Free Kings of the Boyne by Nicola Pierce Page A

and King William himself.
    ‘Checked how?’ asked Daniel. His grip so tightened around the wooden spoon that he felt his fingers cramp. He stirred the hot water in a poor attempt to release the tension from his hand.
    ‘You’re the doctor,’ said Henry, laughing. ‘How do you think?’
    Even Robert flinched at this, but he would not hush his friend. Instead, he looked at his brother in the hope that he might have something useful to say.
    Realising that his big brother was in a real fix, Daniel followed his usual urge to help him out. ‘Robert, she had six children and the ones that spoke called her “Mama”.’
    ‘Yes!’ Robert slapped his thigh. ‘Exactly! Six children. That’s right. We met them all, so we did.’
    He looked at Henry waiting to receive his blessing, or something like that. However, his friend just slowly shook his head from side to side as if he could scarcely believe his ears. ‘Oh, I see. Well, of course. I mean, children never ever lie to save their father’s life.’
    ‘You fool!’ snapped Daniel.
    Henry put his musket on the ground and gave Daniel a peculiar look, asking him, ‘Just who do you think you’re talking to?’
    Daniel flung the spoon into the boiling water, causingit to splash a little, the water burning his hand. ‘What kind of man – and a soldier at that – would pretend to be a woman?’
    ‘Steady on, Daniel,’ said Robert. Not for the first time he wondered where his little brother had gone. Where was the boy who only wanted to be liked and would not have picked a fight with anybody?
    ‘You always take his side, Robert! How can you be persuaded she was a man by someone who wasn’t even there?’
    Henry stood up; he had something to say and it felt appropriate to get to his feet. His father had been mayor of Derry and someday Henry hoped to be mayor himself. With that in mind, he practised his oratory skills whenever the opportunity arose. His father had always warned him against losing an argument through bad temper so he smoothed himself down and put his thoughts in order.
    And then he began. ‘Look, you two, we are in the middle of a war or soon will be. Nothing is as it seems in times of war. Daniel, you ask what type of man would pretend to be a woman and the answer is a desperate one.’
    Robert nodded absentmindedly, while Daniel just stared, successfully hiding the fact that in the farthest corner of his mind he was starting to question Mrs Watson himself.
    Henry continued, ‘James and his army are desperate men; they have to be. They lost in Derry, and now King Williamhas arrived with a bigger army than their own. Imagine it, Jacobite soldiers hiding out so that they don’t have to fight to the death … doing whatever is necessary to save their skins.’
    He paused here, to allow his words to sink in. It was a trick he had learned from watching his father presenting unpopular proposals to fellow councillors.
    ‘Look, as Daniel has pointed out, I wasn’t there, but maybe that makes it easier for me to query her story. You two were after the horses and had enough to do to make sure you got them. So, you come back and describe her to me and I can jump to conclusions because I wasn’t there and therefore can’t be distracted by the children or her voice, or whatever else. Do you see what I mean?
    Robert nodded yes while Daniel stabbed a potato with a knife.
    ‘All right,’ said Robert. ‘So, what do we do now?
    Daniel looked at him warily. ‘What do you mean what do we do? We got the horses, didn’t we?’
    Robert ignored him and waited for Henry to answer his question.
    Henry scrunched up his features as if deep in thought, but Daniel felt that the would-be politician had known all along what he was going to propose. ‘Well, if you ask me, the only thing we can do is get proof of her identity.’
    Robert understood him immediately. ‘You mean we should return to the house to check if she is truly a woman or a Jacobite soldier in