by Griff Hosker
“But sir, one thing has me confused. What can we learn about Bonaparte and his plans? I am here and soon he will realise that the information he is given is useless.”
“Ah but it won’t be. The journey to these ports takes time. We will send him some information which will reach him too late and that will give credence to the rest of the stuff we send him. We will even send him some true information to reach him on time but it won’t help him.” He tapped his nose. “That is why we chose Hew Dalrymple to be the man you said was your benefactor.” He leaned back, “As for learning about Bonaparte’s plans… let us just say that this was not your last visit to the Continent.” He saw my look of horror and held up his hand. “Oh don’t worry, it won’t be for some time. It may even be years but it is an option.” He pushed over the bag of gold coins I had been given. “Here you two keep these, you have earned them. They won’t be going in my report in any case.” He smiled, “Buy yourself some property. Prices are low with the war and such. Believe me they will rise.”
“Thank you sir.”
I did take his advice and, after purchasing some items from Fortnum and Masons and writing a letter to Sicily I put the rest of the money in the bank and asked the bank to find me a suitable property in London. We booked seats on the mail coach and I took back two cases of Alpini wine for the mess. It seemed the least I could do for my comrades.
As we approached the Medway Sergeant Sharp asked, “Sir, what do we say to the lads when they ask where we have been? They will you know?”
“You tell them a version of the truth. You say we went to Copenhagen to sell wine to the Danes and then visited friends in Newcastle.”
“But that wouldn’t explain why we were away so long.”
“I know but it is plausible and within a few days they will have forgotten that we were ever away. Try to keep to yourself for the first few days. That will help.”
Poor Alan was in a worse position than I was. The other officers might be curious but good manners and Colonel Fenton would prevent too many awkward questions. The sergeant’s mess was a different affair. I would need to speak with Sergeant Major Jones.
The duty sergeant recognised us immediately, “Good to see you, Captain Matthews. That was a nice long leave eh sir?”
I knew that he was fishing for information, “Just long enough, sergeant. We are both glad to be back. Have I missed much?”
“A couple of new officers, sir, and that is about it.”
“Sergeant Sharp, take our bags to our rooms and then take the rest of the day to get yourself sorted out. I’ll go and see the Colonel.”
“Begging your pardon, sir, but the Colonel is on leave. It is Major Hyde-Smith in command.”
“Thank you Sergeant Glover.”
The major knew my role as an agent of Colonel Selkirk as did Colonel Fenton. However the major was less opposed to my dual role. He was a younger man and could see the benefits for both the country and the regiment.
When I entered his office his face lit up. Garrison duty was boring and conversation and stories of foreign travel were to be relished. “Well, Captain Matthews I see you are back safe and sound. Hopefully in one piece?”
“Yes sir. We had a couple of run ins with some cavalry but we survived.”
I knew he was desperate for more information but he was too much of a gentleman to ask. “Good, good. How is Sergeant Sharp?”
“He has found he has a taste for German food and beer.”
“Ah you were in Germany then?” There was a twinkle in his eye and I knew I had been indiscreet.
“Right sir, I am raring to get back into action what is new and what do I need to do?”
“We have some new officers, Captain Dunn and Lieutenant Selby. Your troop numbers have been made up and you are at full strength. Lieutenant Jackson has done a remarkable job. He has changed beyond all measure since the DeVere pair left. He has trained the new boys and they fit in well. Of course Sergeant Seymour and Sergeant Grant have given him sound advice.”
I stood. “If that is all, sir, I will get changed and then see to Badger.”
As soon as I entered the stables I heard the whinny which told me that Badger still remembered me. He was a fine horse. He would never truly replace Killer, the horse who had been killed in Egypt, but I would not trade him for any other horse. I was just finishing inspecting him when Corporal Richardson, one of the farrier corporals came in.
“Don’t you worry, sir. He has been well looked after. The lads from your troop came in every day to check on him and give him a treat, it’s a wonder he isn’t the size of a house.”
That touched me more than anything. My troop, which had been a bunch of badly led and unruly rabble were now the best troop in the regiment and cared enough about me to look after my horse while I was away. This was the reason I would bring down Napoleon; I owed it to my men.
We were soon back in the rhythm of the regiment. Training and drills gave both meaning and order. The colonel returned and we found that there were no plans for our deployment. In fact the colonel seemed pleased that we were not one of the many regiments who had been placed on half pay. Our record in Pomerania and our services rescuing the civilians from France had ensured that we were well thought of.
By summer it looked as though we would have a tedious and predictable existence. And then Colonel Sinclair arrived along with a small fussy looking official. I had expected to be summoned to a meeting with the Colonel but I had not expected it to be in public. When Colonel Selkirk had been in Colonel Fenton’s office for over an hour I wondered what was afoot.
Sergeant Major Jones put me out of my misery by summoning me. “Well sir, it seems they want you for the conference. Unless I miss my guess your troop is going to have a little action.”
I shook my head, “It is hard to see where; unless they intend to send us to the West Indies.” That was the fear for all regiments. A tour in the West Indies meant disease, drink and death. Few regiments returned from that hell hole with a full complement of men.
“I doubt that sir. As I recall you have ability in European languages…” he was grinning as he let the sentence end.
I suspected that the Sergeant Major knew more about me than he let on but he was as much of a gentleman as either the colonel or the major.
The major was in the office with the others and there was a rolled up map on the table. The air was thick with cigar smoke. I was relieved that both Major Hyde-Smith and Colonel Fenton looked happy. They hated my excursions as an agent.
“Ah Captain Matthews. This is Mr Grimble from the Foreign Office. He is here to answer any questions you may have.” The little man just nodded and continued scribbling in a notebook. Colonel Selkirk continued. “After this meeting, Captain Matthews, you and I need to have a little chat but Colonel Fenton will brief you on your mission.” He smiled an innocent smile that made me suspicious.
Major Hyde-White stood and unrolled the map. It was Italy and Sicily. “Your troop is to be detached and sent to Sicily. It appears that Bonaparte has an army ready to invade Italy. It seems he is unhappy with the position of Naples. He either wants an ally or the kingdom. He does not want a neutral. Sir John Stuart commands the forces in Sicily. There are some Russian and English troops in Naples itself but you will be joining Sir John Stuart because he has no cavalry. Logistically it will be impossible to send the regiment but Colonel Selkirk has arranged a fast transport to get you and your troop to Messina.” He smiled. Your knowledge of the area and your connections made you an obvious choice. You will leave this evening. The transport is already at Dover awaiting you. I am afraid that we can only send Corporal Richardson as support. You will have to beg steal or borrow anything else. The quartermaster is arranging as much as ammunition as he can gather as well as much spare equipment to be available for you but this is short notice.” He flashed a look of disapproval at the two visitors. “But I know you are a resourceful young man and your knowledge of the language may well help. Any quest
ions?”
I stared at the map. I had not expected this. A month ago I had been freezing in Austria and soon I would be baking in Sicily. “I don’t think so.”
Mr Grimble banged his notebook on the table. “You mean I have been dragged down here for nothing?”
I felt I ought to say something, “I am sorry, sir, I know Sicily and I thought that was all I needed.” I searched my head for a question, “Who is in command of the French?”
“Marshal André Masséna.”
Colonel Selkirk smiled, “I believe you know him Robbie.”
I nodded and Mr Grimble looked surprised. “You know a marshal of France?”
Colonel Selkirk laughed, “You would be surprised who my young friend knows. Well go on little man, tell him how many men and so on.”
“Well this is pure speculation and is based on a report from the captain of a naval frigate who captured some despatches.”
“Yes, yes, get on with it.”
The official shuffled and then opened his notebook. “There are a number of infantry regiments, light infantry regiments. He has Chasseurs à Cheval as well as Polish, Swiss and Italian regiments. We believe he has a battery of four guns. His total force is over ten thousand men.”
“And how many does Sir John Stuart have?”
“Four and a half thousand with three guns.”
The odds were stacked against us already. I smiled, “Thank you for that information, sir. Who is the general who will be leading the French armies?”
He looked up confused, “I have told you, Massena.”
I shook my head, “He is in command of the whole force in Italy. There will be a general in command of the forces who attack Naples.”
He looked at his notes and his surprised expression told me that he had the information. “General Reynier.”
I nodded, “He commanded a division in Egypt.”
This time the only one who was not surprised was Colonel Selkirk. Mr Grimble mumbled, “I can see why they have chosen you, young man. You are remarkably well informed.”
Colonel Selkirk stood, “If there is nothing else then I need to speak with Robbie here and I am sure that there is much to do to get the troop moving quickly.”
I knew that he would have annoyed my fellow officers by his rudeness but it was his way and he whisked me away.
“Where is your room?” I pointed to the officer’s quarters. “Good, have your man stand guard.”
Once alone, with Sharp outside the door, he sat on my chair leaving me to sit on my bed. “Of course, as you realise the information did not come from a frigate; you brought it. The only additional information we had was the make up of the force and the commanders. Knowing that Masséna was the commander made it easy to find out the rest. It has taken this long to confirm all of the information. Now what do you know of this Marshal and General?”
“André Masséna is a cunning commander and cautious but he is favoured by Bonaparte and so great things will be expected of him. Reynier is a sound general but predictable.”
“Good. Now we can use this to our advantage. When you reach Gibraltar I want you to send a message to Bessières telling him of the British expedition to the mainland.”
I was shocked, “You want me to tell him we are attacking his invading army?”
“Think about it Robbie. The force we are sending is small. You don’t need to give away the numbers. It might even help as it might make him think we are sending a larger force than we actually are. The main thing is it gives you credibility so that when we want to deceive him he will swallow the bait.”
“Very well.”
“Good lad. Here is the information for you to give him. You will have plenty of time. It can take a month to get to Gibraltar.” He smiled, “You might even get to see Our Nel again. His fleet is close to the straits at the moment.” He suddenly looked serious, “Do not risk your life in heroics Robbie. You are more use to Britain as a spy than a Captain of cavalry. Stay alive and keep safe.”
I shook my head. Colonel Selkirk was like a spider in the middle of an enormous web. Each tap on a strand was transmitted to him. As he left I reflected that I would soon be fighting my old countrymen again. This time I would be in uniform; I would be a Light Dragoon.
Chapter 7
The Indiaman we travelled on was called the ‘Warwick Castle’ and the captain was an ancient mariner called Captain Douglas. He was a good captain but he ran a tight ship and would suffer no breaches of discipline. The troop sergeants were hard pressed to maintain order amongst the troopers. The trouble was that the troopers were excited. I blamed myself for that. As soon as they realised that we were the only troop to be travelling to Italy they began to invent fantastical adventures for us. The first night at sea I held a meeting with Lieutenant Jackson, the sergeants and the corporals. Since my days in the Chasseurs I had always believed that every man who commanded in a troop should know as much as possible. I was aided by Sergeant Sharp who had become adept at reading my mind.
We used the officers’ mess. As we were so close to the French coast Captain Douglas had every one of his officers on duty. We were travelling without escort and there were still French privateers. I had an hour to brief and inform my men about the coming campaign.
“Firstly I need to tell you all that I only discovered our mission a short while ago and secondly, I need you to impress upon you men that we are not engaged in some secret mission. We are heading to Sicily to join Sir John Stuart’s force to repel a possible invasion by the French. The invasion may not take place. In that case we will all enjoy the sun, fine food and fine wine. If that is not possible, I have to tell you, we will be the only cavalry available to Sir John and we will be faced by at least one regiment of excellent French cavalry.” I allowed that to sink in before I continued. “What we carry aboard this ship is all that we will have to supply us. There will be no more supplies. If tack breaks then we repair it.” I pointed to Corporal Richardson. “We have one farrier to shoe horses and deal with issues related to our mounts. There will be no remounts. Any horse which is lost means a man afoot.”
Suddenly I had their attention. A cavalryman afoot was like a soldier without his gun.
“We need to look after our horses and our equipment. The quartermaster gave us as much ammunition as he had. We need to collect as much from the enemy as we can. I have been to Sicily.” There were looks of surprise on their faces. “There is very little grazing. It is a rocky hot place with brown dried grass. We will have to use grain.” I paused. “There will be no more supplies of grain forthcoming. I am telling you this because you need to impress upon the troopers that we have to live on our wits and forage as much as we can. As the only cavalry in the region we will be asked to do the job of a regiment. That means that all of you will have to shoulder more responsibility. Mr Jackson and I may not be there to give orders. You will have to do that.” I allowed that to sink in. I smiled. “I am confident that you will do well. I trust each and every one of you. Remember that. Any questions?”
Corporal Lows put up a tentative hand, “Sir, what language do they speak?”
I smiled, questions like that were easy to field. “Italian. I speak a little and I will give lessons for any who want them. We will make it at four o’clock each afternoon. Anything else?”
“Yes sir, how do we keep the men occupied? This voyage might take weeks. When we went to the Cape we had all sorts of problems.”
“Good point Sergeant White. We spend as much time as possible each day training. We cannot use the horses for obvious reasons but we have the men and we can practise as much as we are able. Make competitions which test their fitness: push ups, lifting weights, anything to keep their minds off the monotony.” I could see them all nodding. They had brains and they could see the wisdom of my words. “Do not let the men drink. I know that the crew will have drink. Keep our men away from it and I want no trouble with the crew. Luckily we are a small number and it should be easy. We have the full c
omplement of officers and NCOs. Each of us is responsible for a small number of men. Sergeant Sharp can help out. Any more questions? No, then go and help the men to get bedded down.” I grinned, “Hammocks can be a bugger!”
Thankfully we had a stormy voyage through the Channel and the men were too preoccupied trying to retain the contents of their stomach to be either bored or troublesome. Due to the proximity of the French coast and their fleet we had to beat some way out to sea which added time to our journey but also ensured that the men had other things on their mind. When the wind and the waves abated they were ready for some drill and they were given it. They worked really hard and seemed to enjoy the break in routine. The sun was shining and I did away with the need for uniform. Most just wore their overalls. Some suffered from the sun but, on the whole, I think they enjoyed the experience.
The war was brought to mind when we saw the masts of the blockading fleet close to Cadiz. The narrow straits meant we had to sail close to the huge battleships. I think the wooden walls of the Royal Navy really impressed our men. They were a visible sign of our resistance to Napoleon. I had found Captain Douglas to be a mine of information once he had time to talk to me. He pointed out a massive three decker with immaculate paintwork. “That, young man, is the flagship of Admiral Nelson!”
I strained my eyes to try to spot the diminutive figure but it was in vain. “I met him once. I even had a meal with him and Lady Hamilton.”
The old sea farer was impressed, “Then you have an honour I would give my right arm for. So long as we have Little Nel then Britannia shall rule the waves and be safe from invasion.”
Once we passed the fleet I knew that Gibraltar would not be far ahead and that I would need to have my message ready. Sharp and I had encoded Colonel Selkirk’s missives many days ago. I just had to work out how to deliver it.