Authors: Nicola Pierce
Behind the Walls (16 page)
C
olonel Hamilton did not exactly welcome Gabriel into his tent with open arms. However, Gabriel was surprised at the clipped courtesy he was shown.
‘Would you like some refreshment after your journey, Mr Murray?’
‘No,’ said Gabriel, adding after a pause, ‘thank you, sir.’
There was no time for small talk. As soon as Gabriel refused the colonel’s second offer – this time of a seat – Hamilton began, ‘The reason I’ve had you brought here is to ask you to speak to your son.’
Gabriel looked around, expecting to see Adam that very minute.
‘No. No, he’s not here,’ said the colonel impatiently. ‘I want you to go and visit him in Derry.’
He couldn’t help himself. Gabriel smiled in heady relief.
So, Adam was still safe and still free.
Annoyed by the delight in the old man’s expression, Colonel Hamilton rushed to squash it. ‘Sir, this is a grave matter. Your son is in open rebellion against His Majesty
King James. I have been informed that he is now residing in Derry where he is inciting the citizens to join him in a revolution.’
How Gabriel longed to say something to show his pride in his son. But he didn’t dare. This man had the capacity to hurt Adam so he held his tongue.
Colonel Hamilton sighed. This was not going to be easy. Furthermore, he knew that if the situation was reversed, his own father would probably respond with the same degree of stubbornness. Gabriel stared politely as the colonel stated, ‘Resistance is just delaying the inevitable. We are still offering favourable terms. If Derry submits, she will not be punished. Her leaders have actually agreed to this, therefore your son is causing trouble for them as well as for us.’
Still Gabriel said not a word.
Colonel Hamilton wondered how to break through. ‘King James does not want to see any civilians harmed in his name. He does not want violence.’ He paused to study the old man in front of him and then asked, ‘Mr Murray, do you hear what I am saying? Do you understand the words I am using?’
Gabriel blinked. ‘Why, yes, sir!’
‘And?’ enquired the colonel.
‘And,’ said Gabriel, ‘I will go and see my son.’
There was something about the way that Gabriel said
this that prompted the colonel to say what he had hoped to avoid mentioning. ‘You will inform your son that if he does not desist, he leaves me with no option but to hang his father from the nearest tree.’
Gabriel looked fascinated by this new piece of information. Then he thought of something. ‘If it comes to
that
, perhaps you might be kind enough to have someone see to my animals.’
Colonel Hamilton was puzzled. ‘Animals?’
Gabriel explained, ‘I left my old dog in the cottage.’ He stopped, thought of something, wondered whether to say it and then did. ‘No creature should be starved to death for showing loyalty.’
The room seemed to vibrate as the two men gazed at one another.
And then, just like that, the meeting was over. The colonel shuffled papers around his desk. Gabriel turned to go but paused. ‘Sir?’ Colonel Hamilton glanced up. ‘I wonder if I could make a second request. There is a dead woman in the camp; she was shot by your soldiers just now.’ The colonel tried not to show his surprise. Gabriel kept talking. ‘If I make it back, could I take her away in my cart and give her a Christian burial?’ He received a curt nod for a reply.
Gabriel stepped outside again, back into the muddy field with its brooding atmosphere.
At Butchers’ Gate, the guards asked Gabriel if he would prefer to come inside, but he replied that, no, he would wait for Adam to come out to him. He hadn’t much love for cities, much preferring mountains and rivers – nature’s boundaries – to walls and steel gates. Gabriel also did not care for too many neighbours and Derry, as far as he could make out, was full to the brim. The stench was a dead giveaway, making Gabriel wonder if the city herself was rotting away.
Adam appeared after a couple of minutes. ‘I couldn’t believe it when they said you were here. What’s wrong?’
Gabriel gestured to his Jacobite companions who were waiting a few feet away, pretending that they weren’t watching his every move. ‘No, yes, I’m fine!’ He allowed Adam to help him out of the cart and they took some steps away. Adam’s face was quite a picture.
Gabriel chuckled. ‘I’ve been given a mission by Colonel Hamilton.’
Adam waited, refusing to smile. His father sighed. ‘I’ve to tell you to stop what you’re doing and agree to his terms!’
Adam felt himself sizzle and freeze. His throat dried up as he checked that his father’s words hadn’t been heard by the guards at the gate. Eventually, he said, ‘I don’t understand. You have been with Hamilton?’
His father patted him on the arm. They both looked
over the land in front of them, allowing themselves a moment to forget about the crammed city behind them.
Gabriel said, ‘You know, I never expected to become a father. Your arrival was quite a surprise and, to be honest, I was more than a little anxious.’
Adam had never heard his father talk like this before. The back of his neck felt like someone had placed a hot coal against it.
Gabriel nodded. ‘It was your mother who assured me I’d be fine. Then, when she died, I thought I might die too.’ He sniffed. ‘Maybe I even wanted to. But, of course, I couldn’t, because of this child depending on me. I had to trust in God that I wouldn’t accidentally harm you in some way. So I hardly had time to notice that you had become the most important thing in my life.’
Adam held his breath.
‘I’m an old, old man and, perhaps, I don’t fully understand what you are doing here.’ Gazing at his son, he raised an eyebrow. ‘You do know you are bringing a whole lot of trouble down upon your head.’
Adam shrugged.
His father continued, ‘In any case, I believe you are following your heart and I accept that, no matter what happens next.’
Here, he might’ve added the threat to his own life but he didn’t. However, if Colonel Hamilton followed through
and had him swinging from one of the trees in the distance, because of his rebel son, Adam should have his blessing right now.
Fumbling in his bag, he found the family bible.
Thrilled to see something so familiar to him, Adam asked, ‘You’ve brought me something to read?’
His father rubbed the book’s worn cover, his fond farewell, and said, ‘Perhaps! I had always planned to give it to you and today seems like as good a day as any.’
Still not fully understanding what was going on, Adam was both surprised and touched. Trust Gabriel to choose such an unpredictable time to present him with such a gift as this.
‘I’m proud of you, son, and I want you to remember that every time you look at this!’ Gabriel wiped something from his eye and said loud enough for the two escorts to hear, ‘That city owes you a very great debt! Keep up the good work!’
With that he stepped back to the cart, leaving Adam to stare after him.
Gabriel’s mischief-making was relayed to Colonel Hamilton by an irate captain. ‘Sir, I beg you, let me arrest him. The old man disobeyed you, telling his devil of a son to do as he pleased!’
‘Where is he now?’ asked the colonel. ‘Is he on his way back here?’
The captain was puzzled. ‘But of course he is, sir. You
ordered him to return here.’
‘Yes,’ said the colonel. ‘But I also ordered him to have his son give himself up, and that didn’t happen, now did it?’
The officer bristled, longing to say rudely: ‘Eh, yes, and that’s my bloody point!’
Colonel Hamilton began to write. There was silence, and the captain wondered if he was dismissed. He might have left the tent, but his colonel stunned him by asking, ‘What do you know about the old woman who was killed this morning?’
The best the captain could manage was ‘I beg your pardon, sir?’
The colonel didn’t look up from his sheet of paper. ‘Oh, you must have heard about it, Captain. After all, it is not every day that a harmless old woman is stripped and murdered in our camp.’
It was the colonel’s tone that confused the captain. It was icy cold, hinting at the presence of utter rage. Swallowing, the officer began to defend himself immediately, ‘They … that is, the men … well, they thought her a witch. She was scrabbling around in the manure and they feared she was casting a spell, sir.’
The colonel had a dangerous glint in his eye. ‘A witch you say? Tell me, Captain, have you ever met a witch?’
‘No, sir,’ the captain answered sadly.
‘And do you actually believe in witches?’
The young captain felt bound to think about this. True, he had never met one, but that didn’t mean they did not exist. Deciding that honesty was the best way to go, he answered, ‘I’m not sure, sir. I mean, it’s difficult to say, one way or the other.’ There, he had told the truth at least.
‘I see,’ said the colonel.
The soldier didn’t feel that he did somehow.
‘Let me put it like this, Captain: the next time one of the locals, in particular an elderly, defenceless, starving one, finds their way into my camp, perhaps you would be so good as to see that they are not killed by soldiers representing King James. Instead, you might just have them sent on their way. Do you think you could possibly manage this?’
Wasn’t it lucky for the captain that Gabriel presented himself at this particular moment? All he was required to do was repeat another ‘Yes, sir’ and then make himself scarce, as fast as he could.
‘Well, Mr Murray, I hear you met with your son.’
Gabriel nodded graciously. ‘I did!’
Colonel Hamilton nodded too as he said, ‘And you told him what we discussed, about him surrendering himself in order to save his father’s life, if for no other reason?’
‘Ah …’ said Gabriel, his eyes crinkling like paper. ‘Not exactly.’
The colonel didn’t pretend to be surprised. ‘By which
you mean, sir, you did no such thing. In actual fact, you performed the opposite, encouraging him to keep up the good work while failing to mention the possible consequences for yourself.’
Gabriel relaxed a little. ‘Possible’ was an important word in that sentence. He was also impressed that Colonel Hamilton knew so much already. Feeling that he owed the Jacobite commander an explanation, he said, ‘It’s not that I didn’t take your words seriously. For all I know I may not see the end to this day. However, I thought that my boy should be free to do what he felt was important.’ He rubbed his chin. ‘I’ve had over eighty good years, Colonel. Even if you don’t hang me today, I have no guarantee that I will wake up tomorrow.’
While he spoke he realised something that the colonel may well already have known, that if he had Gabriel killed, it would only spur Adam on to do his very worst. Killing Gabriel made no sense at all.
Colonel Hamilton didn’t bother to comment on Gabriel’s explanation. Instead, he handed him a sheet of paper, without a smile. ‘This gives you permission to collect that woman’s body.’ Gabriel had almost forgotten about her. The colonel was not finished yet. ‘You will be escorted back to your house and there you will remain, under my protection, until the situation with Derry has been resolved.’
Before Gabriel could respond with thanks – what else
could he say – the colonel concluded their meeting with, ‘Good day to you, Mr Murray.’
For the second time, that day, Gabriel Murray exited the colonel’s tent but, this time, the scene that greeted him didn’t look so gloomy. It was quite a relief to have his life back, plus Adam was happy and now he was free to go home. Wasn’t that all that mattered, when all was said and done? Even the sight of the dirty corpse being loaded into the cart could not dampen his spirits.
D
aniel stopped to pat Horace on his broad head and overheard his parents talking in the next room. ‘Little Catherine Williams passed away this morning,’ said his father.
‘Oh my goodness!’ exclaimed Mrs Sherrard. ‘Was it the lack of food?’
Mr Sherrard admitted he wasn’t exactly sure, saying, ‘Possibly, although the child’s mother said they had managed to eat meat over the last couple days.’ He sighed. ‘All the same, she weighed no more than the sheet that covered her. I could plainly see the bones in her cheeks, her jaw, her ribs. The family gathered around her cot, the parents and three older sisters. The eldest read a passage from the bible. All I could do was stand there and watch.’
Daniel heard a tremble in his father’s voice. Neither he nor Horace moved a muscle.
‘I saw her very last breath leave her body and take her spirit with it. A light mist, or something like that, swirled from within her and just the empty shell was left behind. I … I can’t really describe it, but I saw the same thing when
my mother died. Anyway, I reached down to close her eyes but Mrs Williams bid me to wait. One of the girls fetched a brush and they all took turns to brush Catherine’s hair, giving thanks that she was no longer in pain, no longer hungry.’
David imagined his mother stroking his father’s arm. After a moment, he heard her say, ‘You predicted this would happen, that the children would suffer.’
Daniel felt something press against his heart. Neither parent mentioned Alice but he felt the walls vibrate with her name.
His mother wanted to change the subject. ‘What did they have to eat?’
Mr Sherrard sounded dazed. ‘What do you mean?’
His wife answered, ‘You said they had recently eaten meat. I’m just curious.’
His father hesitated, making Daniel lean in closer. ‘Well, that’s the thing. They were forced to eat their dog who was a great favourite of Catherine’s. So, on top of grieving for her, they are racked with guilt that the child may have died of a broken heart.’
Daniel’s mother said softly, ‘What else could they do? They had to feed their children. Choice is a luxury these days.’
As fast and as quietly as he could, Daniel left the house, retreating into the streets that could not provide an escape.
He was breathless but refused to acknowledge the fear thumping through his veins. Fortunately, on his walk to the wall there was plenty to distract him. Misery was everywhere he looked.
On Sundays, Governor Walker and the other church leaders did their utmost to convince the desperate not to attack one another. It was explained, week after week, why the defenders of the city had to be given priority when it came to food. ‘We must stand together,’ said the governor. ‘The enemy is at our gates and that is enough. We cannot turn on each other or it weakens us as a community.’
Daniel noticed a shocking rise in the number of invalids lying, stretched out on the ground, their relatives hopeless to do anything for them. Thanks to his browsing through his father’s books, Daniel understood that the crowds of homeless people were succumbing to disease as much as to starvation. As he hurried by he could plainly see that some of the sick were in agony. Here and there individuals clutched at their aching, fevered heads in a pathetic attempt to soothe them while others moaned about the pain in their bodies. Some complained that the drab daylight was hurting their eyes.
Two days earlier he thought he spied Samuel Hunt in the distance, or at least what was left of him. The boy had lost his bulkiness which made him look a lot older. He was on his haunches, completely absorbed in searching
through the shrubbery until he found a wriggly worm. Tears pricked at Daniel’s eyes as he saw Samuel lick his lips and swallow the worm in one gulp. Daniel had no urge to approach him. He hadn’t seen much of him since they closed the gates and, to be honest, the stark change in the boy’s appearance scared him. He quickly turned down another street, trying to convince himself that it must have been someone who just looked like Samuel.
Daniel imagined that his father curtailed his own walks through the city, making himself quietly available only to neighbours. There was little a physician could do for the sick and the dying. What they needed was food and that was getting harder and harder to come by.
Adam Murray and his men were doing their best. After every clash with the enemy, the hope was that some of their horses would be left behind. Jacobite horses provided a solid meal for the defenders. The screams of these horses, as their throats were cut, were met with relief behind the walls. ‘Ah, meat tonight. Thank God!’
At the wall, James greeted him first, as usual. ‘About time!’
Daniel only nodded. It had become a challenge to try to sneak up on James and surprise him before his friend spotted him. However, with all his worries, Daniel forgot to make an attempt today.
‘You look awful!’ pronounced James.
Daniel made a face and asked if there was any news.
‘Adam will be launching another excursion for water later on, so we have that to look forward to.’
Daniel stepped up to look out over the wall, near Bishop’s Gate, across the river Foyle. The Jacobite camps were inching closer to the city, while the river remained the one true barrier. One consequence of the constant bombing by the Jacobites was that all of Derry’s wells were either broken or full of dirt so that the water could not be consumed. The only well left in use was St Columb’s Well. That was the good news. The bad news, however, was that this last source of clean water was outside the city, just beyond Windmill Hill. This was the piece of raised ground that sat behind the busy mill which gave the place its name, about five hundred yards away from Bishop’s Gate, to the south-west of the city. There is where the city had built its gibbet, the gallows where criminals were hung until they were dead.
Naturally this bit of information was known to the Jacobites which explains why they built a trench from where they could supervise the well – in other words shoot any Derry people trying to avail of it. It was proving to be a daily battle. Men were sent out to get water, and if they were shot there was real concern that their bodies might fall into the well and contaminate it.
Daniel had thought it cruel to have to spend the day
staring at a river made up of water that was also undrinkable. What was the point of it? Yet, he was reminded of its importance when a boy was sent around, one afternoon, to order all residents to keep pails of water handy in case of fire. It was another worry for Governors Walker and Baker, that a fire would start and spread through the city, wiping out one building after another until nothing was left but burning ash. London, that mighty city, was almost lost in her great fire of 1666. At least the river’s waters would be a perfect help in that situation. In its own way the river Foyle was as capable of defending the city as well as any man guarding the wall.
The next hour passed peacefully enough except that James would keep talking about food. Already two other soldiers had told him to shut up before stomping off to another spot.
‘Potato cakes, you know, with flour and salt. Now, they can be a bit dry, I’ll warrant …’ James was oblivious to the torture he was inflicting on his reluctant listener. Then he surprised Daniel by suddenly asking, ‘Am I terribly thin?’
Daniel almost laughed. ‘What?’
James was serious. ‘My mother keeps telling me that I’m skin and bone. It’s hard to see it myself, though.’
Daniel looked his friend over. Of course he had lost weight; everyone had. His features were sharper than ever, even his nose seemed longer, but Daniel refused to answer
such a silly question. Instead, he issued a gruff, ‘You still have your health.’
James took no offence to this; in fact he agreed, ‘Yes, we’re luckier than most! Sure, the graveyards are full now.’
Daniel focused on the land of plenty – as far as grass and dirty water were concerned – in front of them. Nevertheless, he had to ask, ‘What does that mean when people are still dying?’
James hadn’t expected a question. ‘Oh, well, I don’t really know. I suppose the dead will just have to wait …’
Daniel shivered. ‘You mean, just leave them rotting in the streets?’
James shrugged. ‘Where else can they be kept?’
His friend’s casual acceptance of the situation irritated Daniel who snapped, ‘So you wouldn’t mind having to step over your mother’s body if she dies before this is over?’
James looked horrified and Daniel was instantly ashamed, hardly believing the words that had leapt from him. ‘I’m so sorry, James. Truly I am. I’m just hungry and it’s making me mad.’
His friend nodded.
Hearing James sniff, Daniel stole a glance at him and was mortified to see tears sliding down the older boy’s face. He looked away, but James knew he had been caught and offered, ‘It’s just that Mother doesn’t look good. She refuses to eat her share of my rations, saying it’s more
important that I have the strength to fight.’
Daniel scraped at some stones on the wall with his dirty fingernails, feeling thoroughly gloomy.
Emboldened, James wiped his eyes, muttering quietly, ‘I didn’t know it was going to be like this.’
Daniel actually felt some sort of relief as James continued, ‘I don’t want a Papist king, but I can’t help it; I don’t want my mother to starve to death either.’
Both boys glanced around to make sure he hadn’t been heard while Daniel whispered, ‘I know exactly what you mean.’
James flashed him a wobbly grin of gratitude.
‘HALT!’
It was Robert’s voice. Daniel and James spied him down at the gate, approaching a family of walking skeletons. Daniel marvelled at the fact they were able to walk at all. It was a most forlorn group; their rags were dark with rain and muck. The grandparents were tipping forward as if they hoped to kiss the ground while the two women were hardly recognisable as females. The two children didn’t talk, didn’t laugh; they were far too quiet for their age. Their eyes were like two sunken holes in the middle of their faces. Daniel thought they looked like little old people who had lost the will to live.
In studying them he had the sense that he had seen them before. Weren’t they part of the crowd that were
living on cold, bare ground around the Diamond? He was almost sure the old man was familiar to him. And he then remembered.
My goodness!
This was the poor fellow that Henry had virtually accused of being a traitor, the morning that the bombing began. The man who seemed to know a lot about being under siege and had stumbled away in embarrassment and confusion.
Daniel was glad that Henry was nowhere in sight. Yes, he was relieved there was only Robert who did not torment strangers nor shove them roughly for no reason at all.
He watched his brother stand between the man and his relatives and the gate, asking sternly, ‘Where are you going?’
The old man spoke. ‘We’re going home, Master!’
Robert was not satisfied with the answer. ‘Explain yourself!’
Daniel found that he did not like his brother’s manner.
The man did not seem surprised at the interrogation. ‘We came into the city to escape the Jacobites but we’ve run out of food. My grandchildren are getting weak. There is nothing for us here so we’re going back home. I’ve no choice, sir.’
Daniel blinked; there was that word again, ‘choice’.
Why is Robert giving them such evil looks?
‘So, you are choosing to give up hope and abandon the
city that has sheltered you. Just like that!’
The family bowed their heads, unable to defend themselves from Robert’s accusation.
Seeing their guilt, Daniel’s brother pressed on. ‘Did you stop to think how this will look to the enemy; that Derry’s population prefers to be elsewhere?’
Indeed, this had not occurred to the dejected refugees. Daniel saw them sneak glances at one another, unsure what to do next. Finally, the old man shook his head; he would not be thwarted. ‘Begging your pardon, sir. We have been sleeping on the streets. My son gave his life in battle. We have done our duty to Derry.’ He held Robert’s gaze. ‘I have no more to give!’
As if to demonstrate his grandfather’s point, one of the children, a scraggily little bundle of four or five, began to cough, and cough, and cough. Exhausted, the small boy was obliged to sink down on the wet ground. Not one of the adults took any notice of him.
Daniel found himself wishing that Henry was nearby after all, to see how he had wrongly accused the man of treachery. But now, much to his disbelief, he heard his own brother make the very same accusation.
‘This is treason!’ Robert declared, though he didn’t seem half as definite as the statement he made.
Daniel rolled his eyes, and wondered if his brother could possibly be referring to the sick child.
The old man made no response. Instead, he swayed a little, as if he was going to have to sit down too.
Perhaps in search of inspiration, Robert looked upwards and met Daniel’s eyes. Something passed between the brothers. Eventually, Robert barked at the guard on the gate, ‘Open the gate for them!’