Dodd sucked his teeth. ‘I dinna ken,’ he said, ‘there might be. There’s the Boot somewhere in the armoury.’
Please God, thought Bangtail incoherently, don’t let them give me the Boot, oh please God...
‘Good,’ said Carey. ‘In fact I think I tripped on the frame when I was in there, though the wedges and the mallet were missing.’
‘We can have the carpenter find ye some,’ said Dodd helpfully. ‘Do ye want me to go and ask him, sir?’
Oh God, oh God, oh God, thought Bangtail, wondering if they could see his legs shaking.
‘No,’ said Carey slowly, ‘no need to waken the man just yet. There’s plenty of time, after all.’
‘Ay sir.’
‘And it’s possible we may not need them?’ At last he looked at Bangtail, his eyebrows making a question.
‘N-no sir,’ Bangtail managed to say.
‘What can you tell me, Bangtail?’
I’m a Graham, he thought desperately, we’re tough and stubborn folk... Oh God, oh God, oh God...
‘Wh-what do ye want to know, sir?’
‘Tell me what you did after you saw the horse Janet Dodd bought.’
‘W-well, sir, I knew it was Caspar right away, though somebody had put a few extra white patches on him so he looked piebald, but ye could niver mistake the face of the animal, it were so noble and his legs and his... Anyway, I was in a state, so I did the first thing I thought of which was to ride to Netherby tower to tell... er... to tell Ekie.’
‘Why not go directly to Jock?’
‘I wasn’t sure I should do it, sir, I knew what might happen, I wanted to talk to Ekie first, but Ekie said I should tell him since Sweetmilk was riding Caspar when he disappeared. He was allus the favourite, you know, sir, best dressed, best mounted.’
‘Was Young Jock or any of the others jealous of him?’
‘Well they might have been, sir, but Sweetmilk is... was so sweet-natured, ye couldna help liking him even if he did talk too much. So I talked to Jock of the Peartree and he thanked me and said he’d remember me if we ever met in a fight and I went back to Carlisle but the gate was shut. I was sleeping outside in a bush, but then the bell rang and ye all went riding out on the hot trod so I slipped in behind ye and went to Madam Hetherington’s.’
Bangtail tried to spread his hands to show he’d finished but the manacles stopped him.
‘Well?’ said Carey, swallowing, drinking and dabbing his moustache and beard with a napkin like the pansified southerner he was.
‘Well, sir?’
‘Shall I fetch the Boot?’ asked Dodd.
Carey sighed. ‘I hate to cripple a strong well-made pair of legs like his, but...’
‘Wh-what else do you want, sir, please, I...’
‘What’s going on at Netherby?’
‘S-sir?’
‘Who’s there, why do they want horses?’
Bangtail gulped and tried to think. Carey watched him patiently, his usually humorous face unreadable.
Dodd growled. ‘You’re with us, or agin us, Bangtail.’
What would Ekie do to him? Was it even a secret who was at Netherby? Anyway, what could the bastard Courtier do about it?
‘Th-the Earl of Bothwell.’
There was a flicker of something on Carey’s face. Dodd made an mmphmm noise in his throat.
‘Who else?’ demanded Carey.
‘Och, his own followers of course, like Jock Hepburn and Geordie Irwin of Bonshaw, and there’s Johnstone and Old Wat of Harden and a fair few broken men from Liddesdale and the Debateable Land like Skinabake Armstrong and his lot.’
‘And what does he want all these men and horses for?’ enquired Carey softly from behind his fingers.
Bangtail’s face twisted in despair. ‘I dinna ken, Deputy, I wish to God I did and that’s the truth, but nobody knows except the Earl himself and his man Hepburn and Old Wat, and not me that’s certain and I’d tell ye if I knew it, I swear to God I would, but I dinna and if ye put me in the Boot I’ll know no more... Oh God.’
He put his face in his hands and tried not to cry. ‘Ekie said none of them know, but he could be lying...’
‘If you’re lying to me, Bangtail...’ said Carey menacingly.
‘Och no, sir, I’m not lying, I got no reason to, I’m not in the rode, see ye, and it’s no gain to me whatever they do, though I heard tell that Captain Musgrave’s helping out with a few remounts for Young Jock and Long Nebbed Robert, on a share, ye know, but that’s all I know and I tellt ye the truth, as God’s my judge...’
‘All right,’ said Carey, ‘no need to take the Lord’s name in vain any more.’
