse as to the intended victim of the first Infernal Device: what man would have a motive to a.s.sa.s.sinate him whose charge it is to prosecute all coiners, and send them to Tyburn to be torn apart? Why, a coiner! And among coiners, which would command the resources, which would have the cunning, to build and to place an Infernal Device?”
Kikin and Orney were silent, sullenly declining to partic.i.p.ate in Threader's call-and-response.
”Jack the Coiner,” said Daniel dutifully-since it was, after all, his his hypothesis. hypothesis.
”Jack the Coiner. And therein lies the Opportunity I spoke of.”
”An opportunity to have our throats slit from ear to ear?” Mr. Orney inquired.
”No! An opportunity to be of service to great men-men such as Her Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State Viscount Bolingbroke, Mr. Charles White, and Sir Isaac Newton!”
”Ah, yes, that would would seem like an Opportunity for some,” said Mr. Kikin, ”but not for me, as I am already quite busy being of service to the Greatest Man in the World. Thank you anyway.” seem like an Opportunity for some,” said Mr. Kikin, ”but not for me, as I am already quite busy being of service to the Greatest Man in the World. Thank you anyway.”
”As for myself,” said Mr. Orney, ”I am put in mind of Our Saviour, who made Himself of service to the poor by was.h.i.+ng their feet with His own hands. Following His example as best a sinner may, I can have no larger ambition than to be of service to my common ordinary brethren, the salt of the earth. The Viscount Bolingbroke can look after himself.”
Mr. Threader sighed. ”I had phant'sied I might fire this Clubb with renewed l.u.s.t for the pursuit.”
Daniel said, ”Mr. Kikin and Mr. Orney each has his own reason to join in that pursuit, as they have just explained to us-so why don't let's each pursue Jack for his own motives. If you wish to construe it as an Opportunity, it is of no account to me one way or the other.”
”I have been making inquiries about this knave Jack,” Mr. Threader said. ”It is rumored that he is from time to time seen around the warehouses of Mr. Knockmealdown.”
Orney scoffed. ”That is like saying he has been spotted in England,” he pointed out, ”since the hideaways and bolt-holes of the East London Company spread across half of the Borough.”
”Who is this person? What is this company?” Mr. Kikin wanted to know.
”Mr. Knockmealdown is the most notorious receiver of stolen goods in the metropolis,” Daniel said.
”That is no mean distinction,” Mr. Kikin said, ”as this place has as many fences fences as as constables constables.”
”To be sure, there are thousands of those,” Daniel a.s.sured him, ”but only a few dozen receivers of note.”
Orney put in, ”There is only one who has ama.s.sed capital sufficient to receive goods on a large scale-say, the whole contents of a pirated s.h.i.+p, as well as the s.h.i.+p itself. That is Mr. Knockmealdown.”
”And this man has a company company?!”
”Of course not,” Orney said. ”But he has an organization, organization, which has ramified and spread from Rotherhithe-where I am sorry to say he got his start-up the bank to encompa.s.s a considerable part of the Bermondsey and Southwark waterfronts. Some wag once, drawing a facetious comparison to the British East India Company, dubbed it the Irish East London Company, and the name has stuck.” which has ramified and spread from Rotherhithe-where I am sorry to say he got his start-up the bank to encompa.s.s a considerable part of the Bermondsey and Southwark waterfronts. Some wag once, drawing a facetious comparison to the British East India Company, dubbed it the Irish East London Company, and the name has stuck.”
”So Mr. Threader has tracked our quarry as far as the south bank of the River Thames,” Daniel said. ”Meanwhile our missing member, Henry Arlanc, has, he a.s.sures me, been pursuing his investigations among the Vault-men of Fleet Ditch, so far to no practical effect. Has there been any progress in retaining a thief-taker?”
”I spent, or rather wasted, some time on it,” said Mr. Kikin. ”I posted a reward, and heard from several who feigned interest. But when I explained the nature of the work to them, they quickly lost interest.”
”If the hypothesis of Brother Daniel and Mr. Threader is correct, this explains itself,” said Mr. Orney. ”Thief-takers, as I understand them, are petty scoundrels-poachers of small game. Such a varlet would not dare challenge Jack the Coiner.”
”Perhaps, rather than posting a reward, it were better to find one thief-taker who is resolute, and treat with him directly,” Mr. Threader suggested.
”It is most generous of the two of you to share these notions with me,” said Mr. Kikin, ”but I have antic.i.p.ated you, and made efforts to reach Mr. Sean Partry.”
”And that is-?” Orney asked.
”The most famous of all living thief-takers,” Kikin announced.
”I have never heard of him,” said Threader.
”Because you are a City man-why should you? Rest a.s.sured he enjoys a high reputation in the demimonde demimonde-several of the petty thief-takers who came to me after I posted the reward, mentioned his name with great respect.”
”Supposing that he is all that he's reputed to be-even so, can he challenge the likes of Jack the Coiner?” Daniel asked.
”More to the point, will will he?” Threader added. he?” Threader added.
”He will, will,” Kikin returned, ”for 'tis said that his younger brother was slain by a member of Jack's gang. As to whether he can can, this shall be discovered before we have to pay him very much money.”
”Very well, provided we can settle on a clear definition of this troubling phrase very much money, very much money, I would be amenable to further contacts with Mr. Sean Partry,” said Mr. Threader; and the others seemed to say, with little nods of their heads, that they did not disagree. I would be amenable to further contacts with Mr. Sean Partry,” said Mr. Threader; and the others seemed to say, with little nods of their heads, that they did not disagree.
”We've not heard from you, Brother Daniel,” said Orney. ”Have you continued in your own investigation? How goes it?”
”It goes splendidly,” Daniel returned, ”but it is a slow strategy that I am pursuing, one that shall reward our patience. Notwithstanding which, results are beginning to develop: both the Marquis of Ravenscar and the Royal College of Physicians have been victims of burglary in the last month. I could not be more satisfied.”
The other three exchanged looks, but none would be first to admit that he could not understand what Daniel was talking about. He was developing a reputation, it seemed, as a strange bloke who wandered about London in possession of perforated gold plates badly wanted by the Tsar; and the instincts of Mr. Orney, Mr. Threader, and Mr. Kikin were not to pry into the Pandora's Box that, it seemed, was the life of Dr. Waterhouse.
Westminster Palace 25 JUNE 1714.