Ram; being the tale of one Ramillies Anstruther, 1704-55 ..

by Taylor, Winchcombe

  Responses varied: Norbury thought they were good, toughened by long service on the Rock; Mackay said they were well-disciplined, though many were old and spent. "We've thirty sick aboard, and this after a calm voyage." Dunbar, his military loyalty not yet rigid, said bluntly he thought them good garrison troops, but not up to wilderness fighting against Spaniards and Indians.

  "I saw some of the home recruits before we sailed for Gib," Mackay urged. "Grand lads, and many bringing wives, since the general's gi'ing 'em twenty-five acres each after seven years' service."

  Ram regretted he no longer wore a red coat and could not help

  whip the regiment into shape. Yet he did much to get the troops and stores southward, though avoiding contact with Cochrane by working direct with Mackay, Norbury and Dunbar.

  Then word from Lucinda. She was at Portsmouth, with Oglethorpe and the rest of the regiment, awaiting a favorable wind. And Diccon was thriving.

  The watchtower bell signaled a vessel in the river. Ram raced up to the roof and saw a two-master coming up with the tide. It was the largest craft ever to enter the Ogeechee and could only be Peg-Leg's new schooner.

  Two hours more and he was welcoming Tom and his five crewmen, three of whom were Nantucketers, signed on for a year.

  ^'Lindsey Lass, I christened her, sir, after the part of Lincolnshire I come from," Parker beamed. "Ain't she the lovely lady? Saw her slip down the ways, saw her rigged. She's a fairy, the way she sails close to the wind. Draws light, for all her seventy tons." He pointed proudly at her three gun ports a side. "If war comes, I'll have a bow chaser and a stam one too. Them Yankee builders know their trade. First schooner was built back in '13, and now every province has 'em. She's a bird in the open sea and an otter in the inland way. Take ye right to London, if ye will. Colonel."

  "Only to Frcderica this time, Tom," Ram smiled. "Rig pens in the waist and we'll ship some cattle to sell to the troops."

  So the Lindsey Lass sailed again next day by the sea route, yet close enough to the island for Ram to add details to his maps and charts. She was indeed a fine sailer, but it was three days before she turned into St. Simon's Sound and was challenged by a shot from the Seaward Fort. She answered jauntily with one of the four-pounders Ram had provided.

  Landing at Frederica, he found Cochrane away at St. Andrew's Fort on Cumberland Island. But Mackay was there and far from happy.

  "He grows worse," he grumbled. "He has half the men clearing his grant and building his store sheds. It takes all my control not to accuse him of dereliction! The Spanish boats daily probe our strength yet he takes men off guards to do his private work. He even

  encourages the outposts to sell wine to the Dons, giving them a small profit, while he makes a big one. Oh, for the general!"

  Cochrane returned next day and was not only offensive to Ram, but railed at Mackay for not having completed some buildings. The captain answered quietly that because so many men were working on Cochrane's own projects, there had been too few to complete the task.

  "Drive 'em, damme!" he was told. "\Tiat's the army come to when officers are too lazy to force men to work till they drop?"

  "Steady, sir," Norbur)' interened heavily. "I myself saw Captain Mackay stripped and waist-high in water, helping the men unload timber from the piraguas. And in the boiling sun, too."

  "Silence! Another word, and I'll ha'e ye under arrest. Damme, this borders on mutiny!"

  "Mutiny!" Mackay gasped. "Sir, I protest—"

  "Captain Mackay, consider yourself under arrest!"

  "Colonel!" Norbury expostulated, "I—"

  "You too! I'll show who commands here. To your huts, both. I'll draw up charges against ye!"

  "Sir, I outrank you in the colony, and I'm witness to your conduct," Ram said icily. "Now, would you dare arrest me too?"

  "Yes, b'Ged!"

  "No, you won't," Ram said softly. "Sir, I don't like the shape of your nose. I'll thank you to take it out of my sight."

  The other turned livid, his hand dropping to his sword hilt.

  "You've a choice of weapons," Ram smiled thinly.

  "As commander here, I can't accept challenges. Impossible!"

  " 'Tis been known for commanders to defend their honor. Were you to fall, a more capable officer would replace you."

  "Sir, I—er, p'raps I was a trifle hasty. The heat y'know. Cursed hard on the liver. P'raps we'd best cool off a bit, hey?"

  Ram bowed. "And Captains Mackay and Norbury?"

  Cochrane's small mouth set stubbornly. "They remain under arrest."

  Ram bowed again. "Then I'll have the honor of testifying at their trials." He returned to the schooner. He'd hoped to scare Cochrane into releasing the captains, but was too good a soldier to come between commander and subordinates.

  He lingered two days more, amused because arrested Mackay and Norbury were unavailable to command troops, which threw more work on the subalterns and on Cochrane himself, who now had to perform his regular duties at the cost of his private affairs.

  Then the Lass turned homeward through the inland way. On the first night out, as Ram sat musing, Peg-Leg came on deck, took a squint at the stars, sniffed the wind and joined him.

  "Who'd ha' thought, seven years ago, we'd be here, your honor —me that was your doorman and you the famous Nabob?"

  Ram laughed. "They were wasted days for me, Tom. But this! Building a new land! If my wife and boy were here, my cup would be full. He'll soon be two, and I've never set eyes on him."

  "You must ha' been about two yourself before the old Captain set eyes on you too, sir," Parker said reminiscently. "Just after Ramil-lies, it were, as I recall. I was in Captain Villcbonne's company, o' course, but I mind one night in a village, when the Menin siege was on. But you was too young to remember."

  "A trifle," Ram smiled. "What happened?"

  "Well, some of the officers was on a frolic. Me, I was a young sprig meself wi' me two feet. I was cozening a fine fat Dutch wench, when I hear the Cuckold's March being beat, so out I goes and there's the officers shouldering your father to the square. There was one of his company women, Welch Meg, she were—"

  "Her I remember well. She took care of me for years."

  "Aye. Well, sir, they pulled her to your father, and someone thrust you into her arms. Now, what was it 'twas said? Stab me, it's gone!" He stumped over to look at the binnacle before exclaiming: "I have it! 'Twas Lieutenant Edwardes—and right drunk he was, too —that shouted, 'twas the marvel of the age; wedded, bedded and be-sonned, all in a single night! I alius remembered, for, being younglike, I thought it was marvelous fine wit."

  "Damme, Tom, d'ye mean Meg was my mother? Never!" Ram stirred irritably. "Mine was a Dutch lady, who died at my birth."

  "Nay, sir, I know Meg wasn't. But the old captain must ha' given ye into her charge about then, her having a girl of her own."

  "Carla," Ram said softly. "Aye, we were reared together. Poor lass! What more d'ye recall?"

  "Little else, sir, me being in another company. But 'twas you saying your son is nigh on two made it all come back to me."

  "He won't be dragged up as I was," Ram vowed. "I'll send him home for schooling—perhaps to Eton College, where the general was a scholar. Damme, when shall I see him?"

  To alleviate his impatience, he turned the large closet next his bedchamber into a nursery and planned how to interest the boy, even to selecting his future playmates among the servants' children. Young Davie, now almost six, was to act as bodyguard to Baby Die-con since, though on the left hand, he was a cousin.

  It was mid-September when a north-bound piragua came to report that the general had just landed direct at Frederica, and would the colonel hasten to greet his lady and his son?

  Instantly the whole plantation was in an uproar. Peg-Leg bellowed for his crew; Rob and Joseph sent men running to load fresh foods aboard the Lass; while the women scurried into its cabin with linens, pillows and even curtains for the portholes. Lucinda's homecoming must b
e the grandest possible.

  The schooner dropped down to Ossabaw Sound, but there lost the wind. Ram danced with impatience until a new breeze freshened. Then at last into Frederica harbor, which was crowded with H.M.S. Blandford and five transports, all discharging men and stores.

  Learning that no civilians had yet landed, Ram had Peg-Leg run close alongside each transport on which women could be seen. From the third there came a call and a waving handkerchief.

  Heart thumping. Ram stared up at the higher vessel. Margot! Suddenly fearful, he shouted to know where her mistress was. Nodding, she moved aft. Reassured, he mounted the schooner's bulwarks, leaped for the transport's ladder and climbed aboard. At the same instant Lucinda appeared with several ladies and swept forward regally.

  "La, m'dear, I feared you'd never get here and I'd need spend the rest of my life on this ship," she cried, giving him her cheek.

  Weak with emotion, he took her in his arms. Lord, she was lovely! "The boy? How is he?"

  "Of Gargantuan appetite," she laughed. "Ladies, permit me to present the Colonel. Ram, Mrs. Major Cooke; Mrs. Captain Nor-bury, whose husband ye doubtless know; Mrs. Captain Heron; Mrs. Lieutenant Demare."

  He made his leg to them all, though with wandering eyes until Margot reappeared with the child.

  "Diccon!" He snatched him and held him high. A fine, fine lad; blue-eyed and with a broad, chubby face. There'd be beef on those limbs anon! Tucking him under an arm. Ram ran to the poop and leaned far overside, oblivious to the startled cries from the women,

  "He's here!" he bawled, and from the Lass's deck below arose a cheer as Rob, Joseph, Peg-Leg and the crew saluted Shoreacres' heir.

  But the transport's master was roaring curses because a schooner, with a crazed crew, had grappled onto his ship.

  Apologizing, Ram said he'd soon rid him of three of his passengers; and had Peg-Leg's men swarm aboard to transfer Lucinda's baggage and stores into the Lass; then cast off and sailed for home.

  Home! Lucinda was in gloriously high spirits and full of London's scandals; while he himself was delirious with pride for this son who seemed to grow before his eyes.

  But after a week of bliss, he was back at Frederica and reporting his progress as a spy-master to Oglethorpe.

  In return, he learned that already there had been treachery in the regiment. At Portsmouth, one of the recruits tried to seduce others into deserting to the Spaniards upon arrival in Georgia. The man, one Shannon, had enlisted with deliberate purpose, being actually on furlough from the Duke of Berwick's Irish Regiment in the Spanish Army.

  But instead of dealing with him there, James had brought him to the colony for court-martial, hoping to learn more of the plot.

  "It's centered in Madrid," he told Ram. "Your enemy, del Lago, controls it only in America. Well, now we'll try Shannon."

  Ram attended the court-martial as a spectator. Shannon, refusing to betray his master, made the audacious defense that, being Irish, he owed no allegiance to King George, though he'd voluntarily donned his uniform. The court brought in a Guilty verdict, but Oglethorpe would not concur in the death penalty and commuted the sentence to flogging and drumming out of the regiment.

  "Think of the effect on young soldiers to see a comrade hanged," he told Ram defensively. "No, I'll not shock them so."

  "You'll regret it," was the blunt retort. "Even raw recruits see justice in hanging a traitor." But James wouldn't be moved.

  So, for the first time since its embodiment, the whole regiment

  was paraded outside Frederica: six companies, made up of Independents, Gibraltar men and English recruits, besides volunteers who carried muskets in the hope of being commissioned as vacancies occurred. Other than four Independent Companies in New York Province, Oglethorpe's were the only regulars in British America.

  Shannon was led to the halberds, where pairs of drummers in succession laid on loo lashes. Moaning, he was bundled into his uniform for the last time, and Adjutant James Mackay cut off his buttons while the drums rolled out his disgrace. Next day he was rowed to the mainland, given some rations and told to shift for himself.

  The charges against Hugh Mackay and Norbury were dropped, since to press them would mean a trial by more field officers than were in all America, To save Cochrane's face, Mackay promised to obey orders in future, and Norbury apologized for his intervention. Bred under the discipline of Duke John's days. Ram was shocked by the solution, which had solved nothing.

  He was further irked by the disbandment of McPherson's Rangers. The trustees saw no more need of them, now that King's troops guarded the colony. But at Ram's urgings, Oglethorpe re-enlisted a few men to hold Fort Arg}'le, to prevent Spanish Indians from crossing the ford there and to stop slaves from escaping from Carolina.

  When Oglethorpe and Ram went to St. Andrew's Fort on Cumberland Island, which was garrisoned by Hugh Mackay's company, the captain greeted them worriedly.

  "Sir, the Gibraltar men are uneasy," he reported. "They're aroused by the order cutting off their free rations. They claim they always had full pay and subsistence on the Rock."

  "Gibraltar's the only garrison where men get both," Oglethorpe explained. "I obtained the King's sanction that they'd continue to receive both for six months. That time's now past."

  "Very well, sir," Mackay said. "I'll parade them and inform them so. With you here, they'll take the news more calmly."

  "Good. What news of the Spanish patrols? Ram is sure the Augustine garrison is being reinforced."

  "We fired a shot to turn a boat back only yesterday, and—" Mackay broke off to stare at a private who had shouldered through

  the doorway. "Hurley, what d'ye mean, entering here? If you've a complaint, first obtain permission from your sergeant."

  "We've complaints aplenty," the man growled, "Free-born Englishmen won't be treated like curs. We want our rights. Don't we, mates?" From outside came a chorus of assent. Ram, astounded, saw that this Hurley carried his musket, as did the rest outside.

  "Out!" Mackay rose. He pushed the man from the hut and faced his sullen supporters. "Return to your quarters this instant!"

  Oglethorpe followed his captain. Ram, aware that this was a regimental matter, remained within, shocked by such amazing indiscipline. But when there were yells and a shot, he drew his sword and charged out: to see Mackay struggling as a captive of his own men. James, one side of his face pitted by powder burns, was evidently stunned.

  "Let's do in the old barstard!" A man came at him, musket clubbed.

  "Dog!" Ram snarled and ran him through. Screeching, the man fell, blood gushing from his mouth. Ram was tugging to release his blade when a ball spat past him. Tlie firer was Hurley himself.

  But the latter, seeing Ram charge toward him, dropped his gun and ran, followed by the rest who, yelling: "Save yerselves!" broke for the waterside and the boats moored there.

  "Guard—turn out!" bellowed Mackay, now free. "Stop those men!" The mutineers were soon confined; Ram's victim, however, was dead.

  Later, Oglethorpe read out the War Office order to the paraded company ragarding the withdrawal of subsistence. "But food's cheaper here. And when your turn comes to garrison Fort Frederica, each of you can double his pay by working for the settlers."

  Hurley, the real instigator, now terrified, pleaded that heavy drinking had made him lose his head. The rest insisted he alone had incited them to make the general maintain their free rations.

  "Here's no coincidence," Ram insisted. "Even though this was among the Gibraltar men, while Shannon enlisted in England, the Dons have got at 'em. This comes from Cochrane letting 'em fraternize with the Spaniards to sell them his cursed wine."

  "Where else will treachery strike?" Oglethorpe groaned. "That ball was so close, it singed my face and wig."

  B98

  "Mine was meant for my heart. Bending to withdraw my blade alone saved me. Del Lago's had my death attempted four times now."

  "You mean, 'twas all engineered to get you kille
d?"

  "Both of us this time. Then Cochrane would command and again sell his wine, so there'd not be a move we made the Dons wouldn't know of. James, let me interrogate Hurley, I'll get the truth."

  "But, you—you wouldn't torture him?"

  "I said nothing of that. But he's one you can't avoid hanging, so let me talk to him beforehand."

  The humanitarian struggled with the general, but the latter won. "Do as ye wish. We must be pressing the Spaniards hard when they incite our own men to murder us."

  Ram, taking Hilary with him, went to Hurley, who was securely bound in an isolated hut. What followed wasn't pleasant but didn't take long. The man was a blubbering craven. Yes, he'd talked with Spaniards while on outpost duty—he'd learned Spanish in Gibraltar. Yes, he'd accepted a bribe—from Don Pedro Lamberto—if ever chance allowed, to murder Colonel Anstmther, The withdrawal of the subsistence had rankled with the men, so when he saw the general and the colonel together, he'd incited the men so that he could carry out the assassination. But, oh God, he'd been crazed to do it! If the colonel would plead mercy for him, he'd be his slave,

  "You led a mutiny against your general," Ram told him coldly. "There can be only one verdict."

  He and Oglethorpe returned to Frederica, where a General Court-Martial was convened. The mutineers were duly condemned to death; but again, to the dismay of all officers, James would confirm only Hurley's sentence, reducing that of the rest to floggings,

  "But treachery's like a plague, it spreads!" Ram protested to him in private, "D'ye think to stem it by kindness? As a lad, I saw my best friend shot for mutiny against the Duke of Ormonde, who'd given much cause, I want no man's life taken unjustly, but discipline must be kept or 'twill ruin you and Georgia."

  The other sighed. "You know only half the story. Walpole still hopes to escape war by compromise; he'd even trade Georgia to the Spaniards to keep the peace. If I punish bloodily, he'll say I can't command troops and he'll have the regiment broke."

  Hugh Mackay took Hurley back to Fort St. Andrew's to be executed, and next day Oglethorpe looked badly shaken.

  ** 'Tis awful responsibility, this taking of a fellow man's life," he told Ram somberly, as they walked along the water front.