The Railway Viaduct

'Had you firebrands insisted on a fight,' said Slattery, taking over, 'you'd not only have been sacrificing your jobs and those of all the other navvies from across the Channel. In your wisdom, you'd also have been handing over the work to a French contractor who would refuse to employ a single one of you.'

'Think on that,' said Brassey. 'You'd have been letting me, yourselves and your families down. You'd have had to sneak home in disgrace without any money in your pockets and no work awaiting you in England. Is that what you really want?'

'No, sir,' bleated Kilfoyle.

'What about the rest of you?'

In response came a lot of shamefaced muttering. The fight had suddenly been taken out of the navvies. Several began to slink away at once. Alone in the crowd, Leeming was delighted. A calamity had just been averted by the intervention of Thomas Brassey and Father Eamonn Slattery. But it was the presence of M. Robert that had tipped the balance. Fear of losing their jobs, combined with the certainty that Brassey would never hire any of them again, brought them to heel. More of them turned round and left. The danger was over.

The contractor and the priest had prevented a bloodbath, but Leeming knew that they did not deserve all the credit. The ruse had worked well because Robert Colbeck had devised it. Not for the first time, Leeming had been rescued by the inspector's guile.

As soon as they got back to his office, Thomas Brassey lit a few oil lamps then he unlocked a cupboard and took out a bottle of whisky and three glasses. He poured a generous amount into the glasses then gave one each to Robert Colbeck and Aubrey Filton. The contractor raised his own glass with a smile.

'I think we're entitled to toast a job well done,' he said.

'I never thought that you'd pull it off, sir,' confessed Filton after taking his first sip. 'I thought someone might call your bluff.'

'That's why I suggested that we involve Father Slattery,' said Colbeck, impressed by the quality of the whisky. 'I felt that he would give credence to the whole exercise. I'm still troubled by guilt at having had to deceive an ordained priest like that.'

'He really thought that you were M. Robert.'

'In a sense, of course, that's what I am.' He adopted a French accent. 'M. Robert Colbeck.'

'You spoke the language so well, Father Slattery was taken in.'

'The main thing is that the mob was as well,' said Brassey. 'I shudder to think what chaos would have followed if they'd reached the French camp. They hadn't withdrawn at all.'

'I had a very good reason to make sure that the two parties didn't meet,' Colbeck explained. 'Victor Leeming was in that crowd somewhere. I need him to remain in one piece.'

'He deserves my congratulations for what he did, Inspector.'

'Save them until he delivers the real culprits up to us.'

'Are you sure they're part of the Irish contingent?'

'Yes, Mr Brassey. Their camp is almost adjacent to the railway, so it would be easy for someone to slip out at night to cause damage. The French are nearly a mile away and none of them would be aware of how you deployed your nightwatchmen. The same goes for the Welsh and the rest of your navvies,' said Colbeck. 'They're too far away. No, I believe that the men we're after might well have been in that mob tonight.'

'Would they?' said Filton.

'What better way to take suspicion off themselves than by accusing someone else of the crimes? It's an old trick, Mr Filton.'

'Cunning devils!'

'We played a trick on them tonight,' recalled Brassey. 'It was all your doing, Inspector. You'll have to meet my wife. Her French is almost as fluent as yours. Have dinner with us some time.'

Colbeck smiled. 'That's very kind of you, Mr Brassey.'

'Sergeant Leeming can join us as well.'

'Only when he's finished the task he was set.'

'He was very brave to take it on.'

'Victor has already proved his worth. I just hope that he's not the victim of his own success.'

'In what way?' said Filton.

'Those men we turned back earlier on will know that they were betrayed by someone,' said Colbeck. 'They'll want his name.'

'Then I hope they never discover it.'

'No,' said Brassey with a shiver. 'I wouldn't like to be caught out in the middle of all those Irishmen. They have hot tempers and they don't take prisoners.'

'Sergeant Leeming will have to be careful.'

'Extremely careful, Aubrey.'

'He's done this kind of work before,' said Colbeck, 'though he's never dealt with navvies. As you told me earlier, Mr Brassey, they're a race apart. My hope is that Victor doesn't stick out too much. After tonight, some of those men will be desperate for revenge.'

'It must have been you, Father Slattery,' he said, glowing with rage.

'It was not, Pierce – on my word of honour.'

'You betrayed your own fucking countrymen.'

'That's something I'd never do,' vowed the priest, 'and I'm insulted that you should even suggest it.'

'They knew we were coming.'

'And I'm eternally grateful that they did. Otherwise, you and your drunken ruffians would have committed the most unholy crime.'

'We were fighting on Mr Brassey's behalf.'

'Try telling him that.'

'We were,' said Shannon, vehemently. 'The Frenchies are trying to wreck this railway so that we lose the contract. That way, they can take over. The bastards want us all out of their country.'

'If you conduct yourselves as you did tonight, I'm not surprised. When drink is taken,' said Slattery, 'you turn into wild beasts. You don't belong in civilised company. Truly, I was ashamed of you all.'

They were in the Irish camp, talking by the light of a lantern outside one of the shacks. Most of those who had marched with Pierce Shannon had either gone off to bed or started drinking again. Shannon himself had waited until Father Slattery had reappeared. It was all he could do to keep his hands off the priest.

'I still say that it was you, Father,' he accused.

'Then you'd best bring a Holy Bible so that I can swear on it. That won't mean much to you, godforsaken heathen that you are, but it means all the world to me.' He put his face close to that of the other. 'I did not tell a soul about your plan.'

'But you did know about it.'

'Of course – thanks to you. To get support, you told everybody you could. That's how it must have leaked out. The person to blame is you and that jabbering mouth of yours. It never stops. Someone overheard you and reported it straight away.'

'Is that what Mr Brassey told you?'

'Yes,' replied Slattery. 'He called me to his office and said that he'd received information that there was to be an attack on the French camp. He asked me if I knew who was behind it.'

Shannon was disturbed. 'Did you tell him?'

'Of course not.'

'How do I know that?'

'Because I give you my word. If I'd named you and the other ringleaders, you'd all have been on the first boat back home. If nothing else does, that should prove my loyalty to my nation.'

There was an extended pause while Shannon pondered.

'Thank you, Father,' he mumbled at length.

'I named no names,' said Slattery. 'Tell that to the others.'

'I will.'

'And don't invent any more hare-brained schemes like this.'

'It wasn't me that thought of it.' Shannon lowered his voice. 'What else did Mr Brassey say?'

'Only that you were mad to turn on the French. It could've meant him losing the contract altogether. As it is, the delays have cost him a lot of money. Did you know that there are time penalties of five thousand pounds a month if work is behind schedule?'