CHAPTER XVII. LA ROCHELLE
La Rochelle is a quiet little town at the bottom of a small bay, themouth of which is almost closed up by two islands. There is a sleepy,peaceful air about the place--a sort of drowsy languor pervadeseverything and everybody about it, that tells of a town whose days ofbusy prosperity have long since passed by, and which is dragging outlife, like some retired tradesman--too poor for splendour, but richenough to be idle. A long avenue of lime-trees incloses the harbour;and here the merchants conduct their bargains, while their wives, seatedbeneath the shade, discuss the gossip of the place over their work. Allis patriarchal and primitive as Holland itself; the very courtesies oflife exhibiting that ponderous stateliness which insensibly reminds oneof the land of dikes and broad breeches. It is the least 'French' of anytown I have ever seen in France; none of that light merriment, that gayvolatility of voice and air which form the usual atmosphere of aFrench town. All is still, orderly, and sombre; and yet on the night inwhich--something more than fifty years back--I first entered it, a verydifferent scene was presented to my eyes.
It was about ten o'clock, and by a moon nearly full, the diligencerattled along the covered ways of the old fortress, and crossing many amoat and drawbridge, the scenes of a once glorious struggle, enteredthe narrow streets, traversed a wide place, and drew up within the ampleportals of 'La Poste.'
Before I could remove the wide capote which I wore, the waiter usheredme into a large salon where a party of about forty persons were seatedat supper. With a few exceptions they were all military officers, and_sous-officiers_ of the expedition, whose noisy gaiety and boisterousmirth sufficiently attested that the entertainment had begun aconsiderable time before.
A profusion of bottles, some empty, others in the way to becomeso, covered the table, amidst which lay the fragments of a commontable-d'hote supper--large dishes of cigars and basins of tobaccofiguring beside the omelettes and the salad.
The noise, the heat, the smoke, and the confusion--the clinking ofglasses, the singing, and the speech-making, made a scene of suchturmoil and uproar, that I would gladly have retired to some quieteratmosphere, when suddenly an accidental glimpse of my uniform caughtsome eyes among the revellers, and a shout was raised of 'Holloa,comrades! here's one of the "Guides" among us.' And at once the wholeassembly rose up to greet me. For full ten minutes I had to submit toa series of salutations, which led to every form, from hand-shaking andembracing to kissing; while, perfectly unconscious of any cause for mypopularity, I went through the ceremonies like one in a dream.
'Where's Kilmaine?' 'What of Hardy?' 'Is Grouchy coming?' 'Can the Brestfleet sail?' 'How many line-of-battle ships have they?' 'What's theartillery force?' 'Have you brought any money?' This last question,the most frequent of all, was suddenly poured in upon me, and with afortunate degree of rapidity, that I had no time for a reply, had I eventhe means of making one.
'Let the lad have a seat and a glass of wine before he submits to thisinterrogatory,' said a fine, jolly-looking old _chef d'escadron_ at thehead of the table, while he made a place for me at his side. 'Now tellus, boy, what number of the "Guides" are to be of our party?'
I looked a little blank at the question, for in truth I had not heard ofthe corps before, nor was I aware that it was their uniform I was thenwearing.
'Come, come, be frank with us, lad,' said he; 'we are all comrades here.Confound secrecy, say I.'
'Ay, ay,' cried the whole assembly together--'confound secrecy. We arenot bandits nor highwaymen; we have no need of concealment.'
'I'll be as frank as you can wish, comrades,' said I; 'and if I losesome importance in your eyes by owning that I am not the master of asingle state secret, I prefer to tell you so, to attempting any unworthydisguise. I come here, by orders from General Kilmaine, to join yourexpedition; and except this letter for General Humbert, I have no claimto any consideration whatever.'
The old _chef_ took the letter from my hands and examined the seal andsuperscription carefully, and then passed the document down the tablefor the satisfaction of the rest.
While I continued to watch with anxious eyes the letter on which so muchof my own fate depended, a low whispering conversation went on at myside, at the end of which the _chef_ said--
'It's more than likely, lad, that your regiment is not coming; but ourgeneral is not to be balked for that. Go he will; and let the Governmentlook to themselves if he is not supported. At all events you had bettersee General Humbert at once; there's no saying what that despatch maycontain. Santerre, conduct him upstairs.'
A smart young fellow arose at the bidding, and beckoned me to followhim.
It was not without difficulty that we forced our way upstairs, downwhich porters, and sailors, and soldiers were now carrying a number ofheavy trunks and packing-cases. At last we gained an anteroom, whereconfusion seemed at its highest, crowded as it was by soldiers, thegreater number of them intoxicated, and all in a state of riotousand insolent insubordination. Amongst these were a number of thetownspeople, eager to prefer complaints for outrage and robbery, butwhose subdued voices were drowned amid the clamour of their oppressors.Meanwhile, clerks were writing away receipts for stolen and pillagedarticles, and which, signed with the name of the general, were graspedat with eager avidity. Even personal injuries were requited in the samecheap fashion, orders on the national treasury being freely issuedfor damaged noses and smashed heads, and gratefully received by theconfiding populace.
'If the wind draws a little more to the southward before morning, we'llpay our debts with the topsail sheet, and it will be somewhat shorter,and to the full as honest,' said a man in a naval uniform.
'Where's the officer of the "Regiment des Guides?"' cried a soldier fromthe door at the farther end of the room; and before I had time to thinkover the designation of rank given me, I was hurried into the general'spresence.
General Humbert, whose age might have been thirty-eight or forty, wasa tall, well-built, but somewhat over-corpulent man; his featuresfrank and manly, but with a dash of coarseness in their expression,particularly about the mouth; a sabre-cut, which had divided the upperlip, and whose cicatrix was then seen through his moustache, heighteningthe effect of his sinister look; his carriage was singularly erect andsoldierlike, but all his gestures betrayed the habits of one who hadrisen from the ranks, and was not unwilling to revive the recollection.
He was parading the room from end to end when I entered, stoppingoccasionally to look out from an open window upon the bay, where bythe clear moonlight might be seen the ships of the fleet at anchor.Two officers of his staff were writing busily at a table, whence thematerials of a supper had not yet been removed. They did not look upas I came forward, nor did he notice me in any way for several minutes.Suddenly he turned towards me, and snatching the letter I held in myhand, proceeded to read it. A burst of coarse laughter broke from him ashe perused the lines; and then throwing down the paper on the table, hecried out--
'So much for Kilmaine's contingent. I asked for a company ofengineers and a squadron of "Guides," and they send me a boy fromthe cavalry-school of Saumur. I tell them that I want some fellowsconversant with the language and the people, able to treat with thepeasantry, and acquainted with their habits, and here I have got a rawyouth whose highest acquirement in all likelihood is to daub a map withwater-colours, or take fortifications with a pair of compasses! I wishI had some of these learned gentlemen in the trenches for a few hours._Parbleu!_ I think I could teach them something they don't learn fromCitizen Carnot.--Well, sir,' said he, turning abruptly towards me, 'howmany squadrons of the "Guides" are completed?'
'I cannot tell, general,' was my timid answer.
'Where are they stationed?'
'Of that also I am ignorant, sir.'
'_Peste!_' cried he, stamping his foot passionately; then suddenlychecking his anger, he asked, 'How many are coming to join thisexpedition? Is there a regiment, a division, a troop? Can you tell mewith certainty that a sergeant's guard is on the way hi
ther?'
'I cannot, sir; I know nothing whatever about the regiment in question.'
'You have never seen it?' cried he vehemently.
'Never, sir.'
'This exceeds all belief,' exclaimed he, with a crash of his closed fistupon the table. 'Three weeks letter-writing! Estafettes, orderlies, andspecial couriers to no end! And here we have an unfledged cur from acavalry institute, when I asked for a strong reinforcement. Then whatbrought you here, boy?'
'To join your expedition, general.'
'Have they told you it was a holiday-party that we had planned? Did theysay it was a junketing we were bent upon?'
'If they had, sir, I would not have come.'
'The greater fool you, then, that's all,' cried he, laughing; 'when Iwas your age I'd not have hesitated twice between a merry-making and abayonet charge.'
While he was thus speaking, he never ceased to sign his name to everypaper placed before him by one or other of the secretaries.
'No, _parbleu!_ he went on, '_La maitresse_ before the _mitraille_ anyday for me. But what's all this, Girard? Here I'm issuing ordersupon the national treasury for hundreds of thousands without let orcompunction.'
The aide-de-camp whispered a word or two in a low tone.
'I know it, lad; I know it well,' said the general, laughing heartily;'I only pray that all our requisitions may be as easily obtained infuture.--Well, Monsieur le Guide, what are we to do with you?'
'Not refuse me, I hope, general,' said I diffidently.
'Not refuse you, certainly; but in what capacity to take you, lad,that's the question. If you had served--if you had even walked acampaign----'
'So I have, general--this will show you where I have been'; and I handedhim the _livret_ which every soldier carries of his conduct and career.
He took the book, and casting his eyes hastily over it, exclaimed--
'Why, what's this, lad? You've been at Kehl, at Emmendingen, atRorschach, at Huningen, through all that Black Forest affair withMoreau! You have seen smoke, then. Ay! I see honourable mention of youbesides, for readiness in the field and zeal during action. What!more brandy, Girard. Why, our Irish friends must have been exceedinglythirsty. I've given them credit for something like ten thousand "velts"already! No matter, the poor fellows may have to put up with shortrations for all this yet--and there goes my signature once more. Whatdoes that blue light mean, Girard?' said he, pointing to a bright bluestar that shone from a mast of one of the ships of war.
'That is the signal, general, that the embarkation of the artillery iscomplete.'
'_Parbleu!_' said he with a laugh, 'it need not have taken long; they'vegiven in two batteries of eights, and one of them has not a gun fit forservice. There goes a rocket, now. Isn't that a signal to heave short onthe anchors? Yes, to be sure. And now it is answered by the other! Ha!lads, this does look like business at last!'
The door opened as he spoke, and a naval officer entered.
'The wind is drawing round to the south, general; we can weigh with theebb if you wish it.'
'Wish it!--if I wish it! Yes, with my whole heart and soul I do! I amjust as sick of La Rochelle as is La Rochelle of me. The salute thatannounces our departure will be a _feu de joie_ to both of us! Ay, sir,tell your captain that I need no further notice than that he is ready.Girard, see to it that the marauders are sent on board in irons. Thefellows must learn at once that discipline begins when we trip ouranchors. As for you,' said he, turning to me, 'you shall act upon mystaff with provisional rank as sous-lieutenant: time will show if thegrade should be confirmed. And now hasten down to the quay, and putyourself under Colonel Serasin's orders.'
Colonel Serasin, the second in command, was, in many respects, the veryopposite of Humbert Sharp, petulant, and irascible, he seemed quite tooverlook the fact, that, in an expedition which was little better thana foray, there must necessarily be a great relaxation of the rulesof discipline, and many irregularities at least winked at, which, instricter seasons, would call for punishment. The consequence was, thata large proportion of our force went on board under arrest, and manyactually in irons. The Irish were, without a single exception, alldrunk; and the English soldiers, who had procured their liberationfrom imprisonment on condition of joining the expedition, had madesufficiently free with the brandy-bottle, to forget their new alliance,and vent their hatred of France and Frenchmen in expressions whose onlyalleviation was, that they were nearly unintelligible.
Such a scene of uproar, discord, and insubordination never was seen. Therelative conditions of guard and prisoner elicited national animositiesthat were scarcely even dormant, and many a bloody encounter tookplace between those whose instinct was too powerful to feel themselvesanything but enemies. A cry, too, was raised, that it was meantto betray the whole expedition to the English, whose fleet, it wasasserted, had been seen off Oleron that morning; and although therewas not even the shadow of a foundation for the belief, it served toincrease the alarm and confusion. Whether originating or not with theIrish, I cannot say, but certainly they took advantage of it to avoidembarking; and now began a schism which threatened to wreck the wholeexpedition, even in the harbour.
The Irish, as indifferent to the call of discipline as they wereignorant of French, refused to obey orders save from officers of theirown country; and although Serasin ordered two companies to 'load withball and fire low,' the similar note for preparation from the insurgentsinduced him to rescind the command and try a compromise.
In this crisis I was sent by Serasin to fetch what was called the'Committee,' the three Irish deputies who accompanied the force.They had already gone aboard of the _Dedalus_, little foreseeing thedifficulties that were to arise on shore.
Seated in a small cabin next the wardroom, I found these threegentlemen, whose names were Tone, Teel-ing, and Sullivan. Theirattitudes were gloomy and despondent, and their looks anything butencouraging as I entered. A paper on which a few words had beenscrawled, and signed with their three names underneath, lay before them,and on this their eyes were bent with a sad and deep meaning. I knewnot then what it meant, but I afterwards learned that it was a compactformally entered into and drawn up, that if, by the chance of war, theyshould fall into the enemy's hands, they would anticipate their fateby suicide, but leave to the English Government all the ignominy anddisgrace of their death.
They seemed scarcely to notice me as I came forward, and even when Idelivered my message they heard it with a half indifference.
'What do you want us to do, sir?' said Teeling, the eldest of theparty. 'We hold no command in the service. It was against our advice andcounsel that you accepted these volunteers at all We have no influenceover them.'
'Not the slightest,' broke in Tone. 'These fellows are bad soldiers andworse Irishmen. The expedition will do better without them.'
'And they better without the expedition,' muttered Sullivan dryly.
'But you will come, gentlemen, and speak to them,' said I. 'You can atleast assure them that their suspicions are unfounded.'
'Very true, sir,' replied Sullivan, 'we can do so, but with whatsuccess? No, no. If you can't maintain discipline here on your own soil,you'll make a bad hand of doing it when you have your foot on Irishground.
And, after all, I for one am not surprised at the report gainingcredence.'
'How so, sir?' asked I indignantly.
'Simply that when a promise of fifteen thousand men dwindles down to aforce of eight hundred; when a hundred thousand stand of arms come tobe represented by a couple of thousand; when an expedition, pledged bya Government, has fallen down to a marauding party; when Hoche orKleber---- But never mind, I always swore that if you sent but acorporal's guard that I 'd go with them.'
A musket-shot here was heard, followed by a sharp volley and a cheer,and, in an agony of anxiety, I rushed to the deck. Although above halfa mile from the shore, we could see the movement of troops hither andthither, and hear the loud words of command. Whatever the struggle, itwas over in a moment, and no
w we saw the troops descending the steps tothe boats. With an inconceivable speed the men fell into their places,and, urged on by the long sweeps, the heavy launches swept across thecalm water of the bay.
If a cautious reserve prevented any open questioning as to the lateaffray, the second boat which came alongside revealed some of itsterrible consequences. Seven wounded soldiers were assisted up theside by their comrades, and in total silence conveyed to their stationbetween decks.
'A bad augury this!' muttered Sullivan, as his eye followed them. 'Theymight as well have left that work for the English!'
A swift six-oar boat, with the tricolour flag floating from a flagstaffat her stern, now skimmed along towards us, and as she came nearer wecould recognise the uniforms of the officers of Humbert's staff, whilethe burly figure of the general himself was soon distinguishable in themidst of them.
As he stepped up the ladder, not a trace of displeasure could be seen onhis broad bold features. Greeting the assembled officers with a smile,he asked how the wind was.
'All fair, and freshening at every moment,' was the answer.
'May it continue!' cried he fervently. 'Welcome a hurricane, if it onlywaft us westward!'
The foresail filled out as he spoke, the heavy ship heaved over to thewind, and we began our voyage.
Maurice Tiernay, Soldier of Fortune Page 17