by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER X.
THE WAR IN HOLLAND.
In the confusion caused by the collision of the _Active_ with theSpanish galleon no one had noticed the accident which had befallenGeoffrey Vickars, and his brother's distress was great when, on theship getting free from among the Spaniards, he discovered that Geoffreywas missing. He had been by his side on the poop but a minute beforethe mast fell, and had no doubt that he had been carried overboard byits wreck. That he had survived he had not the least hope, and when aweek later the _Active_ on her way back towards the Thames was driveninto Harwich, he at once landed and carried the sad news to hisparents. England was wild with joy at its deliverance, but thehousehold at Hedingham was plunged into deep sorrow.
Weeks passed and then Lionel received a letter from Francis Vere sayingthat Parma's army was advancing into Holland, and that as active workwas at hand he had best, if his intentions remained unchanged, join himwithout delay.
He started two days later for Harwich, and thence took ship forBergen-op-Zoom. Anchoring at Flushing, he learned that the Duke ofParma had already sat down in front of Bergen-op-Zoom, and had on the7th attempted to capture Tholen on the opposite side of the channel,but had been repulsed by the regiment of Count Solms, with a loss of400 men. He had then thrown up works against the water forts, and hotfighting had gone on, the garrison making frequent sallies upon thebesiegers. The water forts still held out, and the captain thereforedetermined to continue his voyage into the town. The ship was fired atby the Spanish batteries, but passed safely between the water forts anddropped anchor in the port on the last day of September, Lionel havingbeen absent from Holland just a year. He landed at once and made hisway to the lodgings of Francis Vere, by whom he was received with greatcordiality.
"I was greatly grieved," he said after the first greetings, "to hear ofyour brother's death. I felt it as if he had been a near relative of myown. I had hoped to see you both; and that affair concerning which mycousin wrote to me, telling me how cleverly you had discovered a plotagainst the queen's life, showed me that you would both be sure to makeyour way. Your father and mother must have felt the blow terribly?"
"They have indeed," Lionel said. "I do not think, however, that theyaltogether give up hope. They cling to the idea that he may have beenpicked up by some Spanish ship and may now be a prisoner in Spain."
Francis Vere shook his head.
"Of course, I know," Lionel went on, "their hope is altogether withoutfoundation; for even had Geoffrey gained one of their ships, he wouldat once have been thrown overboard. Still I rather encouraged the idea,for it is better that hope should die out gradually than beextinguished at a blow; and slight though it was it enabled my fatherand mother to bear up better than they otherwise would have done. Hadit not been for that I believe that my mother would have well nigh sunkbeneath it. I was very glad when I got your letter, for active servicewill be a distraction to my sorrow. We have ever been together,Geoffrey and I, and I feel like one lost without him. You have not hadmuch fighting here, I think, since I have been away?"
"No, indeed; you have been far more lucky than I have," Francis Veresaid. "With the exception of the fight with the _San Matteo_ I havebeen idle ever since I saw you, for not a shot has been fired here,while you have been taking part in the great fight for the veryexistence of our country. It is well that Parma has been wasting ninemonths at Dunkirk, for it would have gone hard with us had he marchedhither instead of waiting there for the arrival of the Armada. Ourforce here has fallen away to well-nigh nothing. The soldiers could getno pay, and were almost starved; their clothes were so ragged that itwas pitiful to see them. Great numbers have died, and more gone back toEngland. As to the Dutch, they are more occupied in quarrelling with usthan in preparing for defence, and they would right willingly see us goso that we did but deliver Flushing and Brill and this town back againto them. I was truly glad when I heard that Parma had broken up hiscamp at Dunkirk when the Armada sailed away, and was marching hither.Now that he has come, it may be that these wretched disputes will cometo an end, and that something like peace and harmony will prevail inour councils. He could not have done better, as far as we areconcerned, than in coming to knock his head against these walls; forBergen is far too strong for him to take, and he will assuredly meetwith no success here such as would counterbalance in any way the blowthat Spanish pride has suffered in the defeat of the Armada. I think,Lionel, that you have outgrown your pageship, and since you have beenfighting as a gentleman volunteer in Drake's fleet you had best takethe same rank here."
The siege went on but slowly. Vigorous sorties were made, and thecavalry sometimes sallied out from the gates and made excursions as faras Wouw, a village three miles away, and took many prisoners. Amongthese were two commissaries of ordnance, who were intrusted to the safekeeping of the Deputy-Provost Redhead. They were not strictly kept, andwere allowed to converse with the provost's friends. One of these,William Grimeston, suspected that one of the commissaries, whopretended to be an Italian, was really an English deserter who had goneover with the traitor Stanley; and in order to see if his suspicionswere correct, pretended that he was dissatisfied with his position andwould far rather be fighting on the other side. The man at once fellinto the trap, acknowledged that he was an Englishman, and said that ifGrimeston and Redhead would but follow his advice they would soonbecome rich men, for that if they could arrange to give up one of theforts to Parma they would be magnificently rewarded.
Redhead and Grimeston pretended to agree, but at once informed LordWilloughby, who was in command, of the offer that had been made tothem. They were ordered to continue their negotiations with thetraitor. The latter furnished them with letters to Stanley and Parma,and with these they made their way out of the town at night to theSpanish camp. They had an interview with the duke, and promised todeliver the north water fort over to him, for which service Redhead wasto receive 1200 crowns and Grimeston 700 crowns, and a commission inStanley's regiment of traitors.
Stanley himself entertained them in his tent, and Parma presented themwith two gold chains. They then returned to Bergen and related all thathad taken place to Lord Willoughby. The matter was kept a profoundsecret in the town, Francis Vere, who was in command of the north fort,and a few others only being made acquainted with what was going on.
On the appointed night, 22d of October, Grimeston went out alone,Redhead's supposed share of the business being to open the gates of thefort. When Grimeston arrived at Parma's camp he found that theSpaniards had become suspicious. He was bound and placed in charge of aSpanish captain, who was ordered to stab him at once if there was anysign of treachery. It was a dark night; the tide was out, for the landover which the Spaniards had to advance was flooded at other times. Theattacking column consisted of three thousand men, including Stanley'sregiment; and a number of knights and nobles accompanied it asvolunteers.
As they approached the forts--Grimeston in front closely guarded by theSpanish captain--it was seen by the assailants that Redhead had kepthis word: the drawbridge across the moat was down and the portculliswas up. Within the fort Lord Willoughby, Vere, and two thousand menwere waiting them. When about fifty had crossed the drawbridge theportcullis was suddenly let fall and the drawbridge hauled up. As theportcullis thundered down Grimeston tripped up the surprised Spaniard,and, leaping into the water, managed to make his way to the foot of thewalls. A discharge of musketry and artillery from the fort killed ahundred and fifty of the attacking party, while those who had crossedthe drawbridge were all either killed or taken prisoners. But the waterin the moat was low. The Spaniards gallantly waded across and attackedthe palisades, but were repulsed in their endeavour to climb them.While the fight was going on the water in the moat was rising, andscores were washed away and drowned as they attempted to return.
Parma continued the siege for some little time, but made no realattempt to take the place after having been repulsed at the north fort;and on the 12th of November broke up his camp and returned to Brus
sels.
After the siege was over Lord Willoughby knighted twelve of hisprincipal officers, foremost among whom was Francis Vere, who was nowsent home with despatches by his general, and remained in England untilthe end of January, when he was appointed sergeant-major-general of theforces, a post of great responsibility and much honour, by LordWilloughby, with the full approval of the queen's government. He wasaccompanied on his return by his brother Robert.
A month after Sir Francis Vere's return Lord Willoughby left forEngland, and the whole burden of operations in the field fell uponVere. His first trouble arose from the mutinous conduct of the garrisonof Gertruydenberg. This was an important town on the banks of the oldMaas, and was strongly fortified, one side being protected by the Maaswhile the river Douge swept round two other sides of its walls. Itsgovernor, Count Hohenlohe, had been unpopular, the troops had receivedno pay, and there had been a partial mutiny before the siege ofBergen-op-Zoom began. This was appeased by the appointment of Sir JohnWingfield, Lord Willoughby's brother-in-law, as its governor.
In the winter the discontent broke out again. The soldiers had beenmost unjustly treated by the States, and there were long arrears ofpay, and at first Sir John Wingfield espoused the cause of the men. SirFrancis Vere tried in vain to arrange matters. The Dutch authoritieswould not pay up the arrears, the men would not return to their dutyuntil they did so, and at last became so exasperated that they ceasedto obey their governor and opened communications with the enemy. PrinceMaurice, who was now three and twenty years old, and devoted to martialpursuits and the cause of his countrymen, after consultation with SirFrancis Vere, laid siege to the town and made a furious assault upon iton the water side. But the Dutch troops, although led by Count Solmsand Count Philip of Nassau, were repulsed with great loss. The princethen promised not only a pardon, but that the demands of the garrisonshould be complied with; but it was too late, and four days laterGertruydenberg was delivered up by the mutineers to the Duke of Parma,the soldiers being received into the Spanish service, while Wingfieldand the officers were permitted to retire.
The States were furious, as this was the third city commanded byEnglishmen that had been handed over to the enemy. The bad feelingexcited by the treachery of Sir William Stanley and Roland Yorke atDeventer and Zutphen had died out after the gallant defence of theEnglish at Sluys, but now broke out again afresh, and charges oftreachery were brought not only against Wingfield but against manyother English officers, including Sir Francis Vere. The queen, however,wrote so indignantly to the States that they had to withdraw theircharges against most of the English officers.
In May Lord Willoughby, who was still in London, resigned his command.A number of old officers of distinction who might have laid claims tosucceed him, among them Sir John Norris, Sir Roger Williams, Sir ThomasWilford, Sir William Drury, Sir Thomas Baskerville, and Sir JohnBurrough, were withdrawn from the Netherlands to serve in France orIreland, and no general-in-chief or lieutenant-general was appointed,Sir Francis Vere as sergeant-major receiving authority to command allsoldiers already in the field or to be sent out during the absence ofthe general and lieutenant-general. His official title was HerMajesty's Sergeant-major in the Field. The garrisons in the towns wereunder the command of their own governors, and those could supply troopsfor service in the field according to their discretion.
The appointment of so young a man as Sir Francis Vere to a postdemanding not only military ability but great tact and diplomaticpower, was abundant proof of the high estimate formed of him by thequeen and her counsellors. The position was one of extreme difficulty.He had to keep on good terms with the queen and her government, withthe government of the States, the English agent at the Hague, PrinceMaurice in command of the army of the Netherlands, the Englishgovernors of the towns, and the officers or men of the force under hisown command. Fortunately Barneveldt, who at that time was the mostprominent man in the States, had a high opinion of Vere. Sir ThomasBodley, the queen's agent, had much confidence in him, and acted withhim most cordially, and Prince Maurice entertained a great respect forhim, consulted him habitually in all military matters, and placed himin the position of marshal of the camp of the army of the Netherlands,in addition to his own command of the English portion of that army.
Vere's first undertaking was to lead a force of 12,000 men, of whomhalf were English, to prevent Count Mansfeldt from crossing the Maaswith an army of equal strength. Prince Maurice was present in person asgeneral-in-chief. Intrenchments were thrown up and artillery planted;but just as Mansfeldt was preparing to cross his troops mutinied, andhe was obliged to fall back.
In October, with 900 of his own troops and twelve companies of Dutchhorse, Sir Francis Vere succeeded in throwing a convoy of provisionsinto the town of Rheinberg, which was besieged by a large force of theenemy. As soon as he returned the States requested him to endeavour tothrow in another convoy, as Count Mansfeldt was marching to swell theforce of the besiegers, and after his arrival it would be well-nighimpossible to send further aid into the town. Vere took with him 900English and 900 Dutch infantry, and 800 Dutch cavalry. The enemy hadpossession of a fortified country house called Loo, close to which laya thick wood traversed only by a narrow path, with close undergrowthand swampy ground on either side. The enemy were in great force aroundLoo, and came out to attack the expedition as it passed through thewood. Sending the Dutch troops on first, Vere attacked the enemyvigorously with his infantry and drove them back to the inclosure ofLoo. As soon as his whole force had crossed the wood, he halted themand ordered them to form in line of battle facing the wood throughwhich they had just passed, and from which the enemy were now pouringout in great force.
In order to give time to his troops to prepare for the action Vere tookhalf his English infantry and advanced against them. They movedforward, and a stubborn fight took place between the pikemen. Vere'shorse was killed, and fell on him so that he could not rise; but theEnglish closed round him, and he was rescued with no other harm than abruised leg and several pike-thrusts through his clothes. While theconflict between the pikemen was going on the English arquebusiersopened fire on the flank of the enemy, and they began to fall back.Four times they rallied and charged the English, but were at lastbroken and scattered through the wood. The cavalry stationed there lefttheir horses and fled through the undergrowth. Pressing forward thelittle English force next fell upon twenty-four companies of Neapolitaninfantry, who were defeated without difficulty. The four hundred andfifty Englishmen then joined the main force, which marched triumphantlywith their convoy of provisions into Rheinberg, and the next morningfortunately turning thick and foggy the force made its way back withoutinterruption by the enemy.