Lessons From Underground Page 15

  “Just as you said, Husband, they came,” Mrs. Hunter said.

  He had expected us, I realized. But even so, Hunter the Just stared at us for a moment, his eyes wide, as if making calculations. Then he straightened up and turned on his heel, back the way he had come.

  “Oh no you don’t!” Mr. Jackdaw called after him. The children swiveled in their chairs to stare at the scene.

  “Calm down, Mr. Jackdaw,” I said. “We just want to talk.”

  But the others were already in pursuit. There was no choice. Even if we only wanted words with Mr. Hunter, we’d have to catch him first. But Mr. Jackdaw clearly wanted more than that, and I was beginning to fear I couldn’t keep my promise to Mrs. Hunter.

  Mr. Hunter didn’t lead us far. He clearly only wanted us away from the children, and he stopped to wait in the empty assembly hall.

  “We’ve got you now,” said Mr. Jackdaw.

  “You don’t have anyone,” Hunter shot back. He put his fingers to his mouth and made a loud, piercing whistle. At the sound, five other men came running into the hall, with skin as dark as Mr. Hunter’s, all young and well-dressed, with nice clothes that made me think they were likely university students. They had us surrounded.

  “So you really did beat us here,” said Mr. Hunter. I realized I had forgotten he had an American accent. “The skinny kid said you would. I didn’t doubt him, if we’re being honest.”

  “We’re here to stop you selling that diamond,” said Mr. Scant.

  “It doesn’t belong to you,” added Mr. Jackdaw. “It was gifted to His Majesty.”

  “And I’m sure His Majesty the King has many uses for it,” Mr. Hunter said, “but our need is greater.”

  “To fund a criminal organization?” I said.

  “Ah, yes,” said Mr. Hunter. “That’s all you think we’re doing. Stealing a stone, selling it for profit. You don’t understand what this diamond means.”

  “The blood and labor of the country’s people,” said Mr. Scant. “We do understand that. But this is only a small part of a bigger game. You’re not seeing that. You think you’re using Aurelian Binns, but he’s manipulating you. If this theft becomes public knowledge, your situation here will only get worse. Binns will walk away with money and power, and you’ll, what? Found a rebel state to fight against the greatest empire the world has ever seen? It’s not the just way. It’s not the hero’s way.”

  “Gray, you never did understand,” Mr. Hunter said, shaking his head as if Mr. Scant had said the wrong thing completely. “Men who rose to power on nothing but diamonds can be torn down with nothing but diamonds.” From the pocket of his light waistcoat he withdrew a simple handkerchief. “Do you remember, when we were young, it was Basil and Hubert Fields with their gangs of thugs, forcing everyone else to give up their claims or face a beating? Hubert may be gone, but Basil runs the country now. Runs half the continent. And his South African Union Party controls the mines.”

  He unwrapped the handkerchief to reveal the full luster of the stone inside. “Except the mine where this came from. The Premier Mine. This diamond represents the weakness of the South African Union Party. It infuriates the men who run this city, this country, this whole continent. For all their influence, they’ve never been able to match up to this, this most perfect and beautiful of diamonds. They’ve never been able to buy out that one mine a few hundred miles northeast of here. And now the diamond’s back with us. With our Society. You remember our Society, don’t you, Gray?”

  The men who had appeared when Mr. Hunter whistled stood behind him, ready to fight.

  “We’re selling it,” he continued, “but on our terms. That’s how it always should have been. We’re selling it here, to a buyer in this country, proud of their roots. Not someone who wants it locked behind glass half a world away. And with the money we make, we’ll take the power back from those men who want to see us made into livestock.”

  “You can’t sell what doesn’t belong to you,” Mr. Jackdaw said through gritted teeth. “You will be marked as common thieves. And if they can’t arrest you, they’ll send an army to crush you.”

  “There are ways,” said Mr. Hunter. “We have a document that shows the diamond was never truly gifted to the king. That was a forgery—the diamond in the sceptre was fake from the beginning. People will come to believe the real diamond has always been here. Our document’s quite convincing. Nobody will be able to question it.”

  “The Crown examined the diamond,” Mr. Jackdaw insisted. “They will know this story is false.”

  “I think the news will be very embarrassing for the royal jewelers. After all, their diamond is still in London, is it not? Still in the Tower, with visitors marveling over its beauty every day. What will they see when they examine it again, I wonder?”

  Mr. Scant stepped forward. “Hunter, no justice can come from an alliance with a man like Binns. This is a crime. This is against the second principle of the Woodhouselee Society.”

  “What do I care about your principles?” Hunter said. “There are people who will benefit from this and people who lose nothing. I don’t think there’s anything more to say. Tomorrow, the exchange takes place, and there’s no way you can stop it.”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” the Valkyrie said, pulling out her cleavers.

  “We’re not here to hurt anyone,” said Mr. Scant.

  “Then stand down,” said Mr. Hunter. With that, he stepped out of the assembly room doors.

  The five men Mr. Hunter had summoned knew what was happening. They probably didn’t care whether we fought or not, but they were here to stall us.

  “You’re on the wrong path!” Mr. Scant yelled after Mr. Hunter, but Hunter gave no response. One man with a scar on his lip looked ready to fight. He walked forward with a hand up to block Mr. Scant’s path, but before they could meet, Mr. Scant ducked down and swept the man’s feet from under him.

  That was the cue for a dance of chaos to begin. Three men went for the Valkyrie, who was running forward with her cleavers crossed in front of her. The fifth man headed straight for Mr. Jackdaw. I had sunk back, wary of who was going to come for me, but I knew what I had to do. With Mr. Hunter’s men distracted, I alone was able to slip out of the assembly hall to follow him.

  Of all the skills I had learned from Mr. Scant, following others was the one we had worked on the most and which I felt I could do the best. Mr. Hunter was fast and had a head start, but that only made it easier to keep my distance and watch him from safe vantage points. Several times he turned around, and several times I ducked out of sight. I always waited twice as long as I felt I had to before looking out again.

  I knew at once where we were going. Back to the Big Hole, to one of the mineshafts. Mrs. Hunter had said that was where the Society met. The Society, which I still could not believe Mr. Scant had founded. If I could only see which mineshaft Mr. Hunter entered, even if there was a labyrinth within the hole, it was better than not knowing.

  Tailing the hero became more difficult when we reached the mining area. I saw no people to hide behind or to use in a diversion. There was mining equipment, but most of it was great towers and machines, like the skeletons of some ancient terrible beings brought to life to work the earth.

  Eventually Mr. Hunter came to one of the great mine’s entrances. I would have imagined some kind of elevator or shack over a hole in the ground, but instead he reached a hole in the side of a small cliff. A rail for mine carts ran into it.

  It was no good following him into the mine. I didn’t have Mr. Scant’s skill at moving in silence. So I considered my mission complete. I could return to Mr. Scant with the location. Nodding to myself in satisfaction, I turned around. That was when a hand fell heavily onto my shoulder.

  XXIV

  The Deal

  or a moment I feared the worst, but then I saw that it was only Mr. Jackdaw. He had a bit of a swollen lip but seemed to be pretending nothing was wrong.

  “This is the place, is it? Good w
ork. You have some talent in sneaking around.”

  “Erm, thank you?” I said.

  “There wasn’t much of a fight,” said Mr. Jackdaw. “I slipped away while the others kept Hunter’s men busy, but I’m sure they’ve all gotten bored of it by now.”

  We reconnoitered not in the school but back at the hotel. The Valkyrie and Mr. Scant were unfazed by their fight and wanted immediately to know what we had learned. I told them about the mine entrance, and Mr. Jackdaw confirmed it. We set to strategizing about getting into the mine unseen—and how to deal with much greater numbers, if the Society presence below was formidable.

  “What about Mr. Hunter?” I said. “Can you fight him?”

  “I don’t know,” said Mr. Scant. “I think so. He’s lost his way.”

  “Sounds to me like he knows exactly what he’s doing,” said Mr. Jackdaw. “He’s just chosen his secret society over the Crown.”

  “Maybe he’s right, and this will help people,” I said.

  “Master Oliver, we’re not here to deal with politics or save the world,” said Mr. Jackdaw. “Your Hunter and his men have their fight and they’re the ones who’ll fight it. We’re not their saviors. The only thing we can do here is focus on our task, which is recovering the diamond.”

  “But is it really right?” I asked.

  “Something was stolen and it’s our responsibility to recover it. That’s all that matters.”

  “Mr. Scant, do you agree?”

  “What we founded the Society to accomplish and the road Hunter’s being led down by Aurelian Binns are not the same,” he replied. “And if he sells that diamond, I fear he’ll see consequences far beyond what he intends.”

  As the adults continued talking, I went to the window and looked out at the people walking across Kimberley. They didn’t appear to need saving, by and large. Some were poor, some were clearly wealthy. Some looked happy, some distressed. I remembered Mr. Sam, who I thought would be so angry and pitiable but who had the most honest smile I had seen since little Victor in France.

  “What if we let the exchange take place and then set ambushes?” Mr. Scant was saying.

  “I cannot countenance a sale of that diamond to go through,” said Mr. Jackdaw. “It’s a symbol of the Crown. And I cannot let the deal happen, symbolically.”

  “Aurelian Binns will be the exchange’s middle man, no doubt,” Mr. Scant said.

  “Isn’t that strange?” I said. “Why does he need to be involved? Why doesn’t he just let Mr. Hunter make the sale?”

  “I imagine young Aurelian has made himself essential to the process,” said Mr. Jackdaw.

  “I don’t like it,” I said. “He’s always one step ahead of us. Like he knows what we’re going to do before we do it.”

  Mr. Scant reached out to straighten my collar and nodded as if satisfied. “I may have warned you against being arrogant, Master Oliver, but there’s no need to be too humble, either. He’s no more intelligent than you are.”

  “He doesn’t have to be intelligent,” I said. “He just always has a plan. It’s like doing magic, I suppose. He knows how to misdirect us. We start thinking we’re ahead of him by taking the sceptre away, but he catches us with it. He sends us on a boat to New York, but really he’s going to Africa. He tells Mr. Hunter what to say so that we don’t know where to be.” At that moment, something struck me. “Hold on. Why do we think this exchange happens tomorrow?”

  “Because the Binns boy was one day behind Hunter in setting off for Africa,” said Mr. Jackdaw. “And . . . because that’s what Hunter said to us . . .”

  “If we could be here two days faster than Mr. Hunter,” I said, “who’s to say that Aurelian couldn’t have gone that fast too?”

  The adults looked at me for a few seconds, and then at once, Mr. Scant and Mr. Jackdaw grabbed their jackets.

  “We need to get there,” said Mr. Scant. “We need to get there now.”

  It had been little more than a hunch, but we started to believe in my theory when we saw three of the men from earlier stationed outside the mine entrance through which Mr. Hunter had disappeared.

  “They really came,” was all the tallest of the men said, while the shortest disappeared into the mine.

  “I’ll stop that one,” Mr. Scant said, already in pursuit of the small man, his golden claw flashing in the bright sunshine.

  The third man, the one with the scarred lip, pulled out an iron pipe and ran to intercept Mr. Scant. Mr. Scant deflected the man’s first blow, and then Mr. Jackdaw was there to twist the man’s wrist and take the pipe from him. Mr. Scant disappeared inside the mine as our fight outside began in earnest. The Valkyrie had drawn her cleavers, but I noticed she was using them backwards, so that when she struck the tall man, it was with the blunt end rather than the blade. This staggered him, and he looked furious.

  I gathered dust and threw it in the eyes of the man with the scarred lip so that Mr. Jackdaw could knock him down with the pipe, which made the man go, “Okay, okay, enough, I’m done.” This seemed to dishearten the other man, who dropped his own club and shrugged.

  “You people are crazy,” said the man with the scarred lip. “And it’s too late. You can’t stop this from happening.”

  Inside the mine, we didn’t know whether to call for Mr. Scant or to keep silent. We found him at a fork in the tracks. From there, the mine cart rails went into two separate shafts. The smallest man lay unconscious, propped up in between the two.

  “This way,” Mr. Scant whispered.

  “How can you be sure?” Mr. Jackdaw asked.

  “I can hear them,” said Mr. Scant. I strained my ears but heard nothing.

  More guards stood along the path, which gave us confidence we were going in the right direction. Some were armed with pistols, but every time, Mr. Scant surprised them, his claw at their necks before they could so much as take aim. Most of them tried to parry Mr. Scant’s claw away and attack, but the Valkyrie quickly pinned them down. At these junctures, I would wrest the pistols out of the men’s hands and keep them with me. I soon began to feel safe with the three adults around me. But I couldn’t help but wonder if we’d finally outwitted Aurelian or if we were making this much progress because he wanted us to.

  Finally, we came to a mine cart at the end of the rails, empty but for a pair of shovels. I decided to put all the pistols inside and then took one of the shovels for myself. I felt better with something to defend myself with that wasn’t as lethal as a gun. Beyond the mine cart was a large open space—some sort of planning office, deep within the Big Hole of Kimberley. Paper diagrams and cross-sections of the mine hung pinned to boards, and three large desks formed a kind of crescent on the office floor. We stayed huddled in the doorway, because there were a lot of people in the space.

  I knew Aurelian at once, with his slim face and high cheekbones. I had no idea how he had braved the heat outside, but he was still wearing a frock coat with travel cape. Mr. Hunter was with him, and Mrs. Hunter sat behind her husband. I thought I recognized the other two fighters from earlier, and alongside them were almost a dozen more. Most of these Society members had dark skin, but two light-skinned men stood amongst them, brandishing weapons and looking menacing.

  Opposite them was another group of formidable-looking men, six of them. They looked less like a group of brawlers and more like professional soldiers—out of uniform, perhaps, but on duty. They stood around another man with the darkest skin of any of them, his head bald and his half-moon spectacles giving him the air of an accountant. This, I gathered, was the party buying the diamond. The exchange was underway.

  “Mr. Hunter, my friend, I am delighted to finally introduce Mr. de Soto,” Aurelian said. “He represents the Laborer’s Heritage Association of South Africa, and I can give you every assurance he’s sympathetic to your most noble cause.”

  “It’s an honor to be doing business with you,” the bespectacled man, Mr. de Soto, said, “and to know our funds will be going toward such righteous en
deavors.”

  As introductions came to a close, Mr. Scant gestured for us to shift to a new position behind a water tank. But as we moved, a cry went up from above. A lookout pointed to us, perched in a spot that we hadn’t seen from the entrance. “They’re here!” he called out. “They’ve come!”

  The Society’s brawlers reacted at once, one man giving signals to the others as they rushed to surround us. The soldier types didn’t move. I heard Aurelian say, “Quickly, before they can interfere.”

  The first Society man to reach us had a club with nails through it, and he was eager for a fight. He swung it down at Mr. Scant, who grunted as he barely managed to deflect it with his claw. One of the white men, bare-chested but for his suspenders, jumped at the Valkyrie with a knife, laughing and showing sharp teeth. I held up my shovel protectively, beginning to wish I hadn’t abandoned the pistols.

  “This isn’t something we can hurry,” I heard Mr. Hunter say.

  “Give me the diamond, then,” Aurelian said. “Go and make sure they don’t interfere.”

  “I think not,” said Mr. Hunter. “Your words, my hand. That’s what we agreed.”

  “I’m of the opinion we kill them and say they fell to their deaths,” the bespectacled man said.

  “Kill one agent of Scotland Yard and too many more will come,” Aurelian said. “We just have to finish this quickly.”

  Through the chaos, I glimpsed Mr. Hunter taking out the diamond. It seemed to be from another world, there in the half-light of the mine.

  Mr. Jackdaw had seen it too. From somewhere inside his jacket he produced a metal flask, pulled off the cap and threw it near the feet of the closest men, who jumped back in alarm as it exploded.

  Aurelian stood to meet Mr. Jackdaw, drawing out a long dagger from the scabbard at his hip, but Mr. Jackdaw hurled himself at Mr. Hunter instead. Instinctively, Mr. Hunter drew the diamond toward himself, but that was what Mr. Jackdaw had been counting on. He threw a nearby rock, striking Mr. Hunter’s hand and making him drop the diamond. But Mr. Jackdaw wasn’t finished. He pulled a kerchief out of his pocket. Fake diamonds spilled all around the men, each of them looking just like the Star of Africa.