Sharpe’s Prey. Bernard Cornwell

Richard Sharpe had come home.

      CHAPTER TWO

      The tavern displayed no name. There was not even a painted sign hanging outside, nothing, indeed, to distinguish it from the neighbouring houses except, perhaps, a slight air of prosperity that stood out in Vinegar Street like a duchess in a whorehouse. Some folk called it Malone’s Tavern because Beaky Malone had owned and run it, though Beaky had to be dead by now, and others called it the Vinegar Alehouse because it was in Vinegar Street, while some knew the house simply as the Master’s because Jem Hocking did so much of his business in its taproom.

      ‘I have interests,’ Jem Hocking said grandly, ‘beyond those of the mere parish. I am a man of parts, Major.’

      Meaning, Sharpe thought, that Hocking persecuted more than the workhouse inmates. He had become rich over the years, rich enough to own scores of houses in Wapping, and Friday night was when the tenants brought him the rent. Pennies only, but pennies added up, and Hocking received them in the taproom where they vanished into a leather bag while a cowed white-haired clerk made notes in a ledger. Two young men, both tall, strongly built and armed with cudgels, were the taproom’s only other customers and they watched every transaction. ‘My mastiffs,’ Hocking had explained the two young men.

      ‘A man of responsibility needs protection,’ Sharpe had said, using two of his three shillings to buy a flagon of ale. The girl brought four tankards. The clerk, it seemed, was not to be treated to Major Dunnett’s largesse. Only Sharpe, Hocking and the two mastiffs were to drink.

      ‘It takes a man of authority to recognize responsibility,’ Hocking said, then buried his face in the tankard for a few seconds. ‘What you are seeing, Major, is private business.’ He watched a thin woman offer some coppers to the clerk. ‘But in my parish duties,’ Hocking went on, watching the clerk count the coins, ‘I have responsibility for the disbursement of public funds and for the care of immortal souls. I take neither duty lightly, Major.’ The public funds were fourpence three farthing a day for each pauper out of which Jem Hocking managed to purloin twopence, while the rest was grudgingly spent on stale bread, onions, barley and oatmeal. The care of souls yielded no profit, but did not require any outlay either.

      ‘You have overseers?’ Sharpe asked, pouring himself and Hocking more ale.

      ‘I have a Board of Visitors,’ Hocking agreed. He watched the ale being poured. ‘The law says we must. So we do.’

      ‘So where is the responsibility?’ Sharpe asked. ‘With you? Or the Board?’ He saw the question had offended Hocking. ‘I assume it is you, Master, but I have to be sure.’

      ‘With me,’ Hocking said grandly. ‘With me, Major. The Board is appointed by the parish and the parish, Major, is infested with bleeding orphans. And not just our own! Some even gets stranded here by the ships. Only last week the mudlarks found a girl child, if you can imagine such a thing.’ He shook his head and dipped his nose into the ale’s froth while Sharpe imagined the mudlarks, men and women who combed the Thames foreshore at low tide in search of scraps fallen overboard, bringing a child to Brewhouse Lane. Poor child, to end with Hocking as a guardian. ‘The Board, Major,’ Hocking went on, ‘cannot cope with so many children. They confine themselves to a quarterly examination of the accounts which, you may be sure, add up to the exact penny, and the Board votes me an annual motion of thanks at Christmas time, but otherwise the Board ignores me. I am a man of business, Major, and I spare the parish the trouble of dealing with orphans. I have two score and sixteen of the little bastards in the house now, and what will the Board of Visitors do without me and Mrs Hocking? We are a godsend to the parish.’ He held up a hand to check anything Sharpe might say. This was not to deflect a compliment, but rather because a thin young man had come from the tavern’s back door to whisper in his ear. A raucous cheer sounded from behind the door. The cheers had been sounding ever since Sharpe had arrived in the tavern and he had pretended not to hear them. Now he ignored the young man who tipped a stream of coins into the clerk’s leather bag, then gave Hocking a pile of grubby paper slips that vanished into the big man’s pocket. ‘Business,’ Hocking said gruffly.

      ‘In Lewes,’ Sharpe said, ‘the parish offers three pounds to anyone who will take an orphan out of the workhouse.’

      ‘If I had such cash, Major, I could strip Brewhouse Lane of the little bastards in five minutes.’ Hocking chuckled. ‘For a pound apiece! A pound! But we ain’t a rich parish. We ain’t Lewes. We ain’t got the funds to palm the little bastards off onto others. No, we relies on others paying us!’ He sank half the ale, then gave Sharpe a suspicious look. ‘So what does you want, Major?’

      ‘Drummer boys,’ Sharpe said. The 95th did not employ drummer boys, but he doubted Jem Hocking understood that.

      ‘Drummer boys,’ Hocking said. ‘I’ve got lads that could beat a drum. They ain’t much good for anything, but they can beat a drum. But why come to me for them, Major? Why not go to Lewes? Why not get three pounds with every lad?’

      ‘Because the Lewes Board of Visitors won’t let the boys go to be soldiers.’

      ‘They won’t?’ Hocking could not hide his astonishment.

      ‘There are women on the Board,’ Sharpe said.

      ‘Ah, women!’ Hocking exclaimed. He shook his head in exasperation and despair. ‘They’ll be the end of common sense, women will. There are none on our Board, I warrant you that. Women!’

      ‘And the Canterbury Board insists the boys go before a magistrate,’ Sharpe said.

      ‘Canterbury?’ Hocking was confused.

      ‘We have a second battalion at Canterbury,’ Sharpe explained, ‘and we could get the boys from there, only the magistrates interfere.’

      Hocking was still confused. ‘Why wouldn’t the bloody magistrates want boys to be soldiers?’

      ‘The boys die,’ Sharpe said, ‘they die like bloody flies. You have to understand, Mister Hocking, that the Rifles are the troops nearest the enemy. Under their noses, we are, and the boys have to serve as cartridge carriers when they ain’t drumming. Back and forth, they are, and somehow they seem to be targets. Bang, bang. Always killing boys, we are. Mind you, if they live, it’s a fine life. They can become Chosen Men!’

      ‘A rare opportunity,’ Hocking said, believing every word of Sharpe’s nonsense. ‘And I can assure you, Major, there’ll be no interference from Boards or magistrates here. None! You can take my word for it.’ He poured himself more ale. ‘So what are we talking about here?’

      Sharpe leaned back, pretending to think. ‘Two battalions?’ he suggested. ‘Twenty companies? Say we lose four boys a year to the enemy and another six die of fever or manage to grow up? Ten lads a year? They have to be eleven years old, or near enough to pass.’

      ‘Ten boys a year?’ Hocking managed to hide his enthusiasm. ‘And you’d pay?’

      ‘The army will pay, Mister Hocking.’

      ‘Aye, but how much? How much?’

      ‘Two pounds apiece,’ Sharpe said. He was amazed at his own glibness. He had dreamed of this revenge, plotting it in his imagination without ever thinking he would actually work it, yet now the lines were slipping off his tongue with convincing ease.

      Hocking stuffed a clay pipe with tobacco as he considered the offer. Twenty pounds a year was a fine sum, but a little too obvious. A little too tidy. He drew a candle towards him and lit the pipe. ‘The magistrates will want paying,’ he observed.

      ‘You said there’d be no trouble from magistrates,’ Sharpe objected.

      ‘That’s because they’ll be paid,’ Hocking pointed out, ‘and there’ll be other costs, Major, other costs. Always are other costs.’ He blew a stream of smoke at