Part 58 (1/2)

”Who goes there?” came a call from far away down the hill, and something in the tone of voice gave Daniel the idea that this was not some resident of the place, challenging an intruder, but a fellow intruder, trying to make out what was going on. Which was quite striking, and (an instant later) a wee bit disturbing. Until now, he'd been supposing that they were going over ground that had already been traversed, and laid claim to, by friendlies, operating according to some coherent plan. But now he could hear a simply ludicrous amount of effort being expended by several units and individuals, all within earshot of one another, and all on the same side, for the simple purpose of trying to make out who the other blokes were, what direction they were headed, et cetera et cetera. So for all he knew, he and Newton and Leibniz might be in front of in front of the rest of the force. And finally-as a sort of crowning ornament to this edifice of startling realizations that had been set a-building by the shouted ”Who goes there?”-he understood that all military operations were this way, that no one here, other than Daniel, was surprised by any of it, and that (as in so many other situations in life) no remedy was possible and no apologies would be forthcoming. the rest of the force. And finally-as a sort of crowning ornament to this edifice of startling realizations that had been set a-building by the shouted ”Who goes there?”-he understood that all military operations were this way, that no one here, other than Daniel, was surprised by any of it, and that (as in so many other situations in life) no remedy was possible and no apologies would be forthcoming.

It kept his mind occupied, anyway, until they crested the knoll and found themselves lost in and surrounded by the Odor: a stench of sal ammoniac sal ammoniac so bad that it panicked the horses and forced the driver to use every bit of his wit, will, and whip-skill to rein them in, wheel them about, and drive them up-wind, out of the bad air. This confused and wild U through the hilltop lasted for all of ten seconds, and left a farrago of weird impressions in Daniel's mind: the hysterical dog at the end of its tether, the gutted buildings, stained ground. The phrase ”abomination of desolation” hung in his head; he could hear the voice of Drake intoning the words out of the Geneva Bible. The ancient half-timbered buildings of the farmstead-which had probably been in ruins even before Jack and his gang had gotten to them-had been attacked, as beetles scavenge a fallen carca.s.s, and holed, torn, gutted, stripped, and remade into some monstrous novelty. The sides that faced out into the surrounding countryside had not been changed much, but the middle of the compound had been turned into something that was part giant machine, part Alchemist's laboratory. Vast boilers, stained black with smoke, narrowed to serpentine tubes of hammered copper, frosted with dripping beads of solder and fuzzy with fertile encrustations of chymical crystals. Patches of soil lay burned and dead where they'd been plashed with murderous tinctures. so bad that it panicked the horses and forced the driver to use every bit of his wit, will, and whip-skill to rein them in, wheel them about, and drive them up-wind, out of the bad air. This confused and wild U through the hilltop lasted for all of ten seconds, and left a farrago of weird impressions in Daniel's mind: the hysterical dog at the end of its tether, the gutted buildings, stained ground. The phrase ”abomination of desolation” hung in his head; he could hear the voice of Drake intoning the words out of the Geneva Bible. The ancient half-timbered buildings of the farmstead-which had probably been in ruins even before Jack and his gang had gotten to them-had been attacked, as beetles scavenge a fallen carca.s.s, and holed, torn, gutted, stripped, and remade into some monstrous novelty. The sides that faced out into the surrounding countryside had not been changed much, but the middle of the compound had been turned into something that was part giant machine, part Alchemist's laboratory. Vast boilers, stained black with smoke, narrowed to serpentine tubes of hammered copper, frosted with dripping beads of solder and fuzzy with fertile encrustations of chymical crystals. Patches of soil lay burned and dead where they'd been plashed with murderous tinctures.

It finally occurred to him to look at Isaac to see how the arch-Alchemist reacted to this glimpse of the Art writ large. Daniel saw in Isaac's face neither fascination nor disgust but a kind of pensive bewilderment: the look he got when he was drawing connexions in his mind that were beyond Daniel's powers. But he looked suddenly at Daniel and remarked, ”Clarke's house.”

Which was a reference to a thing he had taken Daniel to see fifty years earlier, on a visit to Grantham, Lincolns.h.i.+re: an apothecary's house where Isaac had boarded as a schoolboy. Clarke had dabbled in Alchemy and had filled a side yard of the house with wreckage of his experiments. It was much smaller than what they had just seen, but to young Isaac must have seemed as large, and as glamourous with hazards, and as seething with mystery. In the half-century since, all things Alchemical had become familiar to Isaac; but what he had just seen must have jolted him with the same emotions he had known as a boy making illicit forays into Mr. Clarke's laboratory.

For Daniel's part, he wanted to loathe what Jack had made of this good old farm, and to be outraged, and to hate Jack all the more for it. But none of these feelings came to him. They would never come, because Daniel had already seen in Devon the works of Mr. Thomas Newcomen, which were like a harbinger of this thing. Or perhaps the Engine for Raising Water by Fire, and Jack's phosphorus-mill, were both harbingers of something else, which he could scarce picture in his mind-and scarcely wished to. He had once said to Mr. Threader, in a very self-righteous way, that England did not need Slaves, if she could learn to make Engines, and that Engines, being clever, were a more English sort of thing than toiling Negroes; but now he was beginning to think that he ought to be more careful of what he wished for. The first first phosphorus laboratory ever made-that of the Alchemist Heinrich Brand-had been phosphorus laboratory ever made-that of the Alchemist Heinrich Brand-had been so so clever that it had inspired Leibniz to write a poem about it. But Daniel could see from the look on Leibniz's face that he'd be writing no poems about clever that it had inspired Leibniz to write a poem about it. But Daniel could see from the look on Leibniz's face that he'd be writing no poems about this this place, unless it was a supplementary Canto of Dante's place, unless it was a supplementary Canto of Dante's Inferno Inferno.

They debarked from the carriage, for the horses would on no account draw any nearer to the noisome Works. They knew that the dog was tethered, for they had nearly run over it, and they knew that no humans would be about, because who could or would sleep atop such a h.e.l.l-mouth? So Newton, Leibniz, and Waterhouse strode rather than crept toward the Factory, and when they heard hoofbeats coming up behind, none of them paid it much mind, knowing that it was the young Mohawk who had been detailed to keep an eye out for them.

The last breaths of the fog had at last blown off from this hilltop, though the low places among the downs were still gloomed under fat gray rivers. One could see ten miles from this place-and anyone save a Natural Philosopher would turn his back to the ugly scene in the center to enjoy the prospect. But these men, who thought nothing of dissecting a beautiful corpse to examine a necrotic ulcer, had eyes only for the phosphorus-works.

The compound was ringed by an old hedgerow that had been viciously trimmed back by its new tenants, and cut down to the height of a man's mid-section. Newton, Leibniz, and Waterhouse pa.s.sed through a gap where it was pierced by a little side-track, and the Mohawk, who was angling in from another direction, jumped it easily on his mount, wheeled round, and trotted toward them. Waterhouse, well knowing his place, a.s.sumed the tedious duty of talking to the rider so that the great ones' observations would not be disturbed. ”Never mind what orders you have been given,” said Daniel, ”this place is the objective of the day-it is why we have all come here.”

”Shall I go and summon others?”

”I do not think it necessary-they'll find us anon.”

”I meant, sir, in case we should meet with resistance.”

”There will be none,” said Daniel, ”except for that that!” And he pointed toward the dog, who was sprinting for them.

It turned out that this animal's tether was very long indeed, so that it could range over the entire hilltop, provided it did not commit the cla.s.sic error of getting the rope wound around anything-and it was one of those dogs who was clever enough to avoid that. Having (or so it imagined) chased off the carriage of Newton, Leibniz, et al., it had found employment on the opposite side of the compound, barking at some untoward noises. But now it was coming for them, angling in on their larboard quarter. It faltered as it perceived a choice between going for Newton and Leibniz-who were several paces ahead-or Daniel and the mounted Mohawk. Wisely, it chose the former. Newton and Leibniz, so different in matters of high philosophy, were absolutely the same when it came to being chased across a farm-yard by a huge ravening mastiff. They cheated to the right, and got up against the hedgerow, prepared to clamber over it if they had to-but this was a last resort, at their age. Then they hustled forward, hoping to get out of the tether's fatal radius. But that tether simply kept uncoiling-just when it looked as if it were about to jerk taut, fresh miles of it would appear, as if by some conjuror's trick. Newton almost tripped over something, and Leibniz bent down and picked it up: it was a long wooden paddle, chymically gnawed and stained, its handle snapped off at one end, but still a fathom long. For they had drawn nigh the boiler where such implements were used to stir and test the thickening coction. Leibniz waved this find around, sending a message that the dog collected instantly; it broke off the frontal a.s.sault and s.h.i.+fted fluidly into a feinting-and-lunging style of flank-attack. Daniel caught up with the others about now, and, pa.s.sing behind Leibniz's defense, went to haul Isaac Newton up off the ground. Meanwhile the Mohawk had ridden up behind the dog and was shouting to draw its attack: a plan his mount well understood and little favored, so that this rider must devote all his powers to managing the mental states of the dog on one hand and the horse on the other.

Isaac was down, not because he had tripped, but because he had gotten interested in something. He held out his hand. A reddish nodule lay in the middle of his palm. ”Behold,” he announced, ”Jack has learnt the art of making red red phosphorus. It is scattered all about.” phosphorus. It is scattered all about.”

”That would be the source of ignition for the Infernal Devices, then,” said Leibniz over his shoulder. He was still en garde en garde with the paddle, protecting the other two, who were crouched behind him at the base of the hedgerow. But this was less and less necessary, as the Mohawk now had the dog's undivided attention. The horse kept rearing so that it might bring down its hooves on the mastiff's head. with the paddle, protecting the other two, who were crouched behind him at the base of the hedgerow. But this was less and less necessary, as the Mohawk now had the dog's undivided attention. The horse kept rearing so that it might bring down its hooves on the mastiff's head.

The rider had his pistol out.

”Hold your fire, sir,” said Daniel, who long ago had grown sick of seeing dogs killed in the name of Natural Philosophy. He stood up, and pulled Newton to his feet. Something in that word fire fire was troubling him. was troubling him.

”Hold your fire!” cried Leibniz, who had glanced down to see red phosphorus all over the ground. But the Mohawk heard them not. The dog's tether had come round to touch the horse's hind legs, and made it panic. The cavalryman leveled his gun at the dog. Leibniz whirled about, turning his back on what was about to happen. Seeing the others a few paces away, side by side, he spun the paddle round to make it horizontal, and held it before him at chest height. Then he hurled himself forward. The implement caught Daniel just below the collar-bone and forced him back until the stiff old vegetation of the murdered hedgerow chopped him just below the b.u.t.tocks. His last clear impression was of a bolt of fire jerking out of the muzzle of the pistol. Then the sky spun round him-a Ptolemaic illusion, of course, as in truth he was executing a backward somersault over the hedgerow. He-and Newton beside him-tumbled all the way over on the other side, and ended up sprawled face down in the lee of the hedge. The backs of his calves were being broiled by a sea of white flame that had reached over the wall like sunrise. cried Leibniz, who had glanced down to see red phosphorus all over the ground. But the Mohawk heard them not. The dog's tether had come round to touch the horse's hind legs, and made it panic. The cavalryman leveled his gun at the dog. Leibniz whirled about, turning his back on what was about to happen. Seeing the others a few paces away, side by side, he spun the paddle round to make it horizontal, and held it before him at chest height. Then he hurled himself forward. The implement caught Daniel just below the collar-bone and forced him back until the stiff old vegetation of the murdered hedgerow chopped him just below the b.u.t.tocks. His last clear impression was of a bolt of fire jerking out of the muzzle of the pistol. Then the sky spun round him-a Ptolemaic illusion, of course, as in truth he was executing a backward somersault over the hedgerow. He-and Newton beside him-tumbled all the way over on the other side, and ended up sprawled face down in the lee of the hedge. The backs of his calves were being broiled by a sea of white flame that had reached over the wall like sunrise.

BOB HAD LOST THE FACULTY of hearing sounds of a high sharp timbre, but had grown very keen to thuds, b.u.mps, and rumbles, which he heard not with his ears but with his feet and his ribs. What he listened for, with said organs, was hoofbeats, door-slams, gunfire, &c. Of guns he had heard only a little thus far. Hooves were spattering the earth to their rear: the Whig a.s.sociation cavalry, das.h.i.+ng across the back of the line. Bob was leading his company across a pasture toward a hedgerow that bordered its up-hill side. Like all the other hedgerows on this estate, it had been trimmed short, which Bob looked on as a military preparation; the height was good for men to kneel behind and shoot over. of hearing sounds of a high sharp timbre, but had grown very keen to thuds, b.u.mps, and rumbles, which he heard not with his ears but with his feet and his ribs. What he listened for, with said organs, was hoofbeats, door-slams, gunfire, &c. Of guns he had heard only a little thus far. Hooves were spattering the earth to their rear: the Whig a.s.sociation cavalry, das.h.i.+ng across the back of the line. Bob was leading his company across a pasture toward a hedgerow that bordered its up-hill side. Like all the other hedgerows on this estate, it had been trimmed short, which Bob looked on as a military preparation; the height was good for men to kneel behind and shoot over.

Three such hedgerows, dividing perhaps a quarter mile of more or less open ground, stood between Bob's line and a hilltop farm that seemed to be the source of the barking. Bob glimpsed a carriage careering to and fro up among its buildings but could make no sense of this, and so forced himself to ignore it. His line had instinctively wheeled so that it was parallel to the next hedgerow. When they were just reaching it, and slinging arms and breaking stride to clamber over, Bob felt something in his feet, and shouted, ”Cavalry! Less than a squadron-much less. Hold the line. They are coming from beyond those trees.” Which was merely a reasonable guess, based on the fact that he could not see them yet. His men's heads all turned-they were hearing something he couldn't. Following their eye-line, Bob locked his gaze upon the edge of the little copse ahead of them-it was growing in a little pocket of the landscape-and saw horses' legs, lit by the orange-amber sun of early morning, scissoring against tree-trunks.

A moment later three riders tore around the corner of the wood and made straight for them. They'd been apt in their timing-waiting for the moment when the approaching foot broke stride to address the hedge-climbing project. ”About face-backs against the hedge!” Bob commanded, and they did it.

The three riders had formed a diagonal spread as a result of wheeling round the corner of the wood-the one who'd taken the outside track now trailed. The one in the middle was-his eyes had to be deceiving him-black. Had he been burned? A weapon burst in his face? No time to ponder it now. Bob drew out his sword in case he needed to parry a saber-cut from above. But none of the riders had drawn. The foremost jumped the hedgerow very near Bob, and Bob was almost felled, not by any physical contact but by dizzy awe at the magnificence of the horse and the power of its movement. The black man made the jump just behind Bob. At the same moment a flash lit up the top of the hill, and a moment later came a roaring whoosh and a clatter of booms. The third rider was just fixing to jump the hedgerow when all of this occurred; his mount faltered, clipped the top of the hedge, landed awry, and broke a leg.

The rider tumbled free and rolled to his feet only a little hurt. But two platoons of Foot were crouching with their backs to the hedgerow, all aiming their muskets at him from such short range that his riddled corpse would be scorched by powder-burns if Bob gave the order to fire.

”Take that b.l.o.o.d.y thing out of my face and shoot my horse,” said this fellow to the nearest.

The other two riders-first the black man, then the white-wheeled about in the middle of the pasture, a stone's throw away. In the distance Bob saw several Whig cavalry rounding to intercept them. ”Jimmy! Tomba!” shouted the dismounted man. ”Go! You can get through 'em! It's a few fops on some nags, and they don't know the territory, and they won't fight!”

All of which, Bob suspected, was true. If ”Jimmy” and ”Tomba” had kept on at a gallop they could, with a bit of luck, have survived a volley from Bob's musketeers and probably shot through the Whig line. But they showed no gust for it. They exchanged a look, then turned back, and began riding toward their comrade. Bob came out from the shade of the hedgerow, glancing back one time-unnecessarily-to verify that all three of the men had muskets trained on them. A word from Bob and they were dead. They knew this. But they took no notice of Bob or anyone else. As the white rider approached, he said, ”Don't be such a t.o.s.s.e.r, Danny. We are not a devil-take-the-hindmost sort of family, are we?”

Bob now recognized these two-Jimmy and Danny-as his nephews, whom he had not seen in about twenty years.

”Oh, Jesus Christ!” he said.

It was an expression of disgust and chagrin-hardly of surprise. He had been running into too many Shaftoes lately to be surprised by anything. Hearing the oath, they turned to look his way, and knew him in turn. ”Aagh! s.h.i.+t!” exclaimed Danny.

”I knew 'twould come to this sooner or later, uncle,” said Jimmy, with a sad, wise shake of the head, ”if you kept trafficking with the legitimate authorities legitimate authorities.”

”You know this man!?” said the black fellow, his mop-like hairdo all a-swing.

”He's our friggin' uncle,” said Danny. ”Hope you're satisfied, satisfied, Bob.” Bob.”

Bob's heart was thudding. His feet were, too; that because of the cavalry, who were charging across the pasture, having perceived, in all of this, an opportunity to lop some heads, or at least limbs-the sort of entertainment Horse-men lived for. This clear and present danger unfroze Bob's tongue, and his legs. He stumbled out into the path of the cavalry, and held up a hand to stay them; their captain had the good sense to call off the attack. They dropped to a canter and came on in a line to seal off any possible escape.

”You boys have been Absent Without Leave from the King's, and then the Queen's, and then the King's Own Black Torrent Guard for twenty years,” said Bob.

”Don't be such a p.r.i.c.k!” was Danny's response; but Jimmy-dismounting-said: ”You don't be such a friggin' don't be such a friggin' idiot, idiot, brother of mine. Our Uncle Bob phant'sies he's doing us a brother of mine. Our Uncle Bob phant'sies he's doing us a boon boon by bringing us under by bringing us under military military justice, so's we'll be hanged justice, so's we'll be hanged fast fast instead of drawn and quartered at Tyburn Cross.” instead of drawn and quartered at Tyburn Cross.”

Danny was impressed. ”Good one, uncle! Sorry I called you a p.r.i.c.k. But just as Jimmy and Tomba would not abandon me, me, so me and Jimmy won't leave Tomba behind to be gutted by Jack Ketch all by his lonesome, will we, Jimmy? Jimmy? Jimmy? so me and Jimmy won't leave Tomba behind to be gutted by Jack Ketch all by his lonesome, will we, Jimmy? Jimmy? Jimmy? Seamus Shaftoe Seamus Shaftoe, I be talking to ye, s.h.i.+te-for-brains!”

”I suppose not,” said Jimmy at last, ”but it does put a friggin' strain on me like this, having to do the decent thing twice twice in, what, two friggin' minutes.” in, what, two friggin' minutes.”

”You've had twenty years to do the wrong things,” said Bob. ”These two minutes won't kill you.”

”What about the two minutes at Tyburn?” was Danny's answer-which left Bob so tongue-tied that Tomba laughed out loud at him.

DANIEL HAD NEVER HEARD I ISAAC admit to feeling pain, until he and Leibniz each took one of his hands and pulled him to his feet. Then Isaac got an astonished look, as though he'd never hurt before in his life, and let out an ”Ooh-oh! Ah! Ah!” He clenched his eyes shut, grimaced, and steepled his brow, then froze just long enough to convince Daniel that he was suffering a cardiac event that would terminate his life. But finally the pain appeared to leak away in slow increments, and his conscious mind a.s.sumed control over the nerves that led to the muscles of the face. He could now wear the expression he wished to: one of forced unconcern. ”It is,” he said, and stopped to sip air, ”nothing. The muscles...about the ribs...were not ready...for Baron von Leibniz's... admit to feeling pain, until he and Leibniz each took one of his hands and pulled him to his feet. Then Isaac got an astonished look, as though he'd never hurt before in his life, and let out an ”Ooh-oh! Ah! Ah!” He clenched his eyes shut, grimaced, and steepled his brow, then froze just long enough to convince Daniel that he was suffering a cardiac event that would terminate his life. But finally the pain appeared to leak away in slow increments, and his conscious mind a.s.sumed control over the nerves that led to the muscles of the face. He could now wear the expression he wished to: one of forced unconcern. ”It is,” he said, and stopped to sip air, ”nothing. The muscles...about the ribs...were not ready...for Baron von Leibniz's...intervention.”

”Might you have broken a rib?” Daniel asked.

”I do not believe so,” said Newton in one long down-hill gout of breath. Then he regretted having said so much at a go, as this obliged him to breathe deeply once. The grimace came back.

”Let us fetch the carriage, so you do not have to walk,” suggested Leibniz. ”Daniel, you might remain with Sir Isaac?”

Daniel stood by Newton while Leibniz-who because of gout moved in an awkward shrugging-and-rolling gait even on a good day-went off to find their carriage. Its team must have fled screaming when the top of the hill had gone off. The place had not precisely exploded-though embedded in the event had been many small explosions. It had, rather, caught fire and burned to cinders very rapidly, as if a fire that ought to have extended over some hours had been compressed into as many seconds. The place had been a kind of slum, growing and running without plan-senseless. But unlike a normal slum, which about itself created middens of bones, gristle, s.h.i.+t, and ash, this one had become filthy with chymical wastes and by-products, many of them highly inflammable. The fire kindled by the Mohawk's pistol-shot had hopped and rushed across the phosphorus-pocked soil until it had struck a vein: a rivulet of waste trickling from one of the boilers. It had raced up this fuse and ignited, then exploded, one or more of the giant copper retorts, and this blast, like the firing of powder in a musket's pan, had ignited the main conflagration: some large store of red phosphorus in what had been a barn. The barn had been erased. Not even wreckage remained. The boilers were strewn sc.r.a.ps of copper, some of which was still molten. The dog, horse, and rider were steaming, intertangled bone-piles; they'd been incinerated by the roasting heat of the burning barn-a sort of action at a distance whereby heat was transmitted across s.p.a.ce like gravity. It traveled, like light, in straight lines. This explained why Leibniz, Newton, and Waterhouse still lived, for in tumbling over the hedgerow they had fallen into its shadow, and so intercepted none of the fire's radiance. The side of the hedgerow facing the barn was now a sterile stone spine with a few stalagmites of charcoal reaching out of it. The opposite side, a few inches away, was unchanged.

These and other impressions fully occupied their Natural-Philosophick faculties for some minutes. Then Daniel's attention began to wander about. He had never taken a proper look round the area. First fog, then flames had baffled careful observations. He had no idea where they were, save that it was in Surrey, on some elevated stretch of the North Downs. Casting an eye down the hill, he saw undulating country spread out for many miles, church-steeples poking up here and there. Turning about, he saw a sort of cottage a few hundred yards down the road. But before he could gather many impressions of that, his eye was drawn to a much larger building spreading its wings across the breadth of a rise in the distance, and embracing one end of a system of formal gardens. ”By G.o.d, that is a Great House!” he exclaimed. A stupid remark, but one that had to be gotten out of the way. His eyes were now able to find the tree-lined carriageway from which they had turned off some minutes before. It led around to the opposite face of that house and came up, he supposed, to its front door. ”Whose is it?”

Newton had not noticed it before. But when he did, he looked bemused rather than surprised. ”If you were a Tory, you would know it by heart. That is a place that my lord Bolingbroke bought, some years ago, from my lord-” and Isaac mentioned the name of a Whig lord who had famously gone bankrupt during an especially festive run on the Bank of England.

”I did not know Bolingbroke had a house in these parts,” Daniel confessed.