Free [Roger the Chapman 02] - The Plymouth Cloak by Kate Sedley Page B

attract attention from the Watch.' 'Their hoofs will be muffled, and Penryn knows the hour in which every street is patrolled. The Watch can't be everywhere at once, or no felon would be able to make an honest living.' He smiled thinly at his joke and emptied what remained in the jug into his mazer. 'You're too innocent, my friend. It's easy to see that you've had no dealings with criminals."
    I forbore to enlighten him, simply asking: 'And how do we get across the ferry?'
    'We rouse the ferryman from sleep and dangle our purses in front of him. He'll take us across fast enough if there's money in it. So now, if we're to travel throughout the night, I suggest we get some rest. We'll need it if we're to make Trenowth by tomorrow morning.'

CHAPTER 7

    We left the inn as soon as it was dark in the company of John Penryn. One of his men went ahead of us, making certain that the streets were clear of the Watch, while another walked some way behind, ensuring that we were not followed. That, at least, was the idea. For my own part, I was not convinced that a cellarman would be able to detect the presence of an expert in such matters who, of necessity, knew how to make himself inconspicuous, and who also had the cover of the night to aid him. Philip Underdown seemed perfectly satisfied, however, so I held my peace.
    The horses, after two days without exercise, were at first inclined to be frisky, even my staid rouneey, but they soon quietened down, quickly sensing, as animals do, the mood of the people around them. By the time their hoofs had been muffled in tom-up strips of rags, they were growing docile, and they both behaved with almost perfect propriety as Philip and I led them through the maze of narrow alleys leading to the outskirts of the town. There was only one small incident as we passed a stable. The grey suddenly raised his head, nostrils flaring, and whinnied loudly. Philip cursed and tugged sharply on the reins, restoring silence, but not before the shutters of a house a little way ahead of us were thrown wide and a woman's head and shoulders were clearly visible, framed by the open window.
    She leaned forward and called: 'Who's there?' Philip hissed in my ear: 'Don't answer. Just keep moving.' John Penryn nodded in agreement. 'She won't make trouble,' he whispered, 'whoever she is. This is not a law-abiding part of the town.'
    Within ten minutes, we were free of Plymouth, emerging into the fields beyond and well clear of any of the gates and their custodians. Here the landlord and his men took leave of us, wishing us good luck, and returned the way they had come. Philip and I mounted our horses and rode west towards the ferryman's cottage at the edge of the Tamar. It was a still, dry night, the sky spangled with stars, and the crescent moon which I had observed in the small hours of this morning hanging low in the heavens. I felt again the prickle of fear along my spine and experienced once more the sense of foreboding.
    All went as Philip had predicted at the ferry. The ferryman, roused from sleep, was at first angry and abusive, calling us all the insulting names he could lay his tongue to and throwing doubts on our parentage. This stream of abuse was halted abruptly by the sight of Philip's full purse and the promise of a shilling if he would take us and our horses across the river. As a shilling was worth several days' work to him, the man disappeared inside his cottage, emerging a few minutes later fully clothed.
    By my reckoning it was already past midnight, for we must have ridden north-west of the town by some six or seven miles. And the ferryman's insistence that we go one at a time delayed us even further.
    'One-man, one horse,' he announced in his gruff, surly tones. 'It's for your own safety.'
    We agreed reluctantly. ‘I’ll go first, with the cob,' I said. 'Waiting will only make me nervous.'
    Philip laughed. 'You mean you don't trust me to wait for you if I go first. Don't worry. I've no intention of