Conspiring in camp

[from here]


Jenny had attended to her useless task of delivering stew, and she was relieved to find that Joe had invented some excuse to follow her.

"Are you going to see the brothers? Zeb's over there with Sarah. I don't know about Jed, haven't seen him."

There she was. Newbury had been wondering where she'd got to.

"Ain't seen him, but he's probably up around the company's fire," he answered. "Maybe we could try talkin' to Zeb first?"

"Do you want me to come along, or not?"

He looked surprised that she should ask. "Well yes. Of course."

"All right. Didn't want to be in the way," she said with a nervous smile.

"Couldn't be that," Newbury told her with a confident grin. "C'mon. Let's get Zeb before he can go wanderin' off."

Zeb Palmer was breaking wood for the fire while his wife Sarah was preparing the food for their supper. Not everyone could eat round the same fire, or out of the same pot, after all, and Sarah Palmer's cooking was almost as good as Ben Jacklin's.

Zeb paused for a moment to try to work out a kink in his lower back, and grinned as he saw Newbury and Jenny Ross approaching.

Jenny hovered hesitantly, waiting for Newbury to make the first move. The Palmers were such good-natured fellows. Suddenly she had doubts, but Newbury knew them better than she did.

"She got you workin' for your food, Zeb?" Newbury asked as he came up, grinning to show the remark was made in jest. "How'd the fight go?"

"Someone ought to do it," Zeb replied, grinning at the two newcomers. "Fight was good. We shoved 'em back long enough for the redcoats to come up and see 'em off. Didn't think we needed the redcoats to help, but you know what they're like."

"We had the company of some redcoats ourselves. The brave men of the 33rd, set to keep watch over us." Normally Jenny would have simply waited for the tedious battle talk to be over, but tonight she was impatient. If Newbury and Palmer began delving into the details of the skirmish, they would be sitting here all night.

"Tryin' to claim all the spoils for themselves again?" Newbury shook his head and grinned. Leave it to the redcoats to try stealing the glory. His grin slipped slightly when Jenny spoke up and he remembered why they'd come to see Palmer.

"The bloody 33rd, aye. That's why we came 'round here." Newbury shifted uncomfortably. "We - me an' Jenny - was thinkin' about that lot today. Or one of 'em in particular."

"What 'bout 'em?" Palmer asked, looking curiously between Newbury and Jenny. "Ain't no good comes of messin' with them lot, trust me. Or ask Cotton."

"I know," Jenny said. "Don't need to ask anyone."

"There's only one of 'em that needs messin' with," Newbury added, lowering his voice. "Don't know's I gotta say which one, neither."

Zeb glanced across at Sarah before pulling a cloth out of his pocket to wipe down the blade of his sword-bayonet, before sheathing it.

"What're you two plannin' on doin', then?" he asked, looking from one to the other.

Plan? Jenny could not help smiling a little. Soldiers certainly did not waste time chatting.

"Gonna draw him out, with a little baitin'," Newbury said. "So we can jump him."

"What sort o' bait?" Zeb asked and looked at Jenny. His eyes widened. "You never are. That ain't... Jenny!"

She shrugged. "Why not? You lot take worse risks every day."

"That's.. different," he said, glancing across at Newbury.

"Different how? Look, I'm willing to take a risk for something I think is important. The difference is I won't have a rifle to defend myself if something goes wrong. So are you going to help us or not?"

"I will, 'course I will. Ain't pleasant, havin' to flog a mate o' yourn who never done anythin' wrong, after all. But what crazy-fool thing are both plannin' to do?"

Well that was easy, she thought with surprise. Though perhaps the rifleman did not realize that they actually intended to kill the man. But Joe would explain it better than she could.

Newbury swallowed nervously. They were taking an enormous risk with this.

"Jenny's gonna catch his eye and get him away from his regiment. We figure he'll be lookin' to celebrate the victory. Once he's far 'nough away, I come out and jump him." He shrugged slightly. "Have to be quick though, so he can't holler for help."