Perry Scrimshaw's Rite of Passage (15 page)

‘
Of course,’
said one docker.

‘
Everyone!
Quick! To the docks!’

Perry felt hope balloon within;
he had averted disaster with a simple lie!

‘
No,’ Maxwell’s
voice was low, puncturing Perry’s hope. ‘What if
this
is the trick? What
if they really are coming on the train? No, Bigtoe you stay here
with half the men, the rest of you with me! To the water! Let’s
give these Blacklegs a beating they won’t forget.’

As half the men stampeded away,
Perry made a dash for the platform. He was now more worried than
ever, at least beforehand he knew where they were and all in the
same place to boot. He’d only succeeded in getting the strikers to
spread themselves about town.

A steam cloud wormed above the
station building. On the platform there were families, businessmen
and maids already stepping out from the carriages. At the back a
group of burly men gathered on the platform.

‘
Mr Jespers?’
Perry asked and a couple of the men pointed to a stocky bald
man.

‘
I come on
behalf of Mr Greaves,’ he gathered his breath.

‘
Good, he said
he’d send an escort,’ Jespers pulled a bag over his
shoulder.

Perry shook his head, breathing
heavily. ‘You’re all in great danger.’ He hurriedly explained about
the strikers waiting outside the station. ‘We have to move now,
follow me, I know another way round.’

Jespers nodded his assent and
his men followed. Perry crept low and rounded the train and broke
into a sprint past the freight cars

‘
Come on,
quick!’ he whispered. The Portsmouth dockers followed him in a line
and ran over the train tracks. The smaller ones squeezed through
the gap in the fence while others hoisted themselves over. They
slowed to a jog when they reached the alleyways.

‘
Half of them
will be waiting for you by the docks.’

‘
How do we get
around them?’ said Jespers. They rounded a corner and a washerwoman
shrieked at the sight of them.

‘
We can’t,’
Perry rubbed his chin in thought, ‘not twenty-five of you
anyway.’

They turned down another
alleyway. A man spread himself flat against the wall to let them
pass.

‘
I think I have
an idea.’

At the bottom of the alleyway
Perry made them wait and stepped between the shoemakers and the
tavern and scouted the area. In the middle of the harbour there
were a half dozen horse and carts of the open topped variety
setting up their stalls for market. Perry sprinted over and
arranged a price with three of the drivers and beckoned Jespers’
men.

‘
Be ready to
fight,’ Jespers said as they split into three and leapt onto the
carts. Perry hopped on the last.

The carts were normally used
for heaped vegetables and the Portsmouth dockers sat uneasily,
their legs swaying with the movement of the carriage. One played
with some straw he’d found on the floor. Perry stood, balancing
awkwardly, eyes fixed over the mares to the two carts ahead of them
and the docks beyond.

‘
I can see
strikers,’ he said. The men all exchanged glances, some caressing
their knuckles. ‘Twenty maybe.’

‘
Twenty? We
could have ‘em.’

The first cart rolled past the
Southampton dockers before they realised what was going on.

‘
Fucking
Blacklegs!’ one of them yelled and ran towards the second cart,
followed by a couple of his fellow strikers. Perry watched them
swing their makeshift weapons wildly in the air. The Portsmouth
dockers dodged them easily, pushing them into one another, sending
the chasing strikers into a tangle on the floor. The men aboard the
second cart laughed and jeered the fallen. Perry’s men quickly
joined in.

The cheers of the Portsmouth
men curdled with the furious shouts of the Southampton dockers.
Perry’s spine tingled with fear. His cart rolled by and he looked
at the agitated faces, at each man hopping up and down, spitting
insults in his own vitriolic rage. All except Maxwell, his stare
fixed on Perry, slowly slicing his finger across his throat.

When the cart pulled to a stop,
a half-dozen police were already there, and sealed them safely
dockside. Perry hopped down with the others. Greaves was shaking
hands with Jespers outside the warehouse, explaining the day’s
tasks to the Portsmouth dockers. Some came and shook Perry’s hand,
thanking him. He felt like he had done some good and prevented what
could have been a nasty fight between the dockers.

Perry went to Greaves’ office
and waited. The sound of the jeering Southampton dockers was louder
than before. Perhaps Bigtoe and the others had joined them now.
Greaves came inside rubbing his hands together.

‘
I’ve sent for
a couple of teas.’

Perry looked at the clock. Only
eight. ‘Could be a long day with that lot making such a racket. A
tea ain’t a bad way to start it Mr Greaves.’

‘
Well you
deserve it. Mr Jespers was very appreciative of your quick
thinking. I am too. That’s why I hired you.’

Perry gave a weak smile,
‘Thanks.’

‘
Here’s what
you were promised for your information.’

Perry accepted the four pounds,
added them to the rest in his handkerchief and tied it
securely.

‘
I wonder if
this might be the start of something great,’ Greaves
said.

‘
I hope so…Mr
Greaves?’

‘
Yes
Perry?’

‘
Do you smell
burning?’

They hurried outside. Smoke
billowed into the air from two - no, three places. The dockers
numbered fifty or so now.

‘
Scabs!’

‘
Blacklegs!’

The Bobbies linked arms to form
a line. ‘Hold steady men!’ one yelled.

‘
Christ,
they’re outnumbered three to one,’ said Greaves.

Mr Jespers came over. He wore a
worried expression and mopped his bald head with a rag. ‘This don’t
look too good Mr Greaves.’

‘
You carry on
Jespers. I’d like that ship loaded and on the water by
three.’

Jespers glanced nervously over
his shoulder. ‘I’m worried for my men Mr Greaves. I done this
before. I ain’t never seen any as angry as that.’

Greaves nodded. ‘You have my
word, I’ll go straight to the Mayor’s office now with master Perry
here, we’ll see to it that reinforcements are sent,’ he produced a
key from his pocket, ‘if they breach the police line, lock
yourselves in the warehouse.’

‘
Much obliged,’
Jespers said and cautiously returned to a laden cart.

There was a dull thud. The
police were shielding themselves with their hands. A scattering of
stones lay on the ground around them. Someone was screaming. The
line was falling apart.

‘
Mr Greaves, we
need to get out of here fast. I can get us round this
lot.’

Greaves mopped his brow with a
hankie, ‘Then do it boy for God’s sake! Get us out of here.’

It took their combined might to
yank the old skiff down the slipway. The oars were weather-beaten
but they had little other choice. Perry rowed, while Greaves
bucketed out water from the bottom.

‘
Oh my lord,
they’ve set alight to all the carts.’

Perry stopped rowing and looked
to the shore, following the smoke down to the blazing carts. People
bolted from the shopfronts with boxes, others just ran for
cover.

‘
Blimey!
They’re looting!’

‘
Can’t you go
any faster boy?’

He snapped back to his task and
continued east, Greaves yelling at him from time to time, ‘Come on
man, pull!’

By the time they got to the
shore of prison, his arms ached terribly. Perry hopped off the
rowing boat and heaved the rope so the skiff stuck in the sand.
Greaves leant on Perry’s shoulder to climb down.

‘
Mr Greaves. I
ain’t coming to town with you. I need to see my Pa,’ he nodded at
the prison.

‘
Good god, he’s
in
there
?’

‘
Aye,’ said
Perry.

‘
Well you’ve
put yourself in danger enough today. Keep your wits about you and
stay out of the port,’ his eyes darted around
suspiciously.

‘
Thanks for
everything, Mr Greaves…’ Perry wanted to say more, that with this
money he truly had the chance to start again in someplace
better.

‘
Dear boy, what
are you thanking me for? I shall see you tomorrow. There’ll be a
right old mess for us to sort out then.’

Greaves hurried up the beach
towards the road.

At the prison gates the guard
stood straight-backed with his hands at his sides. Perry recognised
him from before.

‘
Alright
there?’

‘
What can I do
for ya?’

‘
Need to see
that feller I saw last time please.’

The guard shook his head. ‘Not
today son.’

‘
Oh alright, I
see,’ Perry reached into his pocket for a couple of pennies. ‘Here
you go.’

‘
No son, it
ain’t like that.’

‘
I need to see
him. Today.’

‘
I’m sorry,’
said the guard.

Annoyance prickled at Perry,
‘And a pound? Would that be enough?’

The guard looked at him with
pity, ‘I’m sorry son, Warden’s orders. None out, none in while
there’s a riot in town. If the prisoners find out, it’s the sort of
thing that’s infectious.’

‘
Please. It’s
Samuel Scrimshaw, my Pa, I need to see him.’

‘
I’d lose my
job. There’s nothing I can do short of passing on a
message.’

‘
But it really
has to be today. This is my only chance.’

The guard rested his hand on
Perry’s shoulder, ‘I’ll tell him you came, I promise.’

His lip quivered, he bit it,
held his voice as strong as he could. ‘Tell him to be wary of the
doctor and that I’m sorry, sorry I couldn’t see him. And tell him
goodbye.’

The guard blurred. He wiped his
eyes clear with his cuffs, refusing to let himself cry, and began
his lonely walk back to town.

It was chaos. Two burning
barrels rolled down the hill and smashed into a blazing carriage.
It seemed as though every thief, town rough and troublemaker had
seeped out of the Ward and into town. Respectable folk at the
harbourfront windows looked down in horror at the hell setting up
camp around them.

A scrawny wretch sat atop the
Bell & Mast sign over the door, a bottle of gin in his hand,
proclaiming the end of the world nigh. Perry had no idea how he’d
gotten up there or how he’d get down.

He kept looking around, it was
hard to see who was who; most faces were blackened by the smoke
soot. At the water’s edge, Perry recognised the coal porter
dangling some poor soul from his feet, shaking him down and yelling
at him.

Rage bloomed inside him. On the
floor was some blackened plank, broken off from a cart. He grabbed
it; it was a bit too long and heavy. He carried it lengthways. His
muscles were still tired and raw from rowing.

Ten paces away. He roared and
ran at him. Still holding onto the man’s boots, the porter turned.
But it was too late. The whites of his eyes were so stark against
his blackened cheeks.

‘
Oof!’ the
force of the collision sent Perry bouncing back to the floor. The
coal porter dropped his prey, arms waving as he too went over the
ledge.

The quarry hit the water first,
collateral damage, then, with a satisfying splosh the coal porter
followed.

Perry peered over the edge. The
porter’s victim was swimming towards the steps. Then the water
broke, and up popped the coal porter.

‘
Oi!’

Perry gave him a cheery wave.
The coal porter spat water out of his mouth.

‘
I’m gonna have
you!’ he yelled, treading water. Perhaps a little mayhem wasn’t so
bad after all. Eva would love it when he told her about this
later.

By one o’clock the admiralty
had sent two gunships into Southampton harbour to protect the
shipping trade and passenger liners. A man with a bloodied head
claimed that the army had been sent for. The wounded were being
stretchered, even police among them. The fire brigade were pumping
whatever they could over the worst of the fires.

Perry kept himself hidden near
the balustrades on the bell tower steps, biting his nails, checking
the clock every minute or so. The rest of the time, he looked west,
where Eva would come. He resisted the urge to go back for her. They
said they would meet by the docks, she would find a way through.
For him, she would.

He cowered behind the stone,
peering through the gaps for his enemies. A group of men with bats
charged down the steps in the direction of the warehouse. He hoped
Mr Jespers and his crew had found a safe spot away from all this
carnage. He couldn’t believe that amidst all this, he had been
successful. The money was a thick wad in his pocket, enough to be
taken without documents for a passage to France or wherever the
next boat was heading. They would make a new life, a better life
than all this.

The clock tower said it was
five minutes past one when he saw her yellow hair in the distance.
He sprang to his feet. God she was beautiful. She looked this way
and that, tucked her hair behind her ear and crossed the road.

‘
Eva!’ he
yelled, but she was too far away to hear.