A Smuggler Tale of the Romney Marsh

?This is a bad business, boy,? he said to Jerk, who was still gazing at the notice.
?You may well say that, sir,? replied the boy.
?Poor old Sennacherib,? sighed the cleric. ?To think that you went from my friend?s house to meet your death. Well,? he added hotly, shaking his fist across at the Marsh, ?let?s hope they catch the rascal, for we will give him short shrift for you, Sennacherib.?
?Aye, indeed, sir,? replied young Jerk, ?and let?s hope as how it?ll be the right ?un when they does.?
?The right what?? asked Doctor Syn.
?The right rascal,? said young Jerk, ?for that ain?t him.?
?What do you know about it, my lad?? said the Doctor.
107
?The whole thing,? replied Jerk, ?for I seed the whole of the ugly business. I seed the man with the yellow face last night. I seed him a-comin? out of your front door with a weapon in his hand.?
?You saw that?? cried the cleric, his eyes shining with excitement. ?You could swear that in the Court House??
?I could do it anywhere,? replied Jerk, ?let alone the Court House, and what?s more, I could swear that he never killed Doctor Pepper.?
?How can you possibly say such a thing?? said Doctor Syn.
?Because I seed the whole thing done, as I keep tellin? you,? answered Jerk, ?and it wasn?t him as did it.?
?How do you know?? asked the Doctor hastily. ?Where were you??
?Out on the Marsh,? said Jerk, ?all night.?
?What!? ejaculated the vicar, looking at the boy doubtfully. ?Are you speaking the truth, my lad??
108
?The solemn truth,? replied young Jerk.
?You were out on the Marsh all night?? repeated the astonished cleric. ?And pray, what were you doing there??
?Dogging that schoolmaster,? replied Jerk with conviction.
?Come into the vicarage,? said Doctor Syn, ?and tell me all about it.? And he led the boy into the house.
When he had finished his tale Doctor Syn took him into the kitchen and lit the fire, bidding him dry his wet clothes, for Jerk was still shivering with the cold of the dyke water. Then he boiled some milk in a saucepan and set it before him, with a cold game pie and a loaf of bread. Jerk made a hearty meal and felt better, his opinion of clergymen going up at a bound when he discovered that a strong dose of excellent ship?s rum had been mixed with the milk. ?Rum?s good stuff, my lad, on occasions,? he said cheerily, ?and I?ve a
109
notion that it?ll drive the cold out of you,? and Jerry thought it a very sensible notion, too.
?And now look here, my lad,? the Doctor went on, when Jerry could eat no more, ?what you?ve seen may be true enough, though I tell you I can hardly credit it. It?s a good deal for a thinking man to swallow, you?ll allow, what with the devil riders and all that. Besides which I can see no earthly reason for the schoolmaster committing the crime. As yet I really don?t know what to say, my boy. I?m beat, I confess it. I must think things over for an hour or so. In the meantime I must strongly urge you to keep this adventure to yourself. It is very dangerous to make accusations that you have no means of proving, and certainly you can prove nothing, for there is nothing to go on but what you thought you saw. Well, a nightmare has upset better men than you before now, Jerry, and it is possible that your rich imagination may have supplied the whole thing. Go back then, to your house, and get a couple of hours? sleep, and then go to school
110
as if nothing had happened. Then I?ll tell you what we?ll do, my lad: you come round here and we?ll have a bit of dinner together and talk of this again.?
?Thank you, sir,? said Jerk, very flattered at being asked to dine with the vicar. ?I consider that you?ve behaved very sensibly over this horrible affair, though where you get wrong, sir, is over my ?rich imagination?. That part ain?t true, sir. I knows what i seed, and I sees Rash stick Pepper twice under the arm with his pencil sharpener.?
But Doctor Syn dismissed him with further adjurations to hold his tongue, adding that the whole thing seemed most odd.
On the way back from the vicarage Jerk met the sailors returning to the Court House bearing the remains of Sennacherib Pepper upon the shutter. After his conversation with Doctor Syn he thought it best to keep out of sight, as he was not desirous of being questioned by the captain, and so, when they had passed, he slipped home and managed to get into bed before his grandparents
111
were astir. After his goodly feast at the vicarage he found it difficult to eat his usual hearty breakfast, but he did his best, saying that the news of this horrible murder and the thought of the man with the yellow face who was wanted by the King?s men must have put him off his feed. And so his night?s adventure passed unheeded, for everybody was too busy discussing the murder and setting forth their individual opinions upon it to trouble themselves about any suspicious behaviour of ?Hangman Jerk.?
112
 Chapter 11 
 The Court House Inquiry 
Jerry Jerk made it a golden rule to be always late for school, but on this particular morning he intended to be there before the schoolmaster, for he wanted to watch him, and if he saw an opening, make him nervous, without in any way betraying his secret. In the comfort of daylight he had lost all those terrors that had oppressed his spirit; indeed, ever since he had unburdened his mind to Doctor Syn he had entirely recovered his usual confidence. So with jaunty assurance he approached the schoolhouse, determined to be there before the murderer. But this same determination had evidently occurred to the
113
schoolmaster, for when Jerry arrived at the schoolhouse he could see Mr. Rash already bending over his desk. Jerry, imagining that he had miscalculated the time, felt highly annoyed, fearing that he may have missed something worth seeing; but on entering the schoolroom he found that not one of his schoolfellows had arrived; consequently his entrance was the more marked. As a matter of fact, Jerk?s young colleagues were hanging about outside the Court House until the last possible moment, for there was much ado going forward, sailors on guard outside the door, people going in and coming out, and the gossips of the village discussing the foul murder of the unfortunate Sennacherib Pepper. Jerk went to his desk, sat down and waited, narrowly watching the schoolmaster, who was writing, keeping his face low to the desk. The boy thought that he would never look up, but after some ten minutes he did, and Jerk stared the murderer straight in the face.
114
The schoolmaster bravely tried to return the stare, but failed, and then Jerk knew that he had in a measure failed also, failed in his trust to Doctor Syn, for in that glance Jerry has unconsciously told the malefactor what he knew. Presently Rash spoke without looking up: ?Where have those other rascals got to??
Promptly Jerk answered: ?If you?re addressing yourself to a rascal, you ain?t addressing yourself to me, and I scorns to reply; but if I?m mistook?well, I think you knows where they are as well as I do who ain?t no rascal, but a respectable potboy, and no scholard, thank God!?
?I don?t know where they are,? replied the schoolmaster, looking up. ?Be so good as to tell me, please, Jerk, and I?ll take this birch,? (and his voice rose high) ?and beat ?em all up to the schoolhouse, like a herd of pigs, I will!? Then conquering his emotion, he added: ?Please, Jerk, where are they??