Captain in Calico. George Fraser MacDonald

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       4. MAJOR PENNER

      On the following morning, less than twelve hours after their capture, the Kingston pirates were admitted to the Royal pardon. It was an impressive ceremony enacted with considerable solemnity on the broad square of the Fort, and New Providence turned out in force to see it. Along one side of the parade awnings had been erected for the most consequential spectators: the planters, merchants, and gentlefolk and their women who constituted the pick of the island’s society, and before them, in a canopied chair, sat the Governor, magnificent in lilac taffeta and plumed castor, with Master Dickey at his elbow.

      Marshalled in front of the Governor, with Rackham at their head and a hollow square of garrison infantry about them, stood the filibusters of the Kingston, none the better for a night in the Fort’s wet stone cells. Blinking in the dazzling sunlight they listened as Master Dickey addressed them in the name of the most high and mighty prince, George, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, and catalogued their misdeeds as form demanded. Elsewhere round the parade ground the area was packed with a throng of townsfolk, intent on the show.

      To Rackham the formalities were interminable. He wanted to sign his name and swear his oath and be away to the Sampson house to make his peace with Kate. But he must wait and listen, while the long paragraphs dragged on, watching the well-to-do standing respectfully attentive beneath their awnings while the common folk shuffled and exchanged whispers with their neighbours.

      A figure in the ranks of the planters behind the Governor’s chair caught Rackham’s eye, and he recognised Penner, the former Army officer turned pirate whom he had not seen since his last sojourn in Providence two years ago. It was with a shock of surprise that he identified the bluff, red face and corpulent frame in that company of respectable respected, until he realised that Penner, too, must be a pardoned man; was probably by now a citizen of worth and standing in Providence. It was a heartening thought, and he smiled slowly as Penner inclined his head and half-lifted a hand in token of recognition.

      Master Dickey’s voice claimed his attention again. The formalities over, the name of King George having been suitably glorified, and that of Governor Rogers likewise praised in its degree, the secretary rolled up his document and presented another, which Woodes Rogers again approved, and Dickey proceeded:

      ‘… whereas these several misguided subjects of our Sovereign Lord, having erred from the ways of duty, yet having repented them of their sins, shall, under this solemn oath and contract, be admitted to said Majesty’s most gracious and Royal pardon, and to them shall be restored said Majesty’s protection, that they may move again in, and be restored to, the proper ways of duty and love to their rightful and most merciful Sovereign.’

      Woodes Rogers doffed his castor, an example which every male in the square followed, and prepared to administer the oath. It was a simple document, in contrast to those which had gone before, calling for complete repentance in those who took it, enjoining them to be temperate and truthful, and demanding from them the solemn promise that they would forsake for ever the practice of piracy on the high seas. Finally, it gave assurance that any who broke the oath would be promptly hanged.

      ‘John Rackham, hold up your right hand,’ commanded Master Dickey. ‘Do you so swear?’

      Rackham waited a fraction of a second, savouring the last moment before he should be a free man. ‘I do,’ he said.

      ‘Benjamin Thorne, do you so swear?’

      He was a free man now – as free as Rogers, as Penner, as the King!

      ‘Isaac Nelson, do you so swear?’

      Free. And not only a free man but an honest one – his past forgotten, himself absolved by the most regal authority in the world.

      One by one the pirates filed forward to sign, or make their marks upon, the heavily sealed document on the Governor’s table.

      Rackham, in his impatience, scrawled his signature without a glance at the wording of the document. But as he turned from the table he was intercepted by the jovial Major Penner, who had come forward from beneath the awnings.

      ‘John, lad, welcome home!’ The burly Penner seized his hand. ‘This is the best of fortune. Did ye start to see me in such company, eh?’ He jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards the planters. ‘It’s not to be wondered at. I took the pardon two years ago, when Rogers first arrived. And behold me now!’ He laughed resoundingly. ‘A man of substance, as you see. And more than that,’ – his merry grey eyes twinkled as he dug Rackham in the ribs – ‘’tis what yourself shall be, and quickly, or I’m no judge. And how has Fate treated you? No need to tell me. None. I heard of your surrender. Plaguey hard, to give up a fortune, but there – what’s a few broad pieces beside a Royal pardon?’

      ‘Major, I—’ Rackham was impatient to be away, but the burly Major had his arm in a bear-like grip. ‘There is someone I must see—’

      ‘All in good time, lad,’ Penner reproved him. ‘What? There’s no guarda costas behind ye now. Time is on our side, and your first hour as a pardoned man ye shall spend in my company. For I’ve much to tell you. No buts, lad. I’ll hear none of them. It would be rank mutiny, no less. Will you deny one of His Majesty’s officers?’ He released Rackham and stepped back, grinning like a schoolboy.

      Rackham was intrigued in spite of himself. ‘A King’s officer?’

      ‘No less, John. A commissioned privateer, with His Majesty’s blessing, the Governor’s favour, a stout ship, and a clear conscience.’ He dropped his voice confidentially. ‘And making more than ever I did on the Account, too. It astonishes me. For years folk like you and I stood outside the law, gentlemen of fortune, as we called ourselves, and lucky we are to be still sound and sane. And what now? I take a Royal pardon, ply the same old trade – or nearly – and sleep sound o’ nights. I’ve a house of my own and half a dozen slaves, and I’m fair on the way to buying a plantation. It’s providence, so it is.’ And Major СКАЧАТЬ