A nod. ‘And they weren’t slacking either, captain, they worked right through till dusk. They had to take the leaves and little twigs off every branch — which took a lot of time — and then they were to sort the wood according to its size, different kinds of wood in different piles, ready to take away and sell. And if they hadn’t finished by the time that it got dark, they were to carry on this morning until someone came for it so that the master’s profit was as large as possible. Then they were to help to load it on the carts — that was supposed to be about an hour after dawn today. But nothing’s happened.’
‘And nothing’s likely to!’ Georgicus snorted.
The slave-boy stared at him. ‘What do you mean?’ His eyes were very wide. ‘You think all this was nonsense? You don’t believe the steward really ordered this at all. And you didn’t either? Is that possible?’
‘Listen!’ Georgicus had grasped the youngster by the elbows now. ‘I always give out my instructions for the day first thing in the morning. Everyone knows that. So even if people mistakenly supposed that those instructions yesterday had somehow come from me, don’t you think I would have mentioned it today, instead of giving everybody other jobs to do? And the chief steward would have sent me word last night if he had countermanded what I’d ordered my labour force to do — especially if he wanted them to go on doing it. But you were there. You know no message came.’
A shake of tousled curls. ‘But it was supposed to be a secret. That’s what we were told. In case the other slaves were jealous of us having earned a tip, and thought they should’ve been relieved of other jobs so they could come and help. Only there wasn’t enough profit for everyone to share.’
‘A tip?’ Georgicus shot a disbelieving glance to heaven. ‘For collecting fallen timber in the wood? You believed that? When did you ever know the master give a land-slave anything? Much less a gratuity for just doing what he’s told?’
An embarrassed shuffle of the enormous boots. ‘We thought that things were different this time, captain. It might be the last time we ever worked for him. And it was a rush, you see. The master had arranged a contract for the wood with whoever it was he bought that villa from in Gaul. But only if there was enough room left over on the ship after all the household goods were loaded on. And it turned out unexpectedly there was. But of course the ship is due to sail for Gaul today, if the wind allows. So if we got the timber on the carts and it reached the docks in time, there would be an as or two for everyone out of the profits as a small reward. But we weren’t to breathe a word to anyone who hadn’t been involved.’
Georgicus shook his head. ‘Especially not to me?’
‘It was a secret, as I said before. And of course, we thought you knew about it anyway.’ He gazed at his overseer with eyes that brimmed with tears.
‘But they told you, of all people — although you weren’t involved, I think?’
‘I couldn’t help but know about it, captain. I was there when they came over to the forest to start to the pile.’ The voice was tremulous. ‘Though, anyway, I was a little bit involved. I brought a branch of pine-wood for the wood-pile, just in case.’ The tears were spilling over and running down his cheeks, but his arms were still imprisoned and he could not dry his face. ‘But now it seems there wasn’t any tip in any case.’
‘You really believed that, didn’t you, you poor little idiot!’ Georgicus released him, stood up and spoke to me. ‘Citizen, it’s clear that Tenuis is telling us the truth, as he understands it. And it’s true that the steward might have over-ridden me if he thought he was serving the master’s interests. But it’s preposterous. Who on earth would want to pay a contract price for bits of fallen wood, which anyone could go into the forest and collect up for themselves? Let alone pay extra to the land-slaves doing it?’
Tenuis had been listening. ‘That’s just what one of the older land-slaves said,’ he blurted, through his tears. ‘But one of the new men told us that he’d known such things before. His previous owner traded wood with buyers overseas, he said, because timbers from Britannia are good for different things. And then somebody said that … oh …’ He trailed off in embarrassment.
‘Said what?’ Georgicus urged.
But the boy had turned unwilling, suddenly. ‘Nothing!’ He shook his head.
‘Tenuis!’ The overseer’s voice was dangerous. ‘What did the fellow say? Tell us before I have to beat it out of you!’ I don’t believe he flogged his land-slaves very much, but he looked as if he meant it this time, certainly.
The slave-boy looked down at his ugly boots and gulped. ‘He said … that the master does have sudden fads, sometimes, and perhaps if we were wise we shouldn’t query it. It wasn’t me. I didn’t say it — he did. But everyone agreed. It’s not up to us to question anything, they said. We’re only land-slaves, we just do as we are told.’
It was so nearly what Georgicus had said to me himself, it almost made me smile. But the overseer was not amused at all.
‘Then — not content with speaking so disrespectfully about His Excellence — they disobeyed my orders and sent you here today? When I had specifically told everybody they were not to come up to the house?’
A nod.
‘So why, when you did come running, did you go round to the back? Surely the front gate is much the quickest route.’
Tenuis turned scarlet and looked about to cry again. ‘I’ve never been through that front gate in my life,’ he muttered tearfully. ‘I didn’t even try. The gatekeeper would have given me a clout around the ear. Though I was beginning to think that I’d have to brave him after all when I came round here and hammered and there was no reply.’
It was my turn to raise a brow at Georgicus. Another death that Tenuis didn’t know about. ‘We didn’t hear a knock,’ I murmured to the slave.
‘Oh, I knocked,’ the boy said eagerly. ‘Perhaps not loud enough. I was afraid those people might still be loading up the carts. And then I heard you calling, captain, and realised you were here. So I started rattling for you to let me in. I didn’t want to have to dodge those wagoners again …’ He tailed off into silence.
Georgicus glanced at me. He stooped again and took the boy more roughly by the arms. This time he shook him as he looked into his eyes. ‘Again?’ he echoed. ‘You mean that you have seen them? You’d been up here before?’
Tenuis turned scarlet and tried to look away. ‘I didn’t say that,’ he muttered. ‘I didn’t see anything. I don’t know what I’m saying. I wasn’t here at all.’
‘Little liar!’ Georgicus exclaimed, yanking the child upwards by his arms until his boots fell off. He put him down again. ‘You saw these people. It’s obvious you did. You must have come here yesterday, though I had explicitly forbidden it. And the place was full of strangers. Isn’t that the case?’
The boy refused to meet his overseer’s gaze. ‘It was only for a minute.’ He sat down and started to pull his dreadful footbags on. ‘It hardly counted as coming here at all. I didn’t have a chance to notice anything.’ His voice was quavering with fright, but his face was mutinous and there was clearly something he wasn’t telling us.
‘If you did see someone, it might be fortunate,’ I put in, as gently as I could. I have often found that kindness loosens tongues where fear does not.
Tenuis looked up doubtfully at me. ‘I didn’t see intruders. There were just the men with carts. The ones we were expecting. Or perhaps you didn’t know — the master wrote and told us that they were going to come.’
I shook my head. ‘They were intruders all the same. The master did not send them. You have been deceived. They were not honest carters, they were thieves — and murderers.’
‘Murderers?’ The boy was horrified.
‘It rather looks like it. Several of the household slaves have been found dead. You can see it’s serious. So you won’t be punished if you just tell us the truth.’ I saw that he was hesitating still. ‘And nor will anybody else.’