Read Online Shadow of the Hangman by Edward Marston - Free Book Online

dared to fill their bellies and slake their thirst. Keeping some of the stolen rations, they made their way back to the boat and set sail once more.
    Fate was less kind to them on their second night. Without warning, the wind dropped so they were forced to float for much of the time. More worryingly, dark clouds obscured the moon and stars so that they had no idea where they were or in what direction they were moving. When the wind suddenly freshened, it brought driving rain at its back and the two combined to create a storm of gathering ferocity. During their years in the navy, O’Gara and Dagg had weathered many a tempest but only in a frigate with a trained crew to battle the elements. This was a much more threatening experience altogether. Buffeted by the wind, lashed by the rain and tossed helplessly up and down by the heavy swell, they wereeffectively sailing blind. Neither man had the slightest idea that another vessel was bearing down on them in the inky darkness. One moment, the sailors were bravely coping with their multiple problems; the next, they were struck by something large and powerful enough to smash their boat in two.
    Flung into the sea, O’Gara and Dagg were soon swimming for their lives.
     
    They gathered at the shooting gallery to discuss the events of the previous night. When Peter Skillen explained what had happened, Gully Ackford and Jem Huckvale shook with mirth as they envisaged Medlow dangling from a beam. Charlotte, however, was less amused by the account of her husband’s nocturnal exploits. She had already heard one version of it and repetition did not impress her any the more.
    ‘You’re courting danger if you take on the Bow Street Runners.’
    ‘It was they who set up the encounter,’ said Ackford. ‘They sent someone here in the guise of Everett Hobday to draw Peter and Paul into that house. I had the sense to let Jem trail the impostor back to Mayfair. As it happened, the property was indeed owned by the man whose name I was given.’
    ‘That contented me at first,’ explained Huckvale, taking over, ‘but I thought it best to be doubly sure. When I spoke to a second neighbour, I learnt from him that Hobday was an old man who suffered badly from gout.’
    ‘We soon got Medlow’s real name out of him,’ recalled Peter. ‘When you’re trussed up like a turkey and hanging by your feet, you have an incentive to answer questions honestly. Before we gagged him, Simon Medlow revealed the full dimensions of the plot and enabled us to turn the tables on Micah Yeomans.’
    ‘Bravo!’ cried Ackford, slapping the desk for emphasis.
    ‘I raise my hat to Peter and Paul!’ said Jem, whipping it off his head.
    ‘I see no cause for congratulation,’ said Charlotte. ‘Peter and his brother committed a crime. What will happen if this Simon Medlow sues them for assault?’
    ‘He would first have to answer for his own crimes, Charlotte,’ said Ackford, ‘and there are plenty of those. In committing the latest, he posed as Hobday and entered the man’s house when he had no legal right to do so. I don’t think he’d
dare
recount the circumstances that led to him being given the treatment he deserved.’
    ‘And you must consider the position of Micah Yeomans,’ added Peter. ‘He was the author of the conspiracy. Do you imagine for a moment that he will want anyone to know that he gave Medlow, a known swindler, two keys to the property entrusted to him by the real Mr Hobday? If it came out that Yeomans had employed a wanted man to dupe us, it would not only damage his reputation, it might well cost him his position as a Runner. In short,’ he went on, ‘Paul and I are in the clear.’
    ‘More to the point,’ said Ackford, holding up a purse, ‘we made a profit on last night’s entertainment. This was the deposit given in return for our services.’ His grin broadened. ‘I doubt that Yeomans will think it money well-spent.’
    ‘He won’t have the gall to ask for it back,’