Jamaica Inn: Part 5: Lost on the moor

Joss has returned to Jamaica Inn and is very angry about Mr Bassat's visit. He storms out of the house and sets off across the moor. Mary decides to follow him.

Transcript

Mary narrator
There was nothing but a few sacks and the rope in the locked room. My uncle has returned and is very angry about Mr Bassat's visit. He storms out of the house and sets off across the moor. Suddenly I have a mad plan. I put on my shoes and follow him.

Mary
He's walking too fast. I can't keep up. It's no good - he's disappeared! It's getting dark. I must go back… Do I go right or left here? I don't remember this stream… Oh no! I'm totally lost!

Vicar
Hello, what are you doing out on the moor?

Mary
I'm lost.

Vicar
Where are you going?

Mary
Jamaica Inn.

Vicar
That's the other side of the moor - but you're exhausted! Come back with me. You can rest and I'll take you back.

Mary
You're very kind.

Mary narrator
He looks strange. His hair is white, and his eyes are pale. His voice is young, though.

Vicar
I'm Francis Davey, Vicar of Altarnun. Please, come.

Vicar
Are you feeling better now?

Mary
Yes, thank you.

Mary narrator
He has white hair and his eyes are like a blind man's – and yet his voice is gentle.

Vicar
It was lucky I ran into you. Why were you on the moor tonight?

Mary narrator
Suddenly I want to tell him everything.

Mary
It's terrible! You've probably heard rumours. They come at night, with their wagons. That first night there were six or seven of them. They brought huge boxes - they put them in a room by the bar. A man was killed - I saw the rope! Oh! What have I done? I shouldn't have said anything!

Vicar
Don't worry – I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to.

Mary
But what should I do?

Vicar
Wait. Watch your uncle. When the wagons come, tell me immediately.

Mary
What about the man who was killed? Can't we do something about that?

Vicar
I think not. If there was a body, the police would surely investigate – but that's unlikely now. Could it be your imagination? All you saw was a piece of rope.

Mary
I heard my uncle threaten him.

Vicar
People threaten others every day. Listen: you can talk to me any time.

Mary narrator
He drives me home. My uncle has been drinking. He stays drunk for five days. Today it's sunny, so I am out on the moor again.

Mary
Where do these ponies come from?

Jem
Hey! Mary!

Mary
Oh, hello!

Jem
I didn't expect you so soon!

Mary
I didn't plan to come this way.

Jem
So what's been happening at Jamaica Inn?

Mary
We had a visit from Mr Bassat.

Jem
Did you now? How much do you know Mary?

Mary
I just want to get my aunt away. Your brother can drink himself to death for all I care.

Jem
So the smuggling doesn't shock you? What about murder, though?

Mary
I don't know what you mean.

Jem
Why are you so silent, Mary? Even a child would know something was going on at Jamaica Inn. 'We're bad, us Merlyns - and Jem is the worst.' Is that what you're thinking?

Mary
Something like that, but I'm not afraid of you. I'd even like you if you didn't remind me of your brother.

Jem
I'm better looking!

Mary
I must get back.

Jem
Are you coming with me to Launceston on Christmas Eve? I want to sell this pony.

Mary
And if you're caught selling a stolen pony, I'll go to prison like you.

Jem
I won't be caught. Come, don't you like a bit of excitement?

Mary
Well... where shall we meet?

Mary narrator
It's late when I get back and my uncle is lying drunk in the kitchen, surrounded by empty bottles. My aunt is in bed.

Joss
Who's there? Put away that knife!

Mary
Uncle Joss, it's me, Mary.

Joss
Mary - where are they?

Mary
There's no one here. What's wrong, Uncle Joss?

Joss
They can't hurt me now. They're all dead. Sit by me, Mary… It's this drink! I've killed men with my own hands. But when I'm drunk I'm afraid. I see them in my dreams, floating on the water... The ship: it was on the rocks but the water was flat and they were coming into the shore alive! We had to kill them all. One woman – she was holding on to some wood with her child. The water was only up to her shoulder. She cried out to me to help her: I took a stone and smashed her with it. I watched her and her child drown in four feet of water. We killed them all with stones and rocks.

Mary narrator
My blood turns cold, and I feel sick. My uncle is a murderer - that I suspected, but what he has just told me chills me to the bone. What terrible crime will he carry out next?

Join me in the next episode when I go to the horse market with Jem, but things don't go to plan.