by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XXI
PORTUGAL FREED
On the 9th of May Terence was directing the movements of his men, who werepractising skirmishing among some rough ground at the bottom of the hillupon which he had taken up his position, to defend, if necessary, the roadthat crossed it. His men had thrown up several lines of breast-works alongthe face of the hill to a point where steep ravines protected the flank ofhis position. Presently he saw a party of horsemen riding down the hillbehind him. They reined up suddenly when half-way down the hill and pausedto watch what was being done; then they came on again. As they approached,Terence recognized the erect figure of the officer who rode at the head ofthe party. He cantered up and saluted.
"Who are you, sir, and what troops are these?" Sir Arthur asked, sharply.
"My name is O'Connor, sir. These men constitute the corps that I have thehonour to command."
"Form them up in line," the general said, briefly.
Terence rode away at a gallop, and as soon as he reached the spot wherehis bugler was standing--for bugles had now taken the place of the hornsthat had before served the purpose--the latter at once blew the assembly,and then the order to form line. The men dashed down at the top of theirspeed, and in a very short time formed up in a long line with theirofficers in front.
"Break them into columns of companies," the general, who had now riddenwith the staff to the front, said.
The manoeuvre was performed steadily and well.
"Send out the alternate companies as skirmishers, while the othercompanies form line and move forward in support." When this had been donethe order came: "Skirmishers, form into company squares to resist enemy'scavalry."
This had been so frequently practised that in a few seconds the sixsquares were formed up in an attitude to receive cavalry.
"That is very well done, Colonel O'Connor," Sir Arthur said, with morewarmth than was usual with him. "Your men are well in hand and know theirbusiness. It is a very creditable display, indeed; you have proved yourcapacity for command. I have not forgotten what I have heard of you, sir,and it will not be long before your services are utilized."
So saying he rode on. Captain Nelson lingered behind for a moment to shakehands with Terence.
"You may feel proud of that, O'Connor," he said; "Sir Arthur is not givento praise, I can assure you. Good-bye, I must catch them up;" and,turning, he soon overtook the general's staff.
That the general was well satisfied was proved by the fact that three dayslater the following appeared in general orders:
_"The officer commanding-in-chief on Thursday inspected the corps underthe command of Lieutenant (with the rank of colonel in the Portuguesearmy) O'Connor. He was much pleased with the discipline and quickness withwhich the corps went through certain movements ordered by him. This corpshas already greatly distinguished itself, and Sir Arthur would point to itas an example to be imitated by all officers having command of Portuguesetroops."_
Soult's position had now become very dangerous. The Spanish and Portugueseinsurgents were upon the Lima, and the principal portion of his own forcewas south of the Douro.
Franceschi's cavalry, supported by infantry and artillery, and by Mermet'sdivision, occupied the country between that river and the Vouga, and waswithout communication with the centre at Oporto, except by the bridge ofboats.
Although aware that there was a considerable force gathering at Coimbra,the French general had no idea that the whole of the British army wasassembling there. Confident that success would attend his operations, SirArthur directed the Portuguese corps to be in readiness to harass Soult'sretreat through the mountain denies and up the valley of the Tamega, andso to force him to march north instead of making for Salamanca, where hecould unite with the French army there.
A mounted officer brought similar orders to Terence. Half an hour afterreceiving them the corps was on the march. The instructions were brief andsimple:
_"You will endeavour to harass Soult as he retreats across theTras-os-Montes, and try to head him off to the north. Act as circumstancesmay dictate."_
The service was a dangerous one, and Terence felt that it was a highhonour that the general should have appointed him to undertake it, for heassuredly would not have sent the corps on such a mission had he notconsidered that they could be relied upon to take care of themselves. Theywould be wholly unsupported save by parties of peasants and ordenancas;they would have to operate against an army broken, doubtless, by defeat,but all the more determined to push on, as delay might mean total loss.
He followed the line of the Vouga to the point where it emerged from thehills, crossed these, and came down upon the Douro some ten miles aboveSan Joao, at nearly the same spot where he had before made the passagewhen on his way to join Romana.
He was now well beyond the district held by the French south of the Douro,and, obtaining a number of boats, crossed the river, and then made forMirandella on the river Tua, and halted some distance from the town,having made a march of over seventy miles in two days. Learning from thepeasants that there were no French troops west of the Tamega, he marchedthe next day to the crest looking down into the valley, and here halteduntil he could learn that Soult was retreating, and what road he wasfollowing. He had not long to wait for news, for, on the night of the 9th,while he was on his march by the Vouga, the British force had movedforward to Aveiro. Hill's division had there taken boats, and proceedingup the lake to Ovar, had landed at sunrise on the 10th, and placed himselfon Franceschi's right.
In the meantime Paget's division had marched to Albergaria, while Cotton'sdivision and Trant's command moved to turn Franceschi's position on itsright. The darkness and their ignorance of the roads prevented themovement being attended with the hoped-for success. Had the operation beencarried out without a hitch, Franceschi and Mermet would both have beendriven off the line of retreat to the bridge of Oporto, and must have beencaptured or destroyed. As it was, Franceschi fell back fighting, joinedMermet's division at Crijo, a day's march in the rear, and although thewhole were driven on the following day from this position, they retired ingood order, and that night effected their retreat across the bridge ofboats, which was then destroyed.
As Franceschi's report informed Soult that the whole force of the allieswas now upon him, he at once sent off his heavy artillery and baggage bythe road to Amarante. Mermet was posted at Valongo, with orders to patrolthe river and to seize every boat. Those at Oporto were also secured. Onthe morning of the 12th the British force was concentrated behind the hillof Villa Nova, and Sir Arthur took his place on the top of the SerraConvent, from whence he commanded a view of the city and opposite bank. Hesaw that the French force was stationed for the most part below Oporto.Franceschi's report had led Soult to believe that Hill's division had comeby sea, and he expected that the transports would go up to the mouth ofthe Douro, and that the British would attempt to effect a landing there.
The river took a sharp turn round the Serra Convent, and Sir Arthur sawthat another large convent on the opposite bank, known as the Seminary,was concealed by the hill from Soult's position, and that it might beoccupied without attracting the attention of the French. After much searcha little boat was found; in this a few men crossed and brought back twolarge boats from the opposite side of the river. In these the troops atonce began to cross, and two companies had taken possession of the conventbefore Soult was aware of what was going on. Then a prodigious din arose.Troops were hurried through the town, the bugles and trumpets sounded thealarm, while the populace thronged to the roofs of their houses wildlycheering and waving handkerchiefs and scarves, and the church bells addedto the clamour.
Three batteries of artillery had been brought up close to the SerraConvent, and now that there was no longer need of concealment these werebrought forward, and--as the French issued from the town and hurriedtowards the post held by the two companies that had crossed--opened aheavy fire upon them. The French pushed on gallantly in spite of this fireand the musketry of the soldiers, but
the wall of the convent was strong,more boats had been obtained, and every minute added to the number of thedefenders. The attack was, nevertheless, obstinately continued. The Frenchartillery endeavoured to blow in the gate, and for a time the position ofthe defenders was serious, but the enemy's troops were now evacuating thelower part of the town, and immediately they did so the inhabitantsbrought boats over, and a brigade under Sherwood crossed there.
In the meantime General Murray had been sent with the German division toeffect a passage of the river two miles farther up. Soult's orders to takepossession of all the boats had been neglected, and it was not long beforeMurray crossed with his force. The confusion in the French line of retreatwas now terrible. A battery of artillery, who brought up the rear, weresmitten by the fire of Sherwood's men; many were killed, and the rest cuttheir traces and galloped on to join the retreating army. Sherwood's menpressed these in the rear, the infantry on the roof of the Seminary pouredtheir fire on the retiring masses, and the guns on the Serra rock sweptthe long line.
Had Murray now fallen upon the disordered crowd their discomfiture wouldhave been complete, but he held his force inactive, afraid that the Frenchmight turn upon him and drive him into the river. General Stewart andMajor Harvey, furious at his inactivity, charged the French at the head oftwo squadrons of cavalry only, dashed through the enemy's column, unhorsedGeneral Laborde and wounded General Foy. Receiving, however, no supportwhatever from Murray, the gallant little band of cavalry were forced tofight their way back with loss. Thus, as Franceschi had been saved fromdestruction from an error as to the road, Soult was saved the loss of thisarmy by Murray's timidity, and in both cases Sir Arthur's masterly plansfailed in attaining the complete success they deserved.
Terence had engaged several peasants to watch the roads leading fromOporto, and as soon as he learned that a long train of baggage and heavyguns was leaving the city by the road to Amarante, he crossed the valley,took up a position on the Catalena hill flanking the road, and as thewaggons came along opened a sudden and heavy fire upon them. Althoughprotected by a strong guard the convoy fell into confusion, many of thehorses being killed by the first volley. Some of the drivers leapt fromtheir seats and deserted their charges, others flogged their horses, andtried to push through the struggling mass. An incessant fire was kept up,but just as Terence was about to order the whole corps to charge down andcomplete the work, a large body of cavalry, followed by a heavy body ofinfantry, appeared on the scene.
This was Merle's division, that had hastened up from Valonga on hearingthe firing. The advance of the cavalry was checked by the musketry fire,but Merle at once ordered his infantry to mount the hill and drive thePortuguese off. The latter stood their ground gallantly for some time,inflicting heavy loss upon their assailants. Terence saw, however, that hecould not hope to withstand long the attack of a whole French division,and leaving two companies behind to check the enemy's advance, he marchedalong the crest of the hill until he came upon the road crossing fromAmarante to the Ave river.
By this time he had been joined by the rear-guard, who had retired in timeto make their escape before the French reached the top of the hill. Merleposted a brigade along the crest of the ridge to prevent a repetition ofthe attack, and to cover Soult's line of retreat, if he were forced tofall back; while Terence took up his position near Pombeiro, whence hepresently saw the convoy enter Amarante. He had the satisfaction, however,of noticing that it was greatly diminished in length, a great many of thewaggons having been left behind owing to the number of horses that hadbeen killed. His attack had had another advantage of which he was unaware,for it had so occupied Merle's attention that he had neglected to have allthe boats taken across the river, which enabled Murray's command to crossthe next day, an error which, had Murray been possessed of any dash andenergy, would have proved fatal to the French army.
The next day Terence heard the sound of the guns on the Serra height, butthe distance was too great for the crack of musketry to reach him, and hehad no idea that the British were crossing the river until he saw theFrench marching across the mouth of the valley towards Amarante. Amongsuch veteran troops discipline was speedly recovered, and they encamped ingood order in the valley. That town was, however, in the hands of thePortuguese, Loison, either from treachery or incapacity, having disobeyedSoult's orders and retired before the advance of the Portuguese forceunder Lord Beresford, and, evacuating Amarante, taken the road toGuimaraens, passing by Pombeiro.
He had sent no news to Soult, and the latter general was altogetherignorant that he had left Amarante. Upon receiving the news from the headof the column he at once saw that the position had now become a desperateone. Beresford, he learned at the same time, had marched up the Tamegavalley to take post at Chaves, where Silveira had joined him. A retreat inthat direction, therefore, was impossible, and he at once destroyed hisbaggage, spiked his guns, and at nightfall, guided by a peasant, ascendeda path up the Serra Catalena, and, marching all night, rejoined Loison atGuimaraens, passing on his way through Pombeiro. Terence had left theplace a few hours before, believing that Soult must return up the valleyof the Tamega, and, ignorant that Beresford and Silveira barred the way,he marched after nightfall towards Chaves and took up a position where hecould arrest, for a time, the retreat of the French army.
He had left two of his men at Pombeiro, and had halted but a short timeafter completing his long and arduous march when his two men came up withthe news that Soult had passed by the very place he had a few hours beforeleft. As there was more than one route open to Soult, Terence was unableto decide which he had best take. His men had already performed a verylong march, and it was absolutely necessary to give them a rest; hetherefore allowed them to sleep during the day. Towards evening he crossedthe Serra de Cabrierra and came down upon Salamende, and sent out scoutsfor news. Destroying the guns, ammunition, and baggage of Loison'sdivision, Soult reached the Carvalho on the evening of the 14th, drew uphis army on the position that he had occupied two months before at thebattle of Braga, reorganized his forces, and ordering Loison to lead theadvance, while he himself took command of the rear, continued his march.The next day Sir Arthur Wellesley, who had been obliged to halt at Oportountil the whole army, with its artillery and train, had passed the river,reached Braga, having marched by a much shorter road.
Terence's scouts brought news that the whole of the French army weremarching towards Salamende. Wholly unsupported as he was, ignorant of theposition of Beresford and Silveira, and knowing nothing of Sir Arthur'smarch towards Braga, he decided not to attempt with his force to bar theway to Soult's twenty thousand men, but to hold Salamende for a time andthen fall back up the mountains. Before doing so he sent a party to blowup the bridge at Ponte Nova across the Cavado, and also sent his secondregiment to defend the passage at Riuvaens.
Thinking it likely that Soult would again cross the mountains to Chaves,he sent Herrara in command of the force at the bridge, while he himselfremained at Salamende. Here he had the houses facing the road by which theenemy would approach, loopholed and the road itself barricaded. Late inthe afternoon the French cavalry were seen approaching, and a heavy firewas at once opened upon them. The rapidity of the discharges showedFranceschi that the place was held by more than a mere party of peasants,and he drew off his cavalry and allowed the infantry to pass him. For halfan hour the Portuguese held their ground and repulsed three determinedassaults; then, seeing a strong body of troops ascending the hillside totake the position in flank, Terence ordered his troops to fall back. Thisthey did in good order, and took up a position high up on the hill.
The French made but a short pause; a small body of cavalry that Soult hadleft near Braga brought him the news that the British army was enteringthat town. Scouts were sent forward at once, and their report that thebridge of Riuvaens was destroyed, and that 1,200 Portuguese regular troopswere on the opposite bank, decided him to take the road by the Ponte Nova.The night was a terrible one; the rain had for two days been continuous,and the
troops were drenched to the skin and impatient at the hardshipthat they had suffered. The scouts reported that the bridge here had alsobeen destroyed, but that one of the parapets was still unbroken, and thatthe force on the other side consisted only of peasants. Soult orderedMajor Doulong, an officer celebrated for his courage, to take a hundredgrenadiers and secure the passage.
A violent storm was now raging, and their footsteps being deadened by theroar of the wind, the French crept up, killed the Portuguese sentry ontheir side of the bridge before he could give the alarm, and then crawledacross the narrow line of masonry. Then they rushed up the oppositeheights, shouting and firing, and the peasantry, believing that the wholeFrench army were upon them, fled at once. The bridge was hastily repaired,and at four o'clock in the morning the whole of the French army hadcrossed. Their retreat was opposed at a bridge of a single arch over atorrent, by a party of Portuguese peasantry, but after two repulses theFrench, led by Major Doulong, carried it.
They were just in time, for in the afternoon the British came upon astrong rear-guard left at Salamende. Some light troops at once turnedtheir flank, while Sherwood attacked them in front, and they fled inconfusion to the Ponte Nova. As the general imagined that Soult would takethe other road, their retreat in this direction was for some timeunperceived, but just as they were crossing, the British artillery openedfire upon the bridge with terrible effect, very many of the enemy beingkilled before they could effect a passage. Their further retreat wasperformed without molestation. The British troops had made very longmarches in the hopes of cutting Soult's line of retreat, and as theFrench, unlike the British, carried no provisions for their march, therewas now little hope of overtaking them, especially as their main body wasfar ahead.
Sir Arthur halted for a day at Riuvaens, where Terence's corps was nowconcentrated, he having marched there the night he was driven out ofSalamende. As soon as the British entered the place, the general inquiredwhat corps was holding it, and at once sent for Terence.
"Let me hear what you have been doing, Colonel O'Connor."
Terence had, as soon as he heard that the army had arrived at Salamende,written out a report of his movements from the time that he had marchedfrom Vouga. He now presented it. The general waved it aside.
"Tell me yourself," he said.
Terence related as briefly as possible the course he had followed, and thereasons of his movements.
"Good!" the general said, when he had finished. "Your calculations wereall well founded; but, of course, you could not calculate on Soult's nightmarch across the Catalena hills, and, as you knew nothing of thewhereabouts of Beresford and Silveira, you had good reason to suppose thatSoult would continue his march up the valley of the Tamega to Chaves. Thatwas the only mistake you committed, and an older soldier might well havefallen into the same error. When you had found out your mistake, you actedpromptly, and could not have done better than to proceed to Salamende. Youdid well to destroy both bridges, and to place half your force to defendthe passage here, for you naturally supposed, as I supposed myself, thatSoult would follow this road down to Chaves.
"You were again deceived, but were in no way to blame. Your position wasmost judiciously chosen on the Catalena hills on Soult's natural line ofretreat, and I heard that the enemy's baggage train had been very severelymauled, and was only saved from destruction by Merle deploying his wholedivision against the force attacking it. Again I see you made a stoutdefence at Salamende. We saw a large number of French dead there as wemarched in. If everyone else had done as well as you have done, young sir,Soult's army would never have escaped me."
Terence bowed, and retired deeply gratified, for he had been doubtful whathis reception would be. He knew that he had done his best, but twice hehad been mistaken, and each time the mistake had allowed Soult to passunmolested; and he was, therefore, all the more pleased on learning thatso skilful a general had declared that these mistakes, althoughunfortunate, were yet natural.
Soult reached Orense on the 20th, without guns, stores, ammunition, orbaggage, his men exhausted with fatigue and misery, most of them shoeless,and some without muskets. He had left Orense seventy-six days before with22,000 men, and had lately been joined by 3,500 from Tuy. He returned with19,500, having lost 6,000 by sword, sickness, assassination, and capture.Of these 3,600 were taken in the hospitals at Oporto, Chaves, Vianna, andBraga. One thousand were killed in the advance, and the remainder capturedor killed within the last eight days.
A day later the news arrived that Victor was at last advancing and aconsiderable number of the troops assembled at Salamende, among themTerence's corps, were ordered to march to join the force opposed to him.Terence started two hours before the bulk of the force got into motion,and traversing the ground at a high rate of speed, struck the road fromLisbon a day in advance of the British troops. There was, however, nooccasion for action, for Victor, who had taken Abrantes, had, on receivingnews of the fall of Oporto, at once evacuated that town and fallen back,and for a time all operations ceased on that side.
The British army had suffered but slight loss in battle, but the longmarches, the terribly wet weather, and the effect of climate told heavilyupon them, and upwards of 4,000 men were, in a short time, in hospital.
Fortunately, however, a reinforcement of equal strength arrived fromEngland, and the fighting strength of the army was therefore maintained.There was still, however, a great want of transport animals; thecommissariat were, for the most part, new to their duties, and ignorant ofthe language. Sir Arthur Wellesley was engaged in the endeavour to getCuesta to co-operate with him, but the obstinate old man refused to do sounless his plans were adopted; and these were of so wild and impracticablea character that Sir Arthur preferred to act alone, especially as Cuesta'sarmy had already been repeatedly beaten by the French, and the utterworthlessness of his soldiers demonstrated.
The pause of operations in Spain, entailed by the concentration of thecommands of Soult, Ney, Victor, and Lapisse on the frontier, had givenbreathing time to Spain. Large armies had again been raised, and the sameconfident ideas, the same jealousy between generals, and the same quarrelsbetween the Juntas had been prevalent. Once again Spain was confident thatshe could alone, and unaided, drive the French across the frontieraltogether, forgetful of the easy and crushing defeats that had beforebeen inflicted upon her. Like Moore, Sir Arthur Wellesley was to someextent deceived by these boastings, and believed that he should obtainmaterial assistance in the way of transports and provisions, and that atleast valuable diversions might be made by the Spanish army.
He accepted, too, to some extent, the estimate of the Spaniards as to thestrength of the French, and believed that their fighting force in thePeninsula did not exceed 130,000 men, whereas in reality it amounted toover 250,000. The greatest impediment to the advance was the want ofmoney, for while the British government continued to pour vast sums intoCadiz and Seville, for the use of the Spaniards, they were unable to findmoney for the advance of their own army. The soldiers consequently wereunpaid, badly fed, almost in rags, and a large proportion of themshoeless; and to meet the most urgent wants, the general was forced toraise loans at exorbitant rates at Lisbon. And yet, while a great generaland a victorious army were nearly starving in Portugal, the Britishgovernment had landed 12,000 troops in Italy and had despatched one of thefinest expeditions that ever sailed from England, consisting of 40,000troops and as many seamen and marines of the fleet, to Walcheren, where nosmall proportion of them died of fever, and the rest returned home brokenin health and unfit for active service, without having performed a singleaction worthy of merit.
The Mayo Fusiliers were among the regiments stationed at Abrantes, andTerence received orders to take up a position four miles ahead of thattown, and hold it unless Victor again advanced in overwhelming strength,and then to fall back on Abrantes. This exactly suited his own wishes. Itwas pleasant to him to be within a short ride of his old regiment, whileat the same time his corps were not encamped with a British division
, forhis own position was an anomalous one, and among the officers who did notknow him he was regarded as a young staff-officer. He could not explainthe position he held without constantly repeating the manner in which hehad gained a commission as colonel in the Portuguese service.
During the month that had passed without movement, he continued hisefforts to improve his corps, and borrowed a dozen non-commissionedofficers from Colonel Corcoran to instruct his sergeants in their duty,and thus enable them to train others and relieve the officers of some oftheir work. He had in his first report stated that he had kept back L1,000of the money he carried to Romana for the use of his corps, and as he hadnever received any comment or instructions as to the portion that had notbeen expended, he had still some money in hand. This he spent insupplementing the scanty rations served out. Frequently he rode intoAbrantes and spent the evening with the Mayo Fusiliers. The first time hedid so he requested the officers always to call him, as before, TerenceO'Connor.
"It is absurd being addressed as colonel when I am only a lieutenant inthe service. Of course when I am with the corps it is a different thing; Iam its colonel, and must be called so; but it is really very annoying tobe called so here."
"You must be feeling quite rusty," Colonel Corcoran said to him, "sittinghere doing nothing, after nine months of incessant moving about."
"I am not rusting, Colonel, I am hard at work sharpening my blade; thatis, improving my corps. Your men drill my sergeants four hours a day, andfor the other eight each of them is repeating the instructions that he hasreceived to three others. So that by the time we are in movement again Ihope to have a sergeant who knows something of his duty to each fifty men.I can assure you that in addition to the great need for such men when thetroops are out skirmishing, or otherwise detached in small parties, I feltthat their appearance on parade was greatly marred by the fact that thenon-commissioned officers did not know their proper places or their properwork, which neither Bull nor Macwitty, nor indeed the company officers,could instruct them in, all being cavalrymen."
"Yes, I noticed that when I saw them at Leirya," the colonel said. "Ofcourse it was of no consequence at all as far as their efficiency went,but to the eye of an English officer, naturally, something seemedwanting."
"I should be glad of at least four more officers to each company, and atone time thought of writing to Lord Beresford to ask him to supply me withsome, but I came to the conclusion that we had better leave matters asthey were. In the first place young officers would know nothing of theirwork, and nothing of me; and in the second place, if they were men of goodfamily they would not like serving under officers who have been raisedfrom the ranks; and lastly, if they became discontented, they might renderthe men so. We have done very fairly at present, and we had better go onas we are; and when I get a sufficient number of trained men to furnish afull supply of non-commissioned officers, I shall do better than withcommissioned ones, for the men are of course carefully selected, and Iknow them to be trustworthy, whereas those they sent me might be idle, orworse than useless."
"You spake like King Solomon, Terence," O'Grady said; "not that he canhave known anything whatever about military matters."
A roar of laughter greeted this very doubtful compliment.
"Thank you, O'Grady," Terence said. "That is one of the prettiest speechesI have heard for a long time. I shall know where to come for a character."
"You are right there, Terence; but you may live a good many years beforeyou get a chance of calling a whole British army under arms, as you did atSalamanca."
Terence was at once assailed with a storm of questions, for with theexception of O'Grady, no one had suspected the share that he and DickyRyan had had in that affair. Terence knew that the latter had kept thesecret, for he had asked him only two or three days before, and hetherefore assumed an expression of innocence.
"What on earth do you mean, O'Grady?"
"What do I mane? Why, that somehow or other you were at the bottom of thatshindy when all the troops were turned out on a false alarm."
"Really, O'Grady, that is too bad. You know that every trick that wasplayed at Athlone was your suggestion, and as we never could find out howthat alarm originated, of course you put it down to me, whereas it is justas likely to have been your own work. Colonel Corcoran knows that Dickyand I were in the mess-room at the convent at the time when the alarmbroke out."
"That was so," the colonel agreed, "for I know that you were talking to mewhen Hoolan ran in and told us that there was a row in the town. On whatdo you base your suspicions, O'Grady?"
"Just upon me knowledge of the two lads, Colonel. Faith, there never was apiece of mischief afloat that they were not mixed up with."
"If that is all you have to say, O'Grady," Terence replied, "I shouldadvise you not to go hunting for mares' nests again. I know that you cansee as far into a brick wall as most people, but you cannot see what isgoing on on the other side."
"All the same, Terence," O'Grady said, doggedly, "to the end of me life Iwill always believe that you had a hand in the matter. There is no oneelse that I know of except you and Ryan who would have had the cheek to dosuch a thing, and I don't believe that you can deny it yourself."
"I shall not trouble myself to plead not guilty, except before a regularlyconstituted court," Terence laughed. "At any rate, as when the marchbegins we shall go on first as scouts, it may be that I shall send in newswhich will turn out a British army again."
"I will forgive you if you do, for it is likely that we should have somedivarsion after turning out, instead of marching out and back again like aregiment of omadhouns."
CHAPTER XXII
NEWS FROM HOME
A week after arriving at Abrantes, seeing that there was no probabilitywhatever of fighting for a time, Terence had suggested to Herrara that itwould be a good opportunity for him to run down to Lisbon for a few daysto see his fiancee and his friends in the town.
"I don't know who you really ought to apply to for leave," he said, "butas we are a sort of half-independent corps, it seems the simplest way forme to take the responsibility. Nobody is ever likely to ask any questionsabout it; and now that it will simply be a matter of hard drill till thearmy moves again, you can be very well spared. If it is company work, itis the captain's business. If the two regiments are manoeuvring together,they will of course be under Bull and Macwitty, and I should be acting asbrigadier."
"I should like to go very much," Herrara said. "I have not yet had thepleasure of introducing myself to my family and friends as alieutenant-colonel. Of course, I wrote to my people when I received thecommission from Lord Beresford; but it would be really fun to surprisesome of my school-fellows and comrades, so if you think that it will notbe inconvenient I should like very much to go."
"Then if I were you I should start at once. I will give you a sort offormal letter of leave in case you are questioned as you go down. You canget to Santarem to-night and to Lisbon to-morrow afternoon."
"Is there anything that I can do for you?"
"Yes; I wish you would ask Don Jose if he will, through his friends atOporto, find out whether my cousin's mother was there at the time theFrench entered, and if she was, whether she got through that horriblebusiness unhurt. I have been hearing about it from my friends, who were acouple of days there before the force marched to Braga. They tell me that,by all accounts, the business was even worse than we feared. The Frenchcame upon some of their comrades tied to posts in the great square,horribly mutilated, some of them with their eyes put out, still living,and after that they spared no one; and upon my word, I can hardly blamethem, and in fact don't blame them at all, so long as they only theirvengeance on men. The people made it worse for themselves by keeping up adesultory fire from windows and housetops when resistance had long ceasedto be of any use; and, of course, seeing their comrades shot down in thisway infuriated the troops still further.
"I don't suppose it will make the slightest difference in the world to mycousin whether her moth
er is dead or not, for I fancy from what Mary saidthat her mother never cared for her in the slightest. Possibly she wasjealous that the child had the first place in the father's affections.However that may be, there was certainly no great love between them, andof course her subsequent treatment of my cousin destroyed any affectionthat might have existed. That either by some deed executed at the time ofmarriage, or by Portuguese law, Mary has a right to the estate at hermother's death, is clear from the efforts they made to get her to renouncethat right. Still, there is no more chance of her ever inheriting it thanthere would be of her flying. As a nun she would naturally have torenounce all property, and no doubt the law of this priest-ridden countrywould decide that she had done so. She tells me--and I am sure,truly--that she refused to open her lips to say a single word when she wasforced to go through the ceremony; but as, no doubt, a score of witnesseswould be brought forward to swear that she answered all the usualquestions and renounced all worldly possessions, that denial would go fornothing."
"Besides," Herrara said, "it would never do for her to set foot inPortugal. She would be seized as an escaped nun immediately, and wouldnever be heard of again."
"I have no doubt that that would be so, Herrara; and as she has a nicefortune from her father, you may be sure that she will not trouble aboutthe estates here, and her mother would be welcome to do as she likes withthem, which is, after all, not unreasonable, as they are her property anddescended to her from her father. Still, I should be glad to learn, if itdoes not give any great trouble, whether if, as is almost certain--for thepeople from all the country round took refuge there long before the Frencharrived--she was in Oporto, and if so, whether she got through the sack ofthe town unharmed. No doubt Mary would be glad to hear."
"I am sure Don Jose would be able to find out for you without anydifficulty," Herrara said; "indeed I expect he will soon be going backthere himself. Now that there is a British garrison in the town, that thebishop must be utterly discredited there, and a good many of his Juntamust have been killed, while the rabble of the town has been thoroughlydiscomfited, the place will be more comfortable to live in than it hasbeen for a long time past. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"Nothing whatever."
A quarter of an hour later Herrara left for Lisbon, bearing many messagesof kind regards on Terence's part to Don Jose and his family. Terence'slast words were:
"By the way, Herrara, if you should be able to find at any store in Lisbonsome Irish whisky, I wish you would get six dozen cases for me, or whatwould be more handy, a sixteen or eighteen gallon keg, and could get itsent on by some cart coming here, I should be very much obliged. It hadbetter be sent to me, care of Colonel Corcoran, Mayo Fusiliers, Abrantes.I should like to be able to give a glass to my friends when they ride outto see me. But have the barrel or cases sewn up in canvas before theaddress is put on; I would not trust it to the escort of any British guardif they were aware of the nature of the contents. Wine would be safe withthem, for they can get that anywhere, but it would be too much for thehonesty of any Irishman if he were to see a cask labelled Irish whisky."
A week later Colonel Corcoran said when Terence rode in:
"By the bye, O'Connor, there is a cask of wine for you at my quarters; itwas brought up by an ammunition train this morning. The officer said thata Portuguese colonel had begged him so earnestly to bring it up that hecould not refuse."
"It was Herrara, no doubt, Colonel; he has gone down to Lisbon for aweek."
"Ah! I suppose he sent you a keg of choice wine."
"You shall taste it next time you come out, Colonel. I have been wishingthat I had something better than the ordinary wine of the country to offerwhen you come over to see me. I will send over a couple of men with a cartin the morning to bring it out to me."
On leaving that evening Terence invited all the officers who could getaway from duty to come over to lunch the next day.
"Bring your knives and forks with you," he said; "and I think you hadbetter bring your plates, too; I fancy four are all I can muster."
Early next morning Terence told Bull and Macwitty that he expected a dozenofficers out to lunch with him. "And I want you to lunch with me too. Iknow that Captain O'Grady and others have asked you several times to go inand dine at mess, and that you have not gone. I hope to-day you will meetthem at luncheon. I can understand that you feel a little uncomfortable atthis first meeting with a lot of officers as officers yourselves; but, ofcourse, you must do it sooner or later, and it would be much better doingso at once.
"The next thing is, what can I give them to eat? I should be glad if youwill send out a dozen foraging parties in different directions; there mustbe little villages scattered among the hills that have so far escapedFrench and English plunderers. Let each party take four or five dollarswith them. I want anything that can be got, but my idea is a couple ofyoung kids, three or four ducks, or a couple of geese, as many chickens,and of course any vegetables that you can get hold of. My man Sancho is acapital cook, and he will get fires ready and two or three assistants.They will be here by one o'clock, so the foraging parties had betterreturn by ten."
"If there is anything to be brought you shall have it, Colonel," Bullsaid; "Macwitty and I will both go ourselves, and we will get half a dozenof the captains to go too; between us it is hard if we don't manage to getenough."
By ten o'clock the officers rode in, almost every one of them having somesort of bird or beast hanging from his saddle-bow; there were two kids, asucking pig, two hares, half a dozen chickens, three geese, and fiveducks, while the nets which they carried for forage for their horses werefilled with vegetables. Half a dozen fires had already been lighted, andSancho had obtained as many assistants, so that by the time the coloneland fifteen officers rode up lunch was ready.
After chatting for a few minutes with them, Terence led the way to a roughtable that was placed under the shade of a tree. Ammunition boxes werearranged along for seats. Although but a portion of what had been broughtin had been cooked, the effect of the table was imposing.
"Why, O'Connor," the colonel said, "have you got one of the genii, likeAladdin, and ordered him to bring up a banquet for you? I have not seen awinged thing since we marched from Coimbra, and here you have got all theluxuries of the season. No wonder you like independent action, if this iswhat comes of it; there have we been feeding on tough ration beef, andhere are the contents of a whole farmyard."
Almost all the officers had been out before, and Bull and Macwitty hadbeen introduced to them. They now all sat down to the meal.
"I am sorry Major O'Driscol is not here," Terence said.
"He could not get away," the colonel said, from the other end of thetable. "If the general had come round and there hadn't been afield-officer left to meet him there would have been a row over it. I havebrought pretty nearly all the officers with me, and I dared not stretch itfurther."
"O'Grady," Terence said, "I wish you would carve this hare for me, I haveno idea how it ought to be cut. I can manage a chicken, or a duck, butthis is beyond me altogether."
"I will do it gladly, Terence; faith, it is a comfort to find that thereis something you can't do." And so, with much laughter and fun, the mealwas eaten.
"You have not told us yet where you got all these provisions, O'Connor,"the colonel said; "it is too bad to keep all the good things to yourself."
"It has been the work of eight officers, Colonel; they rode off thismorning in different directions among the hills, and there was not one ofthem who returned empty-handed."
"The wine is fairly good," the colonel said, as he set down his tin mugafter a long draught, "but it was scarce worth sending all the way up fromLisbon."
"That has to follow, Colonel; I thought you would appreciate it betterafter you had done eating."
"I have not had such a male since we left Athlone," O'Grady said, when atlast he reluctantly laid down his knife and fork. "Be jabers, it would beall up with me if the French were to put in an appea
rance now, for faith Idon't think I could run a yard to save me life."
The tin mugs were all taken away and washed when the table was cleared.
"You are mighty particular, O'Connor," the colonel said.
"One mug is good enough for us. If we liquored-up a dozen times--which, bythe way, we never do--one of these wines is pretty well like another, andif there was a slight difference it would not matter."
When the board was cleared a large jug was placed before Terence, and somewater-bottles at various points of the table.
"I thought, Colonel, that you might prefer spirits even to the wine,"Terence said.
"And you are right, O'Connor. A good glass of wine after a good dinner isno bad thing, but after such a meal as we have eaten I think that eventhis bastely spirit of theirs--which, after all, is not so bad when youget accustomed to it--is better than wine; it settles matters a bit."
Terence poured some of the spirit from a jug into his tin and filled it upwith water. "Help yourself," he said, passing the jug to O'Grady, who satnext to him.
O'Grady was about to do so when he suddenly set the jug down.
"By the powers," he exclaimed, in astonishment, "but it is the realcratur!"
"Go on, O'Grady, go on, the others are all waiting while you are lookingat it. If you feel too surprised to take it, pass the jug on."
O'Grady grasped it. "I will defind it wid me life!" he exclaimed. In themeantime the colonel had filled his mug.
"Gentlemen," he said, solemnly, after raising it to his lips, "O'Grady isright; it is Irish whisky, and good at that."
"It is a cruel trick you've played on us," O'Grady said, with a sigh, ashe replaced the empty mug upon the table. "I had almost forgotten thetaste, and had come to take kindly to the stuff here. Now I shall have togo through it all again. It is like holding the cup to the lips of thatold heathen Tartarus, and taking it away again."
"Tantalus, O'Grady."
"Och, what does it matter, when he has been dead and buried thousands ofyears, how he spilt his name. Where did you get it from, Terence?"
"I asked Herrara to try and find some for me at Lisbon; I thought it wasmost likely that some English merchant there would have laid in a stock,and it seems that he has found one."
"Do you hear that, Colonel? There is whisky to be had at Lisbon, and usnot know it."
"Well, Captain O'Grady, all I can say is that I shall at dinner thisevening move a vote of censure upon you as mess president for not havingdiscovered the fact before."
"Don't talk of dinner, Colonel; there is not one of us could think ofsitting down to ration beef after such a male as we have had--and withwhisky here, too! I move, Colonel, that no further mintion be made ofdinner. I have no doubt that Terence will give us some divilledbones--there is as much left on the table as we have eaten--before westart home to-night."
"I will do that with pleasure. In fact, it is exactly what I reckonedupon," Terence replied.
"I think, O'Grady, we must send to Lisbon for some of this."
"Is it only think, Colonel? Faith, I would go down for it myself, if I hadto walk with pays in my boots and to carry it back on me shoulders. Can Ifind Herrara there?" he asked.
"Yes, I can give you the address where he will be found."
"Anyhow, Colonel," O'Flaherty said, "I must--and I'm sure all present willjoin me in the matter--protest against Captain O'Grady going down toLisbon to fetch whisky for the mess. You must know, sir, as well as I do,that he would never return again, and we should probably hear some daythat his body had been found by the side of the road with three or fourempty kegs beside him."
There was a general burst of agreement.
"Perhaps, Doctor O'Flaherty," O'Grady said, in a tone of witheringsarcasm, "it's yourself who would like to be the messenger."
"There might be a worse one," O'Flaherty said, calmly; "but as I believethat Captain Hall is going down on a week's leave to-morrow, I proposethat he, being an Englishman, and therefore more trustworthy than anyIrish member of the mess would be on such a mission, be requested topurchase some for the use of the mess, and to escort it back again. Howmuch shall I say, Colonel?"
"That is a grave matter, and not to be answered hastily, Doctor. Let mesee, there are thirty-two officers with the regiment. Now, what would yousay would be a fair allowance per day for each man?"
"I should say half a bottle, Colonel. There are some of them won't take asmuch, but O'Grady will square matters up."
"I protest against the insinuation," O'Grady said, rising; "and, moreover,I would observe, that it is mighty little would be left for me after eachman had taken his whack."
"That is sixteen bottles a day. For a continuance I should consider thattoo much; but seeing that we have been out of dacent liquor for a month,and may have but a fortnight after it arrives to make up for lost time, wewill say sixteen bottles."
"Make it three gallons," O'Grady said, persuasively; "we shall be havinglots of men drop in when it gets known that we have got a supply."
"There is something in that, O'Grady. Well, we will say threegallons--that is, forty-two gallons for a fortnight. We will commissionCaptain Hall to bring back that quantity."
"If you say forty-five, Colonel, it will give us a drop in our flasks tostart with, and we are as likely to be fifteen days as fourteen, anyway."
"Let it be forty-five then," the colonel assented. "Will you undertakethat, Captain Hall?"
"Willingly, Colonel. I will get the whisky emptied into wine casks, and asI know one of the chief commissaries at Lisbon, I can get it brought upwith the wine for the troops."
After sitting for a couple of hours, the colonel proposed that they shouldall go for a walk, while those who preferred it should take a nap in theshade.
"I move, O'Connor," he said, "that this meeting be adjourned untilsunset."
"I think that will be a very good plan, Colonel."
The proposal was carried out. O'Grady and a few others declared that theyshould prefer a nap. The rest started on foot, and sauntered about in theshade of the wood for a couple of hours, then all gathered at the tableagain. At eight o'clock grilled joints of fowls and ducks were put uponthe table, and at nine all mounted and rode back to Abrantes.
"How many of those quart jugs have been filled, Sancho?"
"Eight, sir."
"That is not so bad," Terence said to Macwitty. "That is twelve bottles;and as there were sixteen and our three selves, that is only about twobottles between three men."
"I call that vera moderate under the circumstances, Colonel," Macwittysaid, gravely. "I have drank more myself many a time."
"They were a good many hours over it too," Terence added; "you may say itwas two sittings. You will see that we shall have a great many callersfrom the camp for the next few days."
A fortnight later Terence received a letter from Don Jose, saying that hehad heard from his friend at Oporto, and that they informed him that theSenora Johanna O'Connor had been killed at the sack of Oporto. She hadleft her own house and taken refuge at the bishop's. That place had beendefended to the last, and when the infuriated French broke in, all withinits walls had been killed.
Terence was not altogether sorry to hear the news. The woman had been aparty to the cruel imprisonment of Mary. No doubt his cousin would feelher death, but her grief could not be very deep; and it was, he thought,just as well for her that her connection with Portugal should bealtogether severed. Her mother might have endeavoured to tempt her toreturn there; and although he felt sure that she would not succeed inthis, she might at least have caused some trouble, and it was better thatthere should be an end of it. As to the woman herself, she had been inagreement with the bishop, had been mixed up in his intrigues, and herdeath was caused by her misplaced confidence in him. Of course she had notknown that he had left the town, and thought that under his protection shewould be safe in the palace.
"She must have been a bad lot," he said to himself.
"Evidently she did not make he
r husband happy, and persecuted herdaughter, and I regret her death no more than any other of the tenthousand people who fell in Oporto."
A few days later he received letters both from his father and Mary. Beingunder eighteen he opened the former first.
_My Dear Terence,_
_I have heard all about you and your doings from Mary, and I am proud ofyou. It is grand satisfaction that you should have won your lieutenancy,and that you should be on the general's staff; as to your being a colonel,although only a Portuguese one, it is simply astounding. I don't care somuch about the rank, for the Portuguese officers are poor creatures, notone in fifty of them knows anything of his duty; but what I do value isyour independent command. That will give you opportunities fordistinguishing yourself that can never fall in the way of a subaltern ofthe line, and I fancy, now that you have got Wellesley at the head, therewill be plenty of such opportunities._
_I was delighted, as you may guess, when I got Mary's letter from London. Ihad just settled at the old house, and mighty lonely I felt with no one tospeak to, and the wind whistling in at the broken windows, and the wholeplace in confusion. So putting aside Mary, I was glad enough to have someexcuse for running away. I took the next coach for Dublin; found, by goodluck, a packet just sailing for London; and got there a week later. She isa nice girl and a pretty one; but I suppose I need not tell you that. Itold her it was a poor place I was going to take her to, but she would beas welcome as the flowers in May; but she only laughed and said, thatafter being shut up for a year in a single room, and having nothing butbread and water, it would not matter a pin to her what it was like._
_She was in a grand house, and Mrs. Nelson insisted on my putting up there.We stopped three days and then we took ship to Cork. We had to prove thatthe money lying there belonged to me; that is to say, that I was theperson in whose name it had been put. I had all sort of botheration aboutit, but luckily I knew the colonel of the regiment there, and he went tothe bank with me and testified. Then we came down here, and Mary hadn'tbeen here a day before she began to spend money. I said I would not allowit; and she said I could not help it, the money was her own, and she couldspend it as she liked, which was true enough; and at present the place ismore topsy-turvy than ever._
_I won't have anything to do with giving orders, but she has got a score ofmasons and carpenters over from Athlone, and she is turning the old placeupside down. I sha'n't know it myself when she has done with it. There isnot a place fit to sit down in, and we are living for the time at the innat Kilnally, three miles away, and drive backwards and forwards to thehouse. Except that we quarrel over that, we get on first-rate together.She is never tired of talking about you, and when I hinted one day that itwas ridiculous your being made a colonel, she spurred up like a youngbantam, and more than hinted that if you had been appointedcommander-in-chief instead of Sir Arthur it would not have been beyondyour deserts._
_My wound hurts me a bit sometimes, but I am able to get about all right,and the surgeon says in a few months I shall be able to walk as straightas anyone. And so, good-bye. I don't think I ever wrote such a long letterbefore, and as Mary will be telling you everything, I don't suppose Ishall ever write such a long one again._
Terence laughed as he put the letter down and opened one from his cousin.
_Dear Cousin Terence,_
_Here I am with your father as happy as a bird, and as free. I sing aboutthe place all day, my heart is so light, and should be perfectly happywere it not that I am afraid that you will be fighting again soon, andthen I shall be very anxious about you. Your father is just what I thoughthe would be from what I know of you. He is as kind as if he was my ownfather, and reminds me of him. You told me it was a tumbledown old place,and it is. When we came it was only fit for owls to live in, so, ofcourse, I set to work at once. Your father was very foolish about it, but,of course, I had my way. What is the use of having money and living in anowl's nest? So I have set a lot of men to work._
_Your father won't interfere with it one way or the other. I had a builderdown, he shook his head over it and said that it would be cheaper to pullit down and build a new one; but as it was an old family house I could notdo that. However, between ourselves, I don't think there will be much ofthe old one left by the time we have finished. It looks awful at present.I am building a new wall against the old one, so that it will look justthe same, only it will be new. The windows are going to be made bigger,and there will be a new roof put on. Inside it will all have to come down,all the woodwork was so rotten that it was dangerous to walk upstairs. Itis great fun looking after the workmen. And though your father does keepon grumbling and saying that I am destroying the old place, I don't thinkhe really minds._
_As I tell him, one could live in a house without windows nine months inthe year in Portugal, but it is not so in Ireland. One wants comfort,Terence; and, as I have plenty of money, I don't see why we should nothave it. You can sleep on the ground, and go from morning till night inwet clothes, when you are on a campaign, but that is no reason why youshould do it at other times. The weather is fine here now, at least yourfather says it is fine, and I want to get everything pushed on andfinished before it changes to what even he will admit is wet. The peoplehere seem all very nice and pleasant. They are delighted at having yourfather back again. I drive about with him a great deal, and we call uponthe neighbours, who all seem very pleased that the house is going to beoccupied again._
_The poor people seem very poor. I don't know that they are poorer thanthey are in Portugal, but I think they look poorer; but they don't seem tomind much. I have made great friends with most of the children already,and always go about with a large bag of sweetmeats in what your fathercalls "the trap." I think of you very often, Terence, and your father andI generally talk about you all the evening. By what he says you must havebeen a very naughty boy, indeed, before you became a soldier. Do take careof yourself. We shall be very, very anxious about you as soon as we hearthat fighting has begun again. I hope you think very often of your veryloving cousin, MARY O'CONNOR._
"She will do a world of good to my father," Terence said to himself as heput down the letters. "After being so long in the regiment he would havefelt being alone in that old place horribly, especially as it has, ofcourse, been a terrible trial to him to be laid aside just as a bigcampaign is beginning. She will keep him alive, and he won't have any timeto mope. Even if for no other reason, it is a lucky thing indeed that Iwas able to get Mary out. I sha'n't feel a bit anxious about him now."