*CHAPTER X*
*The Emperor's Despatch*
Spoils of War--Hard Cash--A Good Bargain--"To Command the World"--AWigging--"Missing"--Through the Night--Dead Beat--Grumbling--A LateBreakfast--Mixed Metaphors--A Change of Route
Jack threw himself wearily into a chair. He was tired, famished,disappointed--above all, disappointed,--for he had set his heart oncapturing the Frenchman as a crowning achievement for this crowded day.For a few moments he sat staring with downcast eyes at the floor; thenhe pulled himself together.
"It can't be helped," he thought. "I did my best.--Landlord, give mesome food."
The landlord put down on the table, between two smoking candles, theknife which he had retained up to this moment.
"Some food for the caballero," he said to one of his men. "And you,Perez, go outside and bury that carrion Frenchman."
Some minutes passed. Jack found that he had no appetite for the crudedishes set before him, and heard dully, with inattentive ears, the slowmonotone of the landlord, who seemed to be anxious to justify to himselfthe act of murder he had committed. Presently two of the inn servantsentered.
"We have buried him, master," said the first. "And his clothes arerich; we thought maybe you would wish to have them."
His companion came forward, and laid before the inn-keeper a heap ofgarments.
"He was a handsome man," added the first.
"Fine feathers, fine feathers!" muttered the landlord. He took thegarments up one by one, turning them over and commenting on them. Therewas a black cloth pelisse, a white dolman with gold braid and fur, and ashako of scarlet cloth, surmounted by an aigrette of white heron'splumes. The uniform was ornate with gold braid, cord, and buttons; anda rich sash of black and gold silk, a small cartridge-pouch, asabretache, and a long Damascene sabre completed the brilliantappointments. As Jack watched the landlord fingering the articles, herecognized vaguely that they could only have belonged to a soldier ofhigh rank or position, and for the first time he wondered what hadbrought the Frenchman to this out-of-the-way village of Valdestillos.The landlord stroked the fur of the dolman caressingly.
"Worth some dollars, this," he said, shaking it out to see its fullextent. As he did so, a folded paper fell to the floor. Jack was up inan instant.
"I want that," he said, fatigue, hunger, disappointment forgotten atonce. He stepped forward, but the landlord put his foot on the paper.
"No, no, Senor," he said quickly. "He was my prisoner; I killed him;all his things are mine."
"But don't you see," said Jack, now hardly able to control hisexcitement; "don't you see, the man was a despatch-rider! That explainshis rich uniform. Perhaps he was one of Napoleon's own aides-de-camp,and the fate of all Spain may lie in that simple paper. You must giveit to me, landlord; I must take it to my general."
Jack was too much agitated at the moment to perceive that his urgentmanner was likely to defeat his ends. The probability that the paperhad value had aroused the cupidity of the landlord, who stoopedcautiously, picked up the despatch, and thrust it into his pocket.
"It is mine--mine," he said gloatingly. The man's attitude served toquiet Jack's nerves.
"Very well," he said. "Keep it. I wouldn't be in your shoes forsomething. Your servants have seen the despatch. Look, there's a crowdof peasants gaping at the door there. You can't keep it quiet, even ifanything happens to me; and when General Stewart finds out what apatriot you are, he'll send you to the Marquis of La Romana, and then--"
Jack shrugged expressively. The servants cast uneasy glances at theirmaster, who at first frowned at them, then himself looked uncomfortable.
"What does the Senor offer for it?" he said at length with a covetousleer.
"You sell your patriotism, eh? Well, I'll give you five dollars."
The landlord shook his head.
"I have lost many dollars of late through the war. It is worth morethan five dollars."
"Well, I won't stick at a few dollars. Say ten."
"No, no. The Marquis of La Romana would give more than ten."
"I won't haggle with you," cried Jack. "I make you a last offer. Ifyou accept it, you are so much to the good; if you refuse it, you notonly won't get a maravedi, but you'll come pretty badly off when theauthorities hear of it. I'll give you twenty dollars, and not a pesetamore."
The landlord looked at him enquiringly, as though questioning whether hemight not squeeze a few more dollars from the young officer. Jack eyedhim firmly.
"That's final," he said. "Twenty dollars, or nothing, plus yourcountry's curse."
"A paltry sum!" said the innkeeper. "In cash?" he asked cunningly.
"In cash. I have the money here."
"Let me see it."
Chafing at the man's suspicion, Jack unbuckled his belt, and counted outfrom the pockets on the inside twenty small golden dollars of the oldcoinage of Spain. The landlord's eye gleamed. He took out the despatchfrom his pocket, and held it doubtingly in his hand.
"Give me ten dollars first," he said.
Angrier than ever, but outwardly calm, Jack handed over ten of thecoins. The man bit each one between his teeth, and dropped them intohis pouch.
"Take it, Senor," he said.
It was the most exciting moment Jack remembered in his life when he tookthe folded paper in his hand, and paid the balance of the price. Heturned it over; there was no writing on it; the flap was fastened with agreat red seal; what if it was no despatch after all? Instantly hebroke the seal, and, unfolding the stiff paper, read at the top:
"To the Marshal Duke of Dalmatia, commanding the Second Army Corps atSaldana, the Vice-Constable Major-General".
His eyes swam, and he felt a rush of blood to his cheeks. The landlordwas droning on to his servants, and Jack remembered afterwards, withinfinite amusement, that, at this tense moment, he had heard as in adream the land-lord directing his servant to put out one of the candles;one was enough: "'Tis a waste of good pork fat, and we have no pigs leftin Spain--bar the French."
He read on by the light of one guttering dip, running his eye rapidlydown the closely-written page. Moment by moment his joy increased. Thedespatch was written from Chamartin by Marshal Berthier, Prince ofNeufchatel, and Jack saw that it contained Napoleon's plan of campaign,and gave information of the position of his armies which would be beyondprice to Moore. Having read it hastily, he went through it again withmore care, fixing the details in his mind in case by any mishap heshould lose it before reaching head-quarters. What he read was asfollows:--
"I read to the Emperor your letter of the 4th of December, which wasbrought by one of your officers. His Majesty approves of all you havedone. The brigades of Generals Debelle and Franceschi are under yourorders, and you can manoeuvre them as you think proper. The Emperor isof opinion that with the division of Merle and the division of Mouton,together with the four regiments of cavalry, nothing can resist you.
"What are you to do? Take possession of Leon, drive back the enemy intoGalicia, make yourself master of Benavente and Zamora. You can have noEnglish in your front, for some of their regiments came to the Escurialand Salamanca, and everything shows that they are in full retreat. Ouradvance-guard is this day at Talavera de la Reyna, upon the road toBadajos, which it will reach soon. It will be clear to you that thismovement must compel the English to hasten immediately to Lisbon, ifthey have not gone there already. The moment you are sure that theEnglish have retreated (of which there is every presumption), moveforward with rapidity. There are no Spaniards who can resist your twodivisions. Order shoes and greatcoats to be made at Leon, Santander,and Palencia. His Majesty grants every demand for improving yourequipment. You may also require mules for your artillery, and horses toremount your cavalry; but let it all be done according to the regularforms of administration.
"It is possible that as soon as the dragoons of General Millet arrive inSpain, the Emperor will send them on to yo
u. But his cannot happen fora fortnight. At the distance at which you are you must be guided bywhat you think best, and look upon all I write as only generalinstructions. His Majesty conceives that you will take measures toreduce the country between the Douro, Galicia, and the Asturias, alwaysmost carefully guarding Santander. The 5th Corps, commanded by theMarshal Duke of Treviso, has been ordered to advance on Saragossa; the8th Corps, under the Duke of Abrantes, whose 1st Division arrived atVittoria on the 12th, will probably receive orders to concentrate atBurgos. Gunboats and armoured vessels of any kind have orders to sailfor Santander. Load them with confiscated English merchandise, cotton,wool, artillery, and send all to France.
"Five divisions of Castanos' best troops have been routed with even lessdifficulty than you found in beating the Estremaduran army at Burgos.The wreck of Castanos' army is being pursued by Marshal Bessieres, whohas cut them off the road to Estremadura, and is pursuing them towardsValencia, several marches beyond the Tagus. The Emperor's headquartersare at Chamartin, a little country seat a league and a half from Madrid.His Majesty enjoys an excellent state of health.
"The city of Madrid is quite tranquil. The shops are all open, thepublic amusements are resumed, and there is not the least appearance ofour first proposals having been emphasized by 4000 cannon balls.
"THE PRINCE OF NEUFCHATEL, "Major-General.
"I will send you to-morrow a proclamation and some decrees of theEmperor, in which you will recognize the style of him who was born tocommand the world."
Every word was impressed on Jack's memory as though burnt in with fire.He had been disappointed of catching a Frenchman! He almost laughedaloud, for here, surely, was a find worth a king's ransom.
"Landlord, I ride back to Rueda." His voice had the ring of authority."My own horse is tired. I will ride the Frenchman's horse. You willkeep mine here until it is sent for, and a fair price shall be paid youfor the other if mine is returned to me safe and sound. At once, if youplease!"
It was not the Spaniard's way to move with alacrity, and it took fifteenminutes to saddle the horse and bring it round from the stables. ThenJack mounted, his whole body tingling with joy; and, the despatchcarefully buttoned up inside his tunic, he set off on the fine Arab grayfor Rueda.
The horse was not too fresh, and went all too slowly for Jack's eagerhaste. It was near midnight when he cantered into the open street ofRueda, and dismounted at the door of the posada. There was a light inthis as in many other houses, and he guessed that here he would be mostlikely to find General Stewart. The sound of his horse's hoofs haddrawn an orderly to the door.
"Ah, Benson, catch hold of this nag, there's a good fellow! Is thegeneral up?"
"Yes, you'll find him in the first room, sir."
Jack waited to hear no more. He almost ran into the room, and foundhimself in the presence of General Stewart and a few other officers.
"Oh, it's you!" said Stewart, turning on his chair to face the intruder."Now, look here, Lumsden, this is all very well, but things may go toofar, you know. 'Twas a mere fool's trick to bolt off after a runawayvedette when, for all you knew, a whole army-corps was within a mile ofus."
"Sorry, sir," said Jack, "but I understood that you wished to secure thewhole party, and I went after the only one that had escaped.... Thereare no Frenchmen on the road; in fact, to the best of my belief there'sonly one Frenchman between here and Valladolid, and he's dead."
"You got him after all, then?" said Stewart with a gleam of interest.
"Unluckily no, sir; he got off. It was another fellow, and he carriedthis despatch."
The general took the paper without a word. He opened it, and began toread.
"Gad, what a find!" he exclaimed. "Look here, Seymour. 'Born tocommand the world', begad!"
The other officers got up and looked over his shoulder. Jack watchedtheir faces, and noticed how their expression changed from an ordinaryinterest and amusement to an excitement rivalling his own.
"By George, Lumsden," cried the general as he finished the document,"you've found a treasure here!"
"It cost me twenty dollars, sir."
"Dirt cheap at twenty thousand! How did it happen?"
Jack briefly told the story.
"Boney was always too careless about his aides-de-camp," said Seymour."The idea of sending the poor chap off without an escort!"
"Spare your pity!" laughed Stewart. "This must go off to thecommander-in-chief at once." He looked at Jack, and added dryly: "Isuppose you are too tired to take it yourself?"
"If you'll give me a fresh horse I'll start at once, sir."
"Very well, though you look dog-tired. Have you got a flask you cangive him, Seymour? That's right. There's a fellow half an hour ahead ofyou, with a despatch reporting our capture here--and I've put you downas missing, my boy. You're sure you can do it? It's a ride of nearlytwenty miles."
"I'll go, sir," said Jack simply. "May I mention two things? I left myhorse at the posting inn at Valdestillos, and promised to send for itand buy the Frenchman's gray. Will you look at it, sir, and offer aprice? And there was a little gipsy boy with a few Spaniards in thewatch-house here. The boy has been rather useful to me; will you orderhim and the rest to be released and looked after a bit?"
"Done to both. I'll buy the horse myself if he's fit; and as for theboy and those Spanish louts, they were released long ago, and the gipsyhas kept the men in fits with his monkey antics. Now wait just a momentwhile I scribble a note to Sir John, and then be off, and think yourselfa lucky young dog."
When Jack, fortified with Captain Seymour's flask, went to the door tomount his horse, he became for the first time thoroughly aware how tiredhe was. He had been in the saddle almost without intermission for morethan twelve hours, and as he lifted his foot to the stirrup, he felt asthough his thigh was weighted with lead, and on the point of snapping.But he would never have confessed his fatigue, much less have abnegatedhis right to carry the important despatch to the commander-in-chief; so,aching but cheerful, he cantered off into the night.
He had a ride of eighteen or twenty miles before him, and it was nowpast midnight. "Thank heaven!" he said to himself, "in three hours orso I shall be between the sheets." Soon after he started, snow began tofall in scattered flakes, giving cold and gentle dabs to his face. Thehorse answered to his spur, and trotted rapidly along the solitary road,which grew whiter and whiter as he proceeded, past the cabin where theFrench outpost had been surprised, past the cross-road where the littletussle of the afternoon had taken place, over the bridge, up the hill,and thus on and on until he was within a couple of miles of the town ofAlaejos.
At this point he overtook suddenly another horseman, whom the snow,driving now thick and fast, had hidden from his sight, while thecarpeted road had deadened the sound of his own horse's hoofs. Guessingat once that this must be the courier bearing General's Stewart'searlier despatch, the recollection that he had been reported missingmade him chuckle. Throwing a word of salutation to the rider as hepassed him, he urged his horse to a gallop, soon came to the advancedpickets of the British force, and in a few minutes arrived at the doorof the house in which Sir John Moore had fixed his quarters. Thegeneral had not long arrived, and was still up, engaged in arrangingwith a few of his staff the details of the next day's march. Jack wasushered to his room at once. Staggering in, white from head to heel, hedrew Stewart's letter and the intercepted despatch from his breastpocket, and, holding them out towards the general, he said:
"A despatch, sir, from General Stewart."
"Ah, indeed!" said Sir John, rising in his chair. "I hardlyexpected--why, Colborne, the boy's done up! See to him."
Jack's face had turned the colour of his snow-laden cloak, and he wouldhave fallen had not Major Colborne, Moore's secretary, hastily caughthim and placed him on a seat, asking one of the aides-de-camp present togive him some cordial. Meanwhile Sir John had hurriedly run his eyeover Stewart's covering note, and was now eagerly perusing
Berthier'sdespatch.
"Gad, we have him at last!" he exclaimed, as he came to the end. Theassembled officers looked expectant of an explanation, but at thismoment the courier whom Jack had passed on the road entered, bearing thedespatch announcing the capture of the French garrison at Rueda.
"Another despatch!" exclaimed the general; "Stewart appears to have beenbusy."
Tearing it open, he said, with a jubilant note in his voice:
"First blood, gentlemen! The campaign has opened at last. GeneralStewart has captured fifty of Franceschi's chasseurs and seventy ofLefebvre's infantry at Rueda, and--why, what's this? Lieutenant Lumsdenmissing!"
He looked across the room at Jack, who had now recovered, and wassitting, half-asleep, with his back to the wall.
"You're Mr. Lumsden, surely?" he said.
"Yes, sir."
"I thought I could not be mistaken. How is it you are reported missingin the second despatch?"
"I was missing when the courier left, sir. I overtook him on the road."
"I see. You're dead beat, I'm afraid, but I should be glad to hear howyou came by this despatch of yours, if you can manage to keep awake fora few minutes."
Jack briefly gave an account of the circumstances.
"You did very well, uncommonly well, Mr. Lumsden," said Sir John when hehad concluded. "Colborne, be good enough to send someone to see Mr.Lumsden safely to the quarters of the 95th. Mr. Lumsden, you will hearfrom me to-morrow."
Jack rose stiffly and saluted; then, accompanied by one of theaides-de-camp, he walked off to the quarters of his battalion. Theofficers had all gone to bed. Learning from Jack the name of hisservant, the aide-de-camp roused the servants' quarters, and, just asthe church clock was striking three, Jack was put to bed in a cosylittle room on the ground floor of the house by his man Giles Ogbourne.
"What I want to know is, when are we agoing to have a slap at theFrench? Here we've been tramping and camping for two months or more,and nothing to show for it--not a shot fired. And you call thatsojering!"
The words and the grunt that followed came on Jack's ears as it were outof a mist, along with the pungent fumes of strong tobacco. He had justawoke from a heavy sleep; the window of his room was open, and he couldsee the deep-blue sky of a fine December day.
"My friend Corporal Wilkes holding forth!" he said to himself with asmile, and, turning on his back, he listened for more.
"What are we here for?" went on the grumbler. "What's the good ofcleaning your rifle day after day when it's had no chance of gettingfouled? It's nothing but walking, walking, walking; 'ang me if we ain'tout on a bloomin' walking-match."
"There's been a bit of a scrum somewhere for'ard, so I heard," put inanother voice. "P'raps things is waking up, corp'ril."
"Shut up, Bates! What's the good o' that to us? It was thoselong-legged dragoons, by all accounts. Why should they have it all?Where does the 95th come in?--that's what I want to know. What's thegood o' pickin' out the Rifles from the whole army and then giving themcavalry chaps the only job that's going? Besides, nothing'll come ofit. We shall only have a longer walk than ever, you see. A flick inthe ear to the French, so to say, and then we skedaddles!"
"That ain't fair, corp'ril. Who says we're a-going to sheer off?"
"Nobody _says_ we're going to sheer off, but anyone with half an eyecould see those blessed grub-carts over there cutting up the roads thismorning, and anyone with an ounce of gumption would know what thatmeans. That ain't the road to Valladolid! What I want to know is, dothe general mean to fight, or don't he? If he do, let's step off onshanks his mare and get to business; if he don't--why, he's onlyspoiling good sojers, that's all I've got to say."
"Not so much noise, corp'ril," said Giles Ogbourne; "you'll wake Mr.Lumsden."
"Spoil his beauty sleep, eh? Where's he been, getting so dead tiredthat he ain't up to take his rations? I don't hold with such latehours. Not but what he's a good plucked 'un mostly, and I don't grudgehim the--"
At this point Jack got out of bed, wincing as his aching musclesreminded him of the previous day's hard work.
"You there, Giles?" he said, putting his head out of the window. "Getme some hot water, and then see about my breakfast while I dress."
A guffaw broke from the soldiers below, and was instantly suppressed.
"Yes, sir," said Giles, adding: "Beg pardon, sir, but it's notbreakfast, it's dinner."
Jack laughed.
"What! Have I been asleep so long? What's the time?"
"Gone four, sir, and mess is at a quarter past."
"Hurry up, then! There's just time."
"Mr. Pomeroy's been twice to see if you was up, sir, but he wouldn't letme disturb you. And he said I was on no account to say a word about--"
He caught himself up, with a blush that gave his honest round face avery boyish air.
"About what?"
"I wasn't to say, sir."
"Oh well, cut off and fetch the water! Been fighting any Spaniardslately, Wilkes?"
"No such luck, sir. Spaniards or French, it's all one to me, and what Iwant to know is--"
Jack smiled and shut the window.
When he entered the mess-room he found the officers of his regimentalready seated, Colonel Beckwith being at the head of the table.
"Hullo!" exclaimed Smith, who was opposite the door. His exclamationdrew all eyes towards Jack, and as he passed down the table to take theplace made for him beside Pomeroy, the subalterns rapped knives andglasses on the unstained deal, and gave a rousing welcome to thewanderer.
"Of all the lucky beggars!" said Pomeroy in Jack's ear, when the generalgreetings had subsided. "And I can't even punch your head!"
"You're welcome to try," retorted Jack, "but allow me to get some dinnerfirst. I've had nothing but pucheros and gaspachos for days past, andthere are heavy arrears to make up."
"Well, I don't want to take advantage of you, though you have played merather a mean trick."
"What do you mean?"
"Wine with you, Mr. Lumsden," interjected Colonel Beckwith from the farend of the table; "a good ride, begad!"
"Thank you, sir! most happy," said Jack, with a look of mingled pleasureand surprise. After the interchange of compliments, Jack, turning againto Pomeroy, said quietly: "What's Sidney driving at? I've never beenhonoured in this way since I first joined."
"Oh, he's anxious!" returned Pomeroy carelessly.
"Anxious! About what?"
"About his job."
"How? What?"
"'Fraid he'll be superseded, you know."
Jack was so much puzzled by the apparent inconsequence of the reply thathe failed to remark the wide grin of amusement which all the subalternswithin hearing were vainly endeavouring to dissemble.
"He's trying to carry it off," added Pomeroy.
"I say, Smith, what does this lunatic mean?"
"What! Haven't you heard the rumour?" answered Smith.
"'What great ones do the less will prattle of,'" quoted Shirley _sottovoce_.
"What rumour?" asked Jack, more mystified than ever.
"Well, there may be nothing in it, but for my own part I think it's ashame to promote a raw sub like you over the heads of men like ColonelBeckwith and Captain O'Hare, to say nothing of Pomeroy."
Jack, looking somewhat startled, appealed to Captain O'Hare, who wasbubbling with amusement.
"Are they all mad, sir?"
"'S mad's hatters!" replied O'Hare with a chuckle. "'Tis a shame to keepye in suspense. The fact is, my boy, as you'd have learnt if you'd onlykept dacent hours, you've been growing in your sleep. You're like themushroom that blooms in the dark. You went to bed a second lieutenantand woke up a full-blown one. 'Tis most unusual, this promotion, andbedad, 'tis Peter O'Hare himself that's glad, so he is, and so's all therest of us."
"Except me," said Pomeroy in a tone of regret; "for as my superiorofficer I can't punch his head."
There was a laugh, under whic
h Jack was glad to hide his pleasure andembarrassment.
"And the worst is," added Pomeroy, "that it's another bet won for theGrampus."
"By the way," asked Jack, "what's become of the Grampus?"
"Oh!" said Smith, "he went off a week ago. Said he came out to be atthe front; bet me Baird would open the ball with Soult, and went to lenda hand."
"He'll be lucky if he isn't made mincemeat of by the French, or else bySpanish bandits," said O'Hare. "These amachures would be safer athome."
At this moment an orderly entered and handed a note to Colonel Beckwith,who, having read it, crumpled it up and rapped on the table.
"Gentlemen, I may as well inform you, although of course it must go nofurther to-night, that a change has been made in our route. We marchfor Toro to-morrow."
There was a dead silence, broken only by a half-audible growl fromCaptain O'Hare. The shadow of a smile flickered across the colonel'sface as he noticed the glum looks of his officers.
"This change, I may add, is due to some news lately received." Here heglanced quizzingly at Jack. "It's not so bad as it looks, and you maytake my word for it that before the week's out we shall be in the thickof it."
"Thanks be!" said Captain O'Hare.
Boys of the Light Brigade: A Story of Spain and the Peninsular War Page 13