Later in the night, Art [ Jeff ], Ab [ Darryl ] and Roma [ Chris ], hiding out on Coney Island, heard someone approaching. It was Art's mate from the barracks, Paddy O'Driscal.
Art's crime was still only AWOL, but Paddy thought he was in a lot more trouble than that. Paddy had over-heard shouting from Captain Carmichael's office when the midshipman from the HMS Dreadful had come to tell the news of yesterday's incident at Stakes Island.
So, Art did wonder what this was about, but he was not brave enough to return to see. The punishment for AWOL was 12 lashes. Or 100 if it became Desertion. (Or death if they were in battle.)
Art told Paddy to tell Elrick [ Ian ], at the Squire's Daughter, who could investigate in the morning.
Sun 27-Apr
Father O'Reilly had had a rough night. He took the Deacon [ Shane ] aside.
"I be worried for ya, Deacon." he said. "I had nightmares about this, but it'll be today or tomorra when the autority from Cork arrives What you confessed to me on Wednesday, was a holy sum, I be thinkin'. They could of be sendin' the someone pow'rful to investigate and to inquisit."
This did nothing to instill any confidence into the Deacon.
Elrick went to St Patricks for the Terce service. St Patricks was the Church of Ireland denomination and was where the officers (who were all English) tended to perform their Sunday religious requirements. Sure enough, both the barrack officers and HMS Dreadful officers were all there.
After the service, outside the church, Elrick got to speak to Lieutenant Matthews (Art's immediate commander), but he wasn't very forthcoming and didn't even admit that Art was wanted for AWOL. He said Art was visiting a sick cousin in Old Court (nearby village). When Elrick asked about the shouting, he got very suspicious, so Elrick edged away, and mingled with another group.
He spoke with some midshipmen from the Dreadful. They, too, were cagey and didn't admit that the Dreadful had even been to Stakes Island. Interestingly, none of them recognized Elrick, even though he was quite prominent on the stern of the shallop yesterday (while he manned the tiller during its manoeuvres around the Golden Hind and the Dreadful in the waters of Stakes Island bay).
Yet, Art, who was further forward in the shallop and not at all prominent, was somehow noticed.
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| Baltimore Barracks |
Ab's mother was being held in the barracks so needed to be rescued. Having confessed to the murders of the boys, she would either be executed as a witch by the witch-finder, or as a child-killer by the circuit magistrate, due in two more days.
The Baltimore barracks was a fortress, having been a former castle, but Art knew exactly where she was held, so he shared the layout with the group. With their pathetic firepower, the party would not attempt Plan A. So, they devised a cunning plan which they called "Plan C".
St Mary's had a few sets of ceremonial robes, for High Masses, stored in the parish cottage (where the Deacon and the Father slept). Tess arranged for access to cottage for Roma and Ab, while the Deacon kept Father O'Reilly busy (he was preparing for the Sunday afternoon None service in the church anyway)
Roma dressed in the most august priest regalia he found, skull-cap and all, and Ab donned a cowled monk robe. Then they headed for the barracks.
At the barracks gate, Roma and Ab demanded entrance. Roma claimed they were an advanced party of the witch-finder's retinue, Inquisitor Stryker and Friar Fang, who had arrived in Baltimore early. They wanted to see the witch immediately, fearing that she had already unleashed demons from hell.
The superstitious guards, already uneasy over holding a confessed murderess and witch, hurriedly let the two in, and took them through the courtyard to the cells, and to Ab's mother's cell. Here, Roma kept the guards busy with sightings of demons in the corridor, which gave time for Ab to give his monk robe to Mrs Siddy who put it on. Roma then weaved a frightening tale to convince the two jail guards not to look into the cell for fear of being bewitched by the witch's eyes - the evil eye. This gave Roma and Ab's mum, now dressed as a monk, enough time to get out of the barracks gate. Ab then used his magical Camouflage ability to sneak out himself.
Alarm was soon sounded, but they were well clear by then.
The regalia was returned, and all four of them - Roma, Ab, his mother and Art - hurriedly left town on the road to Cork.
Elrick hung around the barracks, like a bad smell, to see if he could see any outcome of the rescue. There was a lot of shouting, indignant hysteria and histrionics. Several of the afternoon guards were arrested for gross incompetence, including Art's mate Paddy.
Mon 28-Apr
Elrick left Baltimore just before dawn, on the Cork Road, in pursuit of the other four. Ab's mum would slow them down, so he expected to catch them up by nightfall.
Just before noon, on the road, Elrick heard approaching horses. He stepped to the side to let them pass. Two outriders approached. They checked him and around him for any other hiding malcontents, then one stayed with Elrick, while the other continued
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| Witch-finder's coach |
Then followed four mounted soldiers, a carriage pulled by two horses, and then another four mounted soldiers at the rear. The carriage was of studded black iron with wrought iron decorations and cross motifs. It had black curtains which were closed. It had two coachmen and two guards. The coachmen, guards and mounted men were dressed smart black and gold bibs and uniforms, and glistening high hard boots.
As it passed Elrick, he felt a wave of cold chill him, right to his bones.
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| Witch-finder General |
The black coach was parked in the courtyard. The two were ushered into Captain Carmichael's office. Despite being a warm spring day, the entire officers' block was cold.
A skeletal figure in a tattered monk robe was there, and a bevy of soldiers smartly-dressed in black and gold.
The monk figure introduced himself as "Witch-finder General of all Ireland", he sat the Deacon down, thrust out a primitive wooden crucifix, and then shrieked in his scratchy voice: "By the power of the holy spirit, I command you to speak the whole truth and nothing but the truth!"
He went through the confession letter penned by Father O'Reilly on Wednesday, confirming that each point was correct and true. If the Deacon tried to veer away from the truth, the cross shook violently.
When asked about Ab's mother, the Deacon could not actually confirm that Ab and Roma were innocent. They were away on the night of the kidnapping and murder of the boys, so he could not provide any magically-true testimony to prove their innocence. The witch-finder dwelt on this quite a lot. In the end, he was satisfied that all three (Ab, Mrs Siddy and Roma) were indeed witches.
The witch-finder was surprised by the story of the queen being resurrected, and surprised by the gender re-assignment of Tess. He seemed to know about John Dee and did not pursue any questioning about him. This privilege was not afforded to Edward Kelley however; he questioned the Deacon relentlessly over this.
Then the witch-finder did the same set of questions for Tess.
After the ordeal, they were expecting to be locked up, but no. Instead, they were dismissed, and the witchfinder said: "I will pray for guidance this eve. Don't leave town. I know where to find you."
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