The Bravest of the Brave — or, with Peterborough in Spain

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XIV: A PRISONER

  Jack, with his two troopers, rode away from the hospitable cottage ofthe priest in high spirits. He determined to avoid Saragossa, as hewas not charged with any direct mission from the earl, and wished,therefore, to avoid any official intercourse with the leaders of theprovince. As soon as the marshal had marched, the people there hadrisen, had driven out the small French garrison left, and had resumedthe management of their own affairs. Jack learned, however, that thecity had not formally declared for King Charles. As the priest had toldhim would be the case, Jack encountered no bodies of armed men duringthe day; the country had a peaceful aspect, the peasants were workingin the fields, and at the villages through which he passed the Englishuniforms excited a feeling of curiosity rather than of interest. Hestopped at several of these and entered into conversation with theinhabitants. He found everywhere an intense hatred of the Frenchprevailing, while but little interest was evinced in the respectiveclaims of Charles and Philip.

  After a very long ride he arrived, at nightfall, near the spot to whichhe was bound. In this neighborhood he observed a greater amount ofwatchfulness and preparation than had prevailed elsewhere. The men, forthe most part, remained in their villages, and went about armed. Jacklearned that an inroad by the Miquelets of Castile was deemed probable,and that it was thought possible that another French force might followTesse from Madrid to Barcelona.

  It was late in the evening before Jack reached his destination, where,on his presenting his letter of introduction, he was most heartilyreceived by the priest.

  "Father Ignacio tells me," he said when he had read it, "that you arenot only to be welcomed as an officer of the great English general, butthat you are in every way deserving of friendship; he adds, too, thatyou are a first rate judge of wine, and that you can be trusted as anadviser upon knotty and difficult matters."

  Jack laughed. "I only gave the good father my advice upon two points,"he said; "the first was the admitting to terms of surrender of a bodyof French troops with whom he was engaged in battle when I arrived; thesecond was upon the important question of broaching or not broaching ahogshead of particularly good wine."

  "If you advised that the hogshead should be broached," the priest said,smiling, "I can warrant that my good brother Ignacio followed youradvice, and can well understand the respect in which he seems to holdyour judgment. But do not let us stand talking here.

  "Your men will find a stable behind the house where they can stand thehorses. Alas! it is uninhabited at present, for my mule, the gentlestand best in the province, was requisitioned--which is another word forstolen--by the French as they passed through. My faithful beast! I missher every hour of the day, and I doubt not that she misses me stillmore sorely. Tell me, senor, my brother Ignacio writes me that he hascaptured many animals from the French--was Margaretta among them? Shewas a large mule, and in good condition; indeed, there was some flesh onher bones. She was a dark chestnut with a white star on the forehead,a little white on her fore feet, and white below the hocks on the hindlegs; she had a soft eye, and a peculiar twist in jerking her tail."

  The manner of the priest was so earnest that Jack repressed a smile withdifficulty.

  "I did notice among the mules in one of the wagons one marked somewhatsimilarly to your description, and, if I mistake not, it, with another,fell to the share of the good priest; but I cannot say that it had muchflesh upon its bones; indeed, it was in very poor case. Nor did I noticethat its eyes were particularly soft, or that there was any peculiarityin the twitching of its tail."

  "It may be Margaretta," the priest said with some excitement; "the poorbeast would naturally lose flesh in the hands of the French, while as tothe switch in the tail, it was a sign of welcome which she gave me whenI took an apple or a piece of bread into her stable, and she wouldnot be likely so to greet strangers. I will lose no time in writing toIgnacio to inquire further into the matter. Verily, it seems to me as ifthe saint had sent you specially here as a bearer of this good news."

  Jack spent a pleasant evening with the priest, and learned much asto the state of things upon the frontier. The priest represented theCastilians as bitterly opposed to the claims of Charles; they had nogrievances against the French, who had behaved with strict discipline inthat province, and had only commenced their excesses upon crossingthe frontier into Arragon. This they regarded, though wrongfully, as ahostile country; for, previous to their arrival, the people there hadtaken no part either way in the struggle, but the overbearing mannerof Tesse, and the lax discipline of his troops, had speedily caused anintense feeling of irritation. Resistance had been offered to foragingparties of the French army, and the terrible vengeance which had beentaken by Tesse for these acts had roused the whole province in a flameof insurrection.

  "There are several bodies of French cavalry across the frontier," thepriest said; "occasionally they make flying raids into Arragon, but, asyou see, the people are armed, and prepared, and ready to give them ahot reception. The Castilians are like ourselves; if at any time an armyshould march in this direction against Madrid, the Miquelets will opposethem just as we should oppose the French, but they will not leave theirhomes to interfere with us, for they know well enough that did theydo so we also should cross the line, and fire and destruction wouldbe carried through all the villages on both sides of the border. Soat present there is nothing to fear from Castile, but if your Englishgeneral were to drive the French out of the country, he would have hardwork ere he overcame the resistance of that province."

  Just as day was breaking the next morning Jack was aroused by shouts inthe streets, followed by the heavy trampling of horse. He sprang fromthe bed and threw on his cloak; as he was buckling on his sword one ofthe dragoons rushed into his room.

  "We are surrounded, sir! I have just looked out, and there are Frenchcavalry all round the house."

  As he spoke there was a tremendous knocking at the door. The priest raninto the room. "We are betrayed," he said; "some one must have carriedaway the news last night of your arrival here, and it has come to theears of the French cavalry on the other side. I ordered some men outlast night to watch the road across the border, but the enemy must haveridden too fast for them to get here first."

  "It cannot be helped," Jack said; "you had best open the door, or theywill break it in in another minute. Make no resistance, lads," he saidto the dragoons, for the second orderly had now joined them; "lay yourswords down on the bed; we are caught this time, and must make ourescape when we can. It is better, anyhow, to have fallen into the handsof the French than of the Spanish."

  The sound of the knocking had ceased now, and there was a trampling andclamor of voices as the French soldiers poured into the house. Stepswere heard ascending the stairs, the door opened, and the priest,accompanied by a French officer and followed by a number of soldiers,entered the room.

  "You are my prisoner, sir," the French officer said.

  "I am afraid there is no doubt of that," Jack said, speaking in Spanish;"here is my sword, sir. These two men are my orderlies, and, of course,also surrender. You will observe that we are all in uniform, that we aretaken on the soil of Arragon, and that I am here in pursuance of my dutyas an officer of the English army."

  "You are alone?" the officer asked.

  "Yes," Jack said; "there are, so far as I know, no other British butourselves in Arragon."

  "Then we were misinformed," the officer said; "the news was receivedlast night that the Earl of Peterborough was himself here; and althoughit was but in the afternoon that we had heard that your general was atValencia, his movements are so swift and erratic that, if we heard ofhim in Portugal one hour we should not be surprised to find him here thenext." He stopped as shots were heard fired in the streets.

  "You must excuse ceremony, sir," he said, "and mount at once with yourmen and accompany me. In ten minutes we shall have the whole countrybuzzing round us like wasps; and now that the object of my ride isaccomplished, I don't wish to throw away my m
en's lives."

  The horses were saddled without loss of time, and in two or threeminutes Jack was trotting down the village in the midst of the Frenchcavalry amid a scathing fire from behind the houses and walls.

  The French officer rode at the head of his troop till well beyond thevillage, then reining in his horse, joined his prisoner.

  "And now," he asked, "whom have I the honor of capturing?"

  "I am Captain Stilwell," Jack replied, "one of the Earl ofPeterborough's aides de camp."

  "I am Captain de Courcy," the French officer said; "happily, althoughthe French and English have taken opposite sides on this question, wecan esteem and honor each other as brave and civilized adversaries. Asfor these Spanish scoundrels, they are no better than banditti; theymurder us in our beds, they poison our wine, they as often as not burnus alive if we fall into their hands; they are savages, neither more norless; and why Philip of Anjou, who could have had all the pleasures oflife as a prince of the blood at Versailles, should covet the kingshipof this country, passes my understanding. And now tell me about thatpaladin, your general. Peste, what a man! And you are one of his aidesde camp? Why, if he drags you about everywhere with him, you must leadthe life of a dog."

  "When I last heard of the general he was at Valencia," Jack said. "Butthat was ten days since."

  "Ten days!" the Frenchman said; "then by now he may be in London, or inRome, or at Paris."

  "With the wind favoring him he might be at Rome, but he could scarcelyhave arrived at either London or Paris."

  "There is no saying," the French officer laughed. "Has he not threeleagued boots, and can he not step from mountain to mountain? Does henot fly through a storm on a broomstick? Can he not put on a cap andmake himself invisible? For I can tell you that our soldiers credit himwith all these powers. Can he not, by waving his hand, multiply threehundred men into an army, spread them over a wide extent of country, andthen cause them to sink into the ground and disappear? Our soldiers areconvinced that he is in league with the evil one, even if he be not thegentlemen in black himself."

  Jack joined in the laugh. "He is a wonderful man," he said, "though hecannot do all you credit him with. But he is absolutely tireless, andcan do without sleep for any time; and yet to look at him no one wouldthink that he was in any way a strong man. He is small, thin, and wornlooking--in fact, almost insignificant in appearance, were it not forhis keen eye and a certain lofty expression of face. My post is nosinecure, I can assure you, for the general expects all to be able todo as well as himself. But with a chief who never spares himself all arewilling to do their best. Extreme as has been the labor of the troops,severe as have been their hardships, you will never hear a grumble; themen have most implicit confidence in him, and are ready to go anywhereand do anything he orders them."

  "He is a marvel," the French officer said. "The way he took Barcelona,and then, with a handful of men, hunted our armies out of Catalonia andValencia, was wonderful; and though it was at our cost, and not a littleto our discredit, there is not an officer in the army but admires yourgeneral. Fortunately I was not in Barcelona when you laid siege to it,but I was with Las Torres afterward when you were driving us about likesheep. I shall never forget that time. We never knew when to expect anattack, what force was opposed to us, or from what direction you wouldcome. I laugh now, but it was no joke then."

  Three hours' riding took them into the little town from which the Frenchcavalry had started in the middle of the night. On arriving there theFrench officer at once sent off a trooper to Madrid, reporting theprisoners he had taken, and forty-eight hours later he received ordersto himself conduct his prisoners to Madrid.

  Upon arriving there Jack was at once taken before the Duke of Berwick,who received him courteously, and asked him many questions concerningthe force under the earl, the intentions of Barcelona to resist thetwo French armies now hurrying before it. To these questions Jack gavecautious answers. As to matters concerning which he was sure that theFrench must have accurate information, he replied frankly. Fortunatelyhe was, as he truly said, in entire ignorance as to the plans of theearl, and as to Barcelona, he knew nothing whatever of what had takenplace there from the day when he suddenly left with Peterborough.

  "I would place you on your parole with pleasure," the duke said, "but Itell you frankly that in the present excited state of public feelingI do not think it will be safe for you to move through the streetsunprotected. So many of our officers have been murdered in Saragossaand other places that the lower class of Spaniards would think it ameritorious action to take vengeance on an English officer. Of course Iam well aware that the English have nothing to do with these atrocities,but the people in general are not able to draw nice distinctions. Ishall send you to France on the first opportunity, to remain there tillexchanged."

  "Thank you, sir," Jack said; "I should prefer not being put on myparole, for I shall certainly escape if I have the opportunity. I shouldtell you, sir, that I have ridden through Arragon, and though I do notwish to excuse the murders perpetrated by the Spaniards, I must tellyou that I cannot blame them; for, horrible as are their deeds, they aresimply acts of retaliation for the abominable atrocities whichMarshal Tesse allows and encourages his troops to perpetrate upon thepopulation. I have the highest respect, sir, for the French nation,but if I were the Earl of Peterborough, and Marshal Tesse fell into myhands, I would hand him over to the Spaniards to be torn in pieces as hedeserves."

  "You speak boldly, sir," the duke said sternly.

  "I feel what I say, sir," Jack replied. "I think it well that you,a general high in command under the French king, should know theatrocities perpetrated in his name by this man upon defenseless people.I could tell you, sir, a score of stories which I heard in Arragon,although I was but two days there, of massacre and murder which wouldmake your blood run cold. I confess that personally I have no greaterinterest in King Charles than in King Philip. I have seen so much ofthe Austrian and his advisers that I believe that if the Earl ofPeterborough were to seat him on his throne here tomorrow, he would bedriven from the country a fugitive before many weeks were over; but inthe same way I am convinced that Philip of Anjou will never be acceptedby the Spanish as their king if his cause be stained by such atrocitiesas those carried out by Marshal Tesse in his name."

  The duke then asked Jack if he had any objections to state theparticular object for which he was sent into Arragon by his general; andJack was glad to be able to say truthfully that the earl knew nothingof his being there, he having sent him simply to assist the Count ofCifuentes in barring the advance of the French army into Catalonia, andthat when he had carried out that order he had ridden into Arragon onhis own account, in order that he might, on his return to the earl, beable to give him an accurate description of the state of affairs in thatprovince.

  "Then so far as you know, Captain Stilwell, the Earl of Peterboroughis still at Valencia, and has no intention of leaving that province atpresent."

  "I can say truly, sir, that so far as I know the general had nointention of leaving Valencia; but as his decisions are generally takeninstantaneously, and are a surprise to all about him, I should be sorryto assert that the earl remained in Valencia a quarter of an hour afterI quitted the city."

  "It matters little," the duke said, "the affair is rapidly approachingan end. Barcelona must surrender as soon as Tesse and the Duke deNoailles appear before it; the breaches are open, and there are nota thousand men in garrison. Barcelona once fallen, the cause of theAustrian is lost. Your general is already watched by an army four timesas strong as his own, and the twenty thousand men under the marshal willcompel him to take to his ships, and will stamp out the last embersof the insurrection. You agree with me, do you not?" he asked as Jackremained silent.

  "Well, sir, it seems that it must be as you say, and I have only toreply that you have not reckoned upon the Earl of Peterborough. What hewill do I do not pretend to say, but knowing him as I do, I can say thathe will give you trouble. I don't think that a
nything can be consideredas a certainty in which you have the Earl of Peterborough to reckonwith."

  "He is a great man," the duke said--"a great man, and has performedmarvels; but there is a limit to the possibilities which one man canperform, and here that limit is passed. I shall give orders, CaptainStilwell, that your imprisonment is made as little disagreeable aspossible, and that you have everything you require."

  Jack expressed his thanks and retired. On leaving the room he was againtaken charge of by Captain do Courcy and four of his troopers, and wasconducted by him to the citadel.

  The quarters assigned to Jack were by no means uncomfortable. A goodmeal was placed before him, and after he had finished it the governorof the citadel called upon him and told him that he was at liberty to gowhere he would within the walls, and that any wishes he might expresshe would do his best to comply with. Jack at once availed himself of hisliberty by going out into the courtyard and thence on to the walls ofthe citadel. It was a strongly fortified and gloomy building, which hasnow ceased to exist. It covered a considerable portion of ground, andhad at one time been a royal residence; the walls were strong and high,and sentries were placed on them at short intervals.

  Jack saw at once there was little possibility of escape thence, anddecided that he might as well abandon any idea of evasion for thepresent, and would trust to luck in escaping from his escort on the roadto the frontier, or, if no opportunity then presented itself, from hisprison in France. A week after his arrival he was surprised by beingtold that an officer wished to see him, and a minute later Major Ferreentered the apartment.

  "I only arrived an hour ago," he said, "and learned that you wereprisoner here. Who would have thought when we parted last, and yougave me my liberty, that on my arrival here I should find that you hadalready been a week a prisoner? Horses' legs move faster than men's, yousee."

  "It is the fortune of war," Jack said, smiling. "I am glad to see thatyou got out of Arragon safely."

  "It was thanks to your seeing that we were provided with ammunition,"the major said. "The peasants swarmed round us hotly more than once, andit was the fact that we had our arms and were ready to use them, quiteas much as my assurances that we were prisoners on parole, and hadpromised not to serve in Spain until exchanged, that kept them frommaking an attack upon us; as it was we nearly came to blows severaltimes. I marched that day till the men were ready to drop, and camped ata distance from a road in a lonely place. I dared not scatter my menin a village. The next day we kept steadily on and crossed the frontierinto Castile, pretty well worn out, just at nightfall. I had to give mymen two days' halt before we could go further, and we have since come byeasy stages, which accounts for your being here so long before us. Andnow, is there anything that I can do for you? If there is, command myservice to the utmost. I shall see the duke this afternoon, and shalltell him that I and my party are indebted to you for our lives. It iswell for me that he is in command here instead of the marshal; he is agentleman, and will respect the parole I gave for myself and my men;if it had been Tesse I might have had trouble, for as likely as not hewould have scoffed at my promise, and ordered me and my men back to thefront again, and then I should have been placed in a nice fix."

  "The best thing you could do for me," Jack said, "would be to suggestto the marshal that he should exchange me against you. If he will letme take my two troopers I would throw in all your men. There will be nooccasion to arrange it with our general; you gave your word to me, andI can give it you back again. As I am of no use to him, and you are, Ishould think he would consent."

  "I should think so too," Major Ferre said, "and should be delighted, onboth our accounts, if it could be managed."

  Three hours later the major returned in high spirits.

  "I have arranged the matter," he said, "and we are both free men. Youcan't stir out of here at present, because it would not be safe foryou to go about Madrid; but I have orders to march tomorrow morning,in command of a convoy, to join Las Torres outside Valencia, so you canride with me till we get near the town, and then join your people."

  Jack was delighted, and the next morning set out with the convoy. Hisappearance, as he rode by the side of Major Ferre with his two orderliesbehind him, excited the greatest surprise and curiosity in the varioustowns and villages through which they passed. The journey was a pleasantone, Major Ferre exerting himself in every way to make it as pleasantas possible. After four days' journey the convoy arrived within sightof Valencia. When they came to a place where the roads forked the majorsaid:

  "That is your way, my dear Stilwell. I hope that some day the fortunesof war will throw us together again, in some pleasant position wherewe can renew our friendship. Two miles on is a ford across the river,where, as the peasants tell me, two of your vedettes are posted; anotherhour's ride will take you to Valencia."

  With a hearty goodby on both sides, Jack and his two dragoons rode off,and soon astonished the English vedettes by their appearance on theopposite bank of the river. A few words in English convinced thesoldiers that it was no trick that was being played with them, and Jackrode across the ford and then galloped on to Valencia.

  "Well, Captain Stilwell," the earl said as Jack entered his apartment,"what news do you bring me from Barcelona? I hear that Tesse hasinvested the town."

  "My last news is from Madrid, general," Jack said; "I have had to stay aweek in that city."

  And he then proceeded to relate the series of events which had happenedfrom the time he joined the Count of Cifuentes.

  "I know I exceeded my duty, general," he said when he finished, "ingoing up into Arragon without orders; but I felt that I was of littleuse with the count, who handles the Miquelets well, and I thought thatyou would be glad of trustworthy information of the state of feeling inArragon, and perhaps of Castile."

  "You were quite right," the earl said, "and have done exceedinglywell. Yours has been an adventure after my own heart, and you have justarrived here in time, for I am on the point of starting to do what I canto harass the besiegers of Barcelona."