GOOD COMPANIONS
It was the wind that woke me, curse it. I had been dozing a little, as much as I could in my situation, and had drifted into a deeper sleep of pleasant dreams. Then that foul, hard wind cut through me and rattled the branches of the trees so I was rudely awakened. My clothes, the best that money could buy in their time, are but tattered remnants of their former glory now and do not keep out the cold. No matter; in short order I will be away from here and a good tailor will be my second port o’call.
The first will be a tavern where I may slake my not inconsiderable thirst on fine ales and probably brandy, too.
From my vantage point on a hilltop I can see fields and woods bathed in the blue light of a full moon. More, though, I can spy cottages, farms and one or two places that are like as not inns, being still brightly lit though the hour is very late. At least, I think the hour must be late but my timepiece was taken from me several days ago.
My friends of many an adventure will be my drinking companions tonight as they have been oft before. Loyal fellows, good companions of the road, I await them with keen anticipation.
Meantime, my throat is as dry as a mute’s eyes. My neck is sore and my skin itches and burns. Well, so be it. I will be Handsome Jack again when the others come; meantime to be made a gargoyle is grounds enough for revenge.
To pass the time, for they are damnable slow in coming, I think back on many a wild sally that we have made together. The sleek horses that carried us across the countryside, the loaded pistols ready for just a cocking before emptying their charge into any guard foolish enough to challenge us. Most important, my cutlass swinging at my side, a souvenir of my days at sea and more impressive than a tinpot hand cannon could ever be. Any ladies present were ever sore amazed when they saw it; it added flash to my reputation and glitter to my gold. I became 'Flash Jack’ or 'Handsome Jack’; I think I carried it off well.
Those who travel the roads know the dangers and should be prepared. If we surprised them, it was their lack in preparation and they deserved to be robbed. The men we stopped were nothing to me, just a walking repository of wealth but the women, they were different. Even as I took their rings from their delicate fingers, they sought to touch me and caress my face. They made proposals that we should meet alone where they might give to me one last jewel. And I, Handsome Jack so sure and so well prepared, had the idiocy to heed one such request and attend a tryst. And there, hidden, were the guards who took me so easily; my men, of course, I had left far away.
Newgate was not my lodgings of choice and far from the comfort my wealth usually commanded. The trial was a farce, the judges had made up their minds and no counsel could have saved me. But when I went to the gallows the women were there in their hundreds, many crying openly. I played my part and waved to them with the style my role in life demanded. And from life into death...except that the noose stuck and I was fair strangled to insensibility but not unto death. Cut down, tarred and taken to this gibbet outside London I may swing in the wind and rattle in chains but I am...alive! And will soon be cut down and rescued, spirited away. Another death defying escape for Jack! I will roam again; charm the ladies whilst I rob their purses and take their silver pennies.
But the dawn is breaking. If they come not soon now, they will be too late and visible to all. Few would venture by a gibbet in the dead of night but daylight brings bravery and they may well come to stare...and worse.
But my friends would not let me down. My good companions of the road whom I have treated well and made rich men. They know no other leader is as good as I.
They will come, I am sure.
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