by Smith, Skye
He had never understood why the rich of England lived in stone houses. For three seasons of the year you could never get them warm or dry, and even in summer the weather was never hot enough to make you seek the coolness of their rooms. Yes, castles had to be of stone, but why houses. He hadn't slept warm since he had left the thatch and wattle village houses of Wellenhay and that was about two months ago. "Has the governor had any word from Warwick castle or from Essex?"
"None that I have seen." Meldrum replied. "I just got here yesterday myself, and Huncks tends to keep any news close to his chest. He'll be furious that the message from Hampden was opened."
"Would you know if the Earl of Lindsey died of his wounds after the battle?" Daniel asked. Lindsey was the scourge of all the cottagers of the fens. He and his drainage schemes had stolen half the common land from the fens villages and that had left the fensmen hard pressed to make their living. With Lindsey dead, the villagers could take back the advantage and fill in the drainage ditches and claim back their commons. He knew Lindsey was badly wounded. Daniel had seen to that with his old deer rifle ... but it would be better if he was dead. That would give the fensmen an important lapse of rule before his son inherited.
"I haven't heard anything about Lindsey, but Oliver Saint John died of his wounds just before I was ordered to Banbury."
Daniel cursed and said a quick prayer for the man. "That will be a huge loss to Hampden and Pym and their Reform Party. Sinjin was nearly as quick witted and as well written as Hampden."
"You must be speaking of a different Oliver Saint John," Meldrum told him. "The Saint John that died was the son of the Earl of Bolingbroke. They called him Lord Bletsoe."
"A judge of about forty five years with a limp?" Daniel described Sinjin.
"A lord of parliament and closer to forty and fit. He commanded the Hereford trained bands for Parliament."
"Different men," they said at the same time.
Daniel did not wish to slight the dead, but at the same time he was overjoyed that the dead Saint John wasn't the same one who was helping Hampden and Pym with the strategy of running this rebellion against the king. He inspected the blanket and the pillow that the aid had supplied with the pallet, and decided to not use either. As foul as his winter wool cloak smelled, at least he knew the cause of the smell. He stretched out and looked up at the lamp light which was causing the stone arch above him to crawl with shadows. It was disturbing similar to the shadows of crawling snakes so he closed his eyes.
* * * * *
Church bells were calling Daniel to the service but he did exactly what he always did on Sunday mornings, and rolled over and pulled the blanket over his head. His eyes flicked open. That was no church bell sounding, that was an alarm. Daniel stood up, took a step, and tripped over his gear. Someone must have unsaddled Femke and brought it all up to him while he was asleep. Meldrum was already up and out of his bed. That was most fortunate because if he hadn't been out of his bed, then Daniel's trip would have resulted in a face plant into the colonel's crotch. How embarrassing would that have been.
He was still getting dressed when Meldrum strode into the room. "No hurry," the colonel told him, "the king has been spotted riding with a scouting party. They are just spying out the town and the castle so they are staying well out of range."
"Is that devil Rupert with him?" Daniel asked, while he continued to dress.
"Wouldn't know him if he was," Meldrum replied.
"Young, thin, dressed in the best of German armour, rarely gets off his horse, taller than me."
"Everyone looks tall compared to our king," Meldrum guffawed, "but no. I didn't see anyone like that."
Daniel reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a parchment pipe. Out of it he pulled his kijker. "Here, use my Dutch spectacle looker to take a better look at them, while I finish getting dressed. You just lengthen or shorten the two halves to focus the spectacle lenses." He watched as Meldrum, who had obviously never used a looker before, tried to focus on the door knob. "Nay, it only works for long distance," he told him.
After Meldrum was gone Daniel put on the cloak he had been using as a blanket and checked that his gentleman's wheellock pistol was still in the pocket. The king and his scouts would keep well out of range so there was no sense in carrying more pistols than needed to protect his own person, so he left his big pistols with his saddlebag. His carbine was leaning across his gear and he picked up. It was rifled so it had about the same range and accuracy as a full musket but was half the length and designed to be wielded while mounted.
On second thought he put the carbine back down and walked over to the long thin bundle wrapped in sacking that someone had leaned up in the corner. His old deer rifle. He didn't bother unwrapping it because he probably wouldn't need it. Besides which, the lad on the battlefield who had wrapped it back up for him had been overzealous with his knots. Land lubber knots ... granny knots rather than seaman's knots.
Once out the door, his first view of the wall showed it to be crowded with men, all trying to get a look at the king. They would be disappointed. If the king was staying out of range of the guns, then the only man who could actually make out the members of the party was Meldrum through the looker. He pushed his way through the throng of men, carefully so he wouldn't push any of them off, and when he reached Meldrum he leaned the rifle up against a crenellation.
The colonel handed the looker to him and said, "They have already sent us their terms for our surrender, and their army isn't even in sight yet. I can think of no other explanation than the king was invited here with the promise of immediate surrender."
"You are as cynical as I am," Daniel replied as he put the looker to his eye and then focused the lenses. "The devil prince is not with him," he told the colonel. Just then, a yell went up from the watch on the other side of the castle wall... "SMOKE!!". There was smoke, a lot of smoke, rising from the east, from the direction of Broughton. Meldrum led Daniel around the wall so the looker could be trained on the plume. They were joined by other officers, but Daniel gave Meldrum the first turn with it.
"The thatch roofs of Broughton village are burning," Meldrum told the other officers. Each of them wanted a turn with the looker and Daniel nodded to him to allow it.
"Well at least we know where Prince Rupert is," Daniel told the assembly of officers.
A plump and florid man with piggy eyes walked up and was immediately handed the looker by one of the junior officers. After taking a good long look at the burning village, the piggy man told Meldrum, "Quick man, assemble your companies and go and rescue your lord. We can hold these walls without you until Baron Fiennes is safe." He was somewhat surprised when a tall fair stranger took the looker out of his hands. "How dare you," he chortled. "I'll have your name and your business on these walls."
"I assume you to be Governor Huncks," Daniel said softly, "Captain Daniel Vanderus at your service. I brought my Dutch looker up here so Colonel Meldrum could spy out the situation in Broughton." Daniel handed the looker back to the piggy man. "Sorry, I thought you had finished your turn with it. If you are the governor, then I have a... Ouch!" Meldrum had punched him in the upper arm, hard.
"Daniel, don't bother the governor with your petty problems. We'll talk about them later."
"So, colonel," Huncks said with a hard stare at Meldrum, "why are you still here. You should be assembling your four hundred men for a quick two mile march to Broughton. Don't you agree Major Fairfax?"
The tall gaunt man now taking a turn with the looker turned and nodded. "If it were my lord, I wouldn't be standing about watching the roofs burn." He handed the looker back to Daniel so that Daniel could follow Meldrum, for the colonel had turned and was marching back along the wall to find his men.
Once Daniel caught up to Meldrum he immediately asked, "What was the punch in the arm for?"
"I like you so I didn't punch you in your voice box. Please don't speak to the governor again until I know what is going on with the king. The
governor can wait a bit longer for your message and your story."
"Like hell he can wait. The king is scouting this castle and Rupert is in Broughton Castle. I need to ride out of here before the roads are blocked by the king's army."
"Our own scouts reported in at first light that all roads were already blocked. You should have kept going last night."
"I only stayed because you said ..."
"Sorry," Meldrum replied. He had reached a group of his sergeants and he began giving orders to have them assemble their companies in full kit with enough food and water for a two day march.
Daniel waited until the sergeants were away, and then he whispered. "But you don't need to go to Broughton. I already told you that the old baron was away with most of the men and all of the women and children."
"You know that, and I know that, but no one else does, so keep it to yourself. Right now I know things that the governor doesn't and he knows things that I don't. I need to stall for time to give the fog around all these truths enough time to clear. What better way of stalling for time than to do as the governor asks."
Daniel nodded. In Meldrum's place he would have done the same. On an after thought he warned, "The three Broughton men I rode in with know that the baron is safe," he whispered. "I'll go and warn them to stay dumb."
"The sergeant you arrived with was just here taking my orders. I've already cautioned the man," Meldrum whispered back "How long did Hampden say Banbury had to hold out. Three days. The least violent way of doing that is to keep the surrender negotiations alive and long winded. Delay, delay, delay. One thing is already evident. Huncks wanted me and my four hundred men out of this castle as soon as possible. What commander about to be attacked by an army of ten thousand would suggest the loss of half of his armed and trained men? A treacherous commander, that's who. One who never had any intention of holding his castle against a siege."
"So we just wait?"
"Isn't that what Hampden's letter told the governor to do. You yourself told me that the king is short of serviceable cannons. I don't care how many thousands of men are in Rupert's flying army, horses can't break down stone walls."
So they waited, or at least Meldrum and Daniel waited, while Meldrum's four hundred men put on a great show of mustering and preparing to march out to rescue their old baron, and his village of Broughton. And then they too waited ... in formation with their kit.
After an hour of waiting they were all sitting on their kit, and the women and children of Banbury who had gathered near the gate to cheer them on, were now also sitting. Governor Huncks eventually came storming out of his quarters to find Meldrum. He found him on the wall searching the area of Broughton with the looker.
"Colonel, why haven't you left for Broughton yet?" Huncks yelled. His face was the color of a ripe plum.
"Look for yourself," Meldrum said and passed the looker to the governor. "I've counted a force of over two thousand mounted men between here and Broughton. It would be suicide to march out of the protection of these walls with nothing but musketeers and pikemen."
Huncks scanned the area with the looker and then said, "I don't see this regiment of horse you speak of."
"Really?" Meldrum replied. "They must be behind a hillock or a wood. We just saw them, didn't we Daniel?"
"Aye, but I think your number is light by a thousand," Daniel added. "It must have been Prince Rupert's entire flying army. It's a good thing we spotted them else we'd be done for. If they had known we had one of these Dutch lookers, they wouldn't have shown themselves. The good news is that the smoke is clearing. The roofs must have burned out. A shame about Broughton, but even the men from that village see the sense of not wasting their lives trying to reach their homes. Instead they will take their revenge on any royalist who dares to storm these gates."
Meldrum stepped on Daniel's foot to shut him up, and interrupted him by saying, "Sir, we have noticed that a messenger has been riding back and forth from you to the king, and that the messenger is none other than young Henry, the future Earl of Peterborough. I commend you on your choice of men for this duty, for his late father was a strong supporter of parliament. May I ask how the king accepted the news that we would not surrender."
"No you may not ask. The negotiations continue. It is early yet."
"Ah, so that explains why the king has not yet brought his infantry and his cannons forward to surround the castle." Meldrum's smirk was because he already knew that the king had little in the way of cannons and infantry. "Well, so long as the king's siege forces do not threaten us, then there is no need to hurry any negotiations. I admire your skill at bargaining, governor. With your permission, I will dismiss my men but tell them to keep their kit close to them in case we have a chance to march out to Broughton."
"Granted," the governor replied with a worried frown, and then he turned and hurried back to his quarters.
"Well I would say," Meldrum whispered to Daniel. "That Hampden has the first of his three days. By the time that jack-ass gets new instructions from the king it will be dark. Come, let us go and tell the sergeants to open some ale kegs for the men."
* * * * *
* * * * *
The Pistoleer - Brentford by Skye Smith Copyright 2014
Chapter 4 - Treachery at Banbury in November 1642
For the second day in a row Daniel had slept in a bed, and had slept in. What luxury. Once he woke however, his curiosity would not let him go back to sleep. There was only one small window in this room and it faced into the courtyard. To see what was happening outside the castle walls he had no choice but to climb to the wall. Once outside the first thing he noticed that the number of townfolk who had spent the night safe in the courtyard had not thinned, which meant that the king's scouts were still about. From the wall he could see not just scouts, but an entire army. It must have marched south during the night and now it was camped all around the castle and the town.
Meldrum walked towards him and handed over the looker. "Lots of men and lots of cannon are being arranged in front of our walls. How sure are you of the truth of your news that the king's infantry was still scattered and most of his cannons are not useable?"
Daniel did not reply for he was too busy searching the king's camp and gun emplacements for the answer. He even shushed Meldrum when the colonel got impatient for a reply. Eventually he handed the looker back to the colonel and said. "Study the closest of those culverins and tell me what you see."
Meldrum focused the lenses and then said, "A three cannon emplacement. They look like ten pounder culverins ... certainly big enough to do damage to these walls. Some sizeable stacks of balls but none of them look like the exploding kind. Eight man crew with each gun, with all the usual tools of gunners. They are building a blind from bales of straw ... a bit of safety from our balls."
"Now tell me what you don't see?"
"The king? I don't know," Meldrum replied, while staring. "The oxen that hauled the guns are missing but they will have been taken to graze and water. I don't know. What is this fool's puzzle you have set for me?"
"There are no powder kegs. How will they fire all those balls without powder, a lot of powder?"
Meldrum pondered the question. "Powder is risky. One of our shots could set it off, so they haven't brought it forward yet."
"That is a sound reason not to bring a lot of powder but surely they would have brought enough forward for a few loadings."
"So the cannons aren't going to be loaded?"
"Exactly," Daniel said with a smile. "Those are some of the cannons that our side spiked during the battle at Kineton. I've also made a quick head count of both men and horses. There are almost as many horses as men. To me that means that either the king's infantry are mounted, or that they are few in number. Look at some of the men who aren't mounted. They are too healthy, too well dressed. They must be the grooms and the valets of the noble cavalrymen. If they were pressed men, they would have a hungry beaten look to them."
"So the king i
s just making a show," Meldrum replied. "Just pretending the siege."
"That's my guess. Heads up. Here comes the governor."
"So you see," Huncks told them and then puffed to regain his breath after climbing so many steps all at once. "Thousands and thousands of men. And just look at all those culverins. They will pound this wall into dust. The king's last offer of terms included a safe conduct for all our men, and no looting is to be done in the town. I've discussed it with the main landowners and they are in agreement. We must accept the king's generous offer."
"I'm not convinced that they can fire those guns," Meldrum told him. "At Kineton we spiked a lot of the king's guns. I for one would like to see them shoot before I agree to raise up the white flag."
"But the merchants have decided already," the governor replied. His face was reddening and his eyes kept flitting out towards the king's standard."
"Bah, the merchants have agreed because they have yet to retreat into the castle," Meldrum replied. "They are afraid to leave their shops at night for fear of looters. Their shops are filled with winter cloth ready to ship to London's tailors. Their entire year's profit depends on there not being any looting. They are fools not to sleep within the castle walls. With Prince Rupert ranging about they are risking the safety of their women folk."
"May I remind you colonel that this is not your decision, but mine. It is I who have been doing all the negotiating, so you are speaking through your hat. The last message we had from the king included a paragraph about the fate of Broughton Castle. The baron refused to surrender and so in his anger Prince Rupert has raised the place, and looted it, and has executed everyone who stood against him."
"Including the women and children?" Daniel asked. "I only ask because that is what German cavalry are infamous for doing. They rape the women and children before they slaughter them. When I tell your news to the colonel's companies, not a man of them will surrender. They will keep on fighting on in hopes of killing that rat bastard Rupert."