The Bravest of the Brave — or, with Peterborough in Spain

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER IX: THE ADVANCE INTO VALENCIA

  The Earl of Peterborough had not satisfied himself with depriving theenemy of all information as to his advance. He took steps to confuse andalarm them by false news. By means of large bribes he prevailed upon twopeasants to carry each a copy of the same letter to Colonel Jones, whocommanded in San Matteo. He took the further step of insuring theirloyalty by arresting their families as hostages, and, moreover, tookcare that they should know nothing as to the real state of things thatthey could report if treacherously inclined.

  He arranged that one of them should go in first and, passing through thebesiegers' lines, should arouse their suspicions, and should then, whenarrested, give up the letter concealed upon him, and should also betraythe route by which his companion was endeavoring to reach the city,so that the second messenger would also be captured and his letter betaken. The letters were as follows:

  "To COLONEL JONES: You will hardly believe yourself what this letterinforms you of, if it come safe to you; and though I have taken the bestprecaution, it will do little prejudice if it falls into the enemy'shands, since they shall see and feel my troops almost as soon as theycan receive intelligence, should it be betrayed to them. The end forwhich I venture it to you is that you may prepare to open the furthestgate toward Valencia, and have four thousand Miquelets ready, whowill have the employment they love and are fit for, the pursuing andpillaging a flying enemy. The country is as one can wish for theirentire destruction. Be sure, upon the first appearance of our troops andthe first discharge of our artillery, you answer with an English halloo,and take to the mountains on the heights with all your men. The Condede las Torres must take the plains, the hills on the left being almostimpassable, and secured by five or six thousand of the country people.But what will gall him most will be the whole regiment of Nebot, whichrevolted to us near Valencia, is likewise among us.

  "I was eight days ago myself in Barcelona, and I believe the Conde delas Torres must have so good intelligence from thence that he cannot beignorant of it. What belongs to my own troops and my own resolutionsI can easily keep from them, though nothing else. You know the force Ihave, and the multitudes that are gathering from all parts against us,so I am forced to put the whole into this action, which must be decidedto give any hopes to our desperate game. By nine or ten, within an hourafter you can receive this, you will discover us on the tops of thehills, not two cannon shot from their camp.

  "The advantages of the sea are inconceivable, and have contributed tobring about what you could never expect to see, a force almost equalto the enemy in number, and you know that less would do our business.Besides, never men were so transported as to be brought in such secrecyso near an enemy. I have near six thousand men locked up this nightwithin the walls of Traguera. I do not expect you will believe it tillyou see them.

  "You know we had a thousand foot and two hundred dragoons in Tortosa.Wills and a thousand foot English and Dutch came down the Ebro in boats,and I embarked a thousand more at Tarragona when I landed at Vinaroz,and the artillery from thence I brought in country carts. It was easyto assemble the horse. Zinzendorf and Moras are as good as our own,and with our English dragoons make up in all near two thousand. But thewhole depends upon leaving them a retreat without interruption.

  "Dear Jones, prove a good dragoon, be diligent and alert, and preach thewelcome doctrine to your Miquelets, plunder without danger.

  "Your friend, PETERBOROUGH."

  The two letters fell into the hands of Las Torres, and so artfully hadthe capture been contrived, that it never occurred to him to doubt thetruth of these mendacious documents. Orders were instantly given toprepare for a march, and almost at the same time two events occurred inthe siege works which caused confusion of the troops. Several mines hadbeen unskillfully sunk and charged; one of these prematurely explodedand destroyed forty of the workmen. The remaining mines Colonel Jonescontrived to swamp by turning the course of a brook into them, thusrendering them harmless. While the troops were confused with thesedisasters, the news of the contents of the intercepted letters spreadthrough the camp, causing a general panic; and almost immediatelyafterward the advance guard of Peterborough's force were seen, accordingto the promise contained in the letters, on the crests of the hills.

  By able management the twelve hundred men were made to appear vastlymore numerous than they were. The dragoons showed in various partiesat different points of the hilltops, and, after pausing as if toreconnoiter the camp, galloped back as if to carry information to a mainbody behind; while the infantry availed themselves of the wooded anduneven ground to conceal their weakness. It seemed, indeed, to the enemythat the tops of all the hills and the avenues of approach were coveredby advancing columns. Las Torres, unsuspicious of stratagem, was nowconvinced that his position was one of extreme danger, while confusionreigned in the camp. The tents were hastily struck, the guns spiked, andin a few minutes the Spanish army started along the Valencia road in aretreat which might almost be called a flight.

  Colonel Jones, seeing the confusion that reigned, instantly sallied fromthe town with his whole force in pursuit, and followed Las Torres fornearly two leagues to Penasol, inflicting a loss of nearly three hundredmen upon the Spaniards; while Peterborough on the other side marched hisforce through the abandoned intrenchments and into the town. Scarcelyhalting, however, he made a show of pursuit as far as Albocazer, butalways keeping to the hills with such caution that in case the enemyshould learn his weakness, his retreat would still be secured. While onthe march a courier overtook him with two dispatches--the one fromKing Charles, the other from the English resident with the court atBarcelona.

  The king told him that he would be obliged to countermand thereinforcements he had promised him for the relief of San Matteo, inconsequence of the unfavorable state of affairs elsewhere. It,however, conveyed to Peterborough something which he valued more thanreinforcements, namely, full power to act in accordance with his owndiscretion. The dispatch from the British resident told him that newshad come that the Duke of Berwick, with the main army of France, freedby the retreat of Lord Galway from all trouble on the western side ofSpain, was in full march for Catalonia.

  The Prince of Serclaes, with four thousand men, watched the smallgarrison at Lerida; the Duke of Noailles, with eight thousand Frenchtroops from Roussillon, threatened Catalonia on a third side; whilePhilip and Marshal Tesse had collected ten thousand men at Madrid. Theletter concluded with the words: "There is nothing here but distrust,discontent, and despair."

  The responsibility left by the king's letter upon Peterborough wasgreat indeed. On the one hand, if he did not return to the defense ofCatalonia, the king might be exposed to imminent danger; and, on theother, if he repassed the Ebro he might be accused of having leftValencia and its loyal inhabitants to their fate, and would haveforfeited all the advantages that his audacity and skill had alreadygained.

  His difficulties in any case were enormous. His infantry were marchingalmost barefooted; they were clothed in rags. The season was inclement,the country mountainous and rough, and the horses of the dragoons soexhausted that they could scarcely carry their riders. In obedience tohis instructions, here, as at Tortosa, he assembled his officers in acouncil of war and asked their opinion. They were unanimous in sayingthat, with the small and exhausted force under his orders, no furtheroperation could be undertaken for the conquest of Valencia, but that thelittle army should post itself in such a position as might afford thegreatest facility for protecting the king.

  Peterborough had thus on one side not only the difficulty of theposition, but the opinion of the council of war against a furtheradvance; but on the other hand he knew the anxiety of the king thathelp should be given to the Valencians. He therefore announced to hisofficers a resolution as desperate as that ever formed by a sane man.He had listened gravely and in silence while the officers gave theiropinion, and then ordered that the footsore infantry, with a few ofthe horse, should march back to Vinaroz, a little town on the
seaside aday's journey from Tortosa, where in case of necessity they might embarkin boats and be taken off to the ships. Then, to the stupefaction ofhis officers, he announced his intention of himself proceeding with theremaining dragoons, about a hundred and fifty in number, to conquer theprovince of Valencia!

  In vain the officers remonstrated, the earl was firm. The councilthen broke up, and the troops prepared for their march in oppositedirections.

  The parting of Peterborough and his officers was very sad, for theydoubted not it was a final one.

  "I will yet endeavor," he said, "however our circumstances seemdesperate, to secure the kingdom of Valencia; and since the king hasthought conquest possible in this present case, he cannot complain of mymotions, however rash they might appear. I am resolved, therefore, neverto repass the Ebro without positive orders from him."

  Before starting the earl wrote to Charles and explained fully hisintentions. It is evident from the tone of his letter that Peterboroughdid not expect to survive this extraordinary expedition. The languageis grave and firm, and, though respectful, full of stronger remonstranceand more homely advice than often reaches kings. It concluded:

  "I have had but little share in your councils. If our advance hadbeen approved, if your majesty had trusted us... if your majesty hadpermitted me to march into the kingdom of Valencia, when I so earnestlydesired it, without making me stay under pretense of the march ofimaginary troops; if your majesty would have believed me on thatoccasion, your majesty would have had this time not only a viceroy ofValencia but the kingdom. With what force I have I am going to marchstraight to Valencia. I can take no other measures, leaving the rest toProvidence. The time lost (so much against my inclination) exposes me toa sacrifice, at least I will perish with honor, and as a man deserving abetter fate."

  The earl now again sent orders to one thousand Spanish foot and threehundred horse, which had before been nominally placed at his disposal,but had never moved from the town in which they were garrisoned, tofollow him into Valencia; and at the same time he wrote to Colonel Willsto march immediately with a like number of English horse and foot to hisassistance.

  The king, on the receipt of Peterborough's letter, issued positive andperemptory orders that the Spanish troops were at once to be set inmotion. Colonel Wills wrote in reply that an important action had takenplace at San Esteban de Litera on the 26th and 27th of January, betweenGeneral Conyngham with his brigade and the Chevalier d'Asfeldt, inwhich, after a bloody contest, the French were driven from the fieldwith a heavy loss of killed, wounded, and prisoners, the allies hadalso suffered serious loss, and General Conyngham had received a mortalwound. The command, therefore, had devolved upon himself.

  Having seen the infantry march off, Peterborough, attended only by histwo aides de camp, took his place at the head of his handful of cavalryand proceeded on his desperate enterprise--an enterprise the mostextraordinary that has ever taken place between enemies of an equaldegree of civilization. It was a war of a general with a small escort,but literally without an army, against able officers with thousands ofdisciplined troops and numerous defensible towns and positions, againstenormous difficulties of country, against want and fatigue in everyshape, and above all, against hope itself.

  And yet no one who had witnessed that little body march off wouldhave supposed that they were entering upon what seemed an impossibleexpedition--an expedition from which none could come back alive. Wornout and sorry as was the appearance of the horses, ragged and dirty thatof their riders, the latter were in high spirits. The contagion of theextraordinary energy and audacity of their chief had spread among them;they had an absolute confidence in his genius, and they entered upon theromantic enterprise with the ardor of schoolboys.

  Not less was the spirit of the two young aides de camp. Before startingthe earl had offered them the option of marching away with the infantry.

  "It is not that I doubt your courage, lads, for I marked you both underfire at Montjuich, but the fatigues will be terrible. You have alreadysupported, in a manner which has surprised me, the work which you haveundergone. You have already borne far more than your full share of thehardships of the campaign, and I have, in my dispatches, expressed avery strong opinion to the government as to the value of the servicesyou have rendered. You are both very young, and I should be sorry to seeyour lives sacrificed in such an enterprise as that I am undertaking,and shall think no less of you if you elect now to have a period ofrest."

  The young men had, however, so firmly and emphatically declined to leavehim that the earl had accepted their continued service.

  The cavalry, instead of keeping in a compact body, were broken up intoparties of ten, all of whom followed different roads, spreading, throughevery hamlet they passed, the news that a great army, of which they werethe forerunners, was following hotly behind. So that should any peasantsfavorable to Philip's cause carry the news to Las Torres, that generalwould be forced to believe that he was being pursued by a veritablearmy. Many stragglers of the retreating force were picked up and handedover to the peasantry to be sent as prisoners into Catalonia.

  For the most part the little parties of cavalry were well received bythe populace; the majority of Valencians were in favor of King Charles,and that night, when they halted, the weary horses obtained amplesupplies of grain and forage, and the troopers were made welcome to thebest the villages afforded.

  A few extra horses were purchased by Peterborough during the day, andit was well for his aides de camp that it was so, for scarcely hadthey finished their meal than Peterborough ordered them again into thesaddle. They were to ride by crossroads right and left to the villageswhere the different detachments had been ordered to halt, and totell them the routes marked out for them by which they would againconcentrate at midday, so as to ride in comparatively strong forcethrough a small town on the main road, whence news might, notimprobably, be sent on to Las Torres. After that they were again todisperse and pervade the country.

  Jack and Graham carried out these orders, taking guides from eachvillage through which they passed to the next, and it was near midnightbefore they had finished their work. At four in the morning everydetachment was in motion, and at noon the troop was again concentrated.Here the earl learned that a detachment of the enemy had remained behindat Alcala, and, instead of carrying out his previous plan, he rodestraight with the whole of his dragoons to that town. When he approachedit he divided his force into three bodies, which entered the placesimultaneously by different gates, and the Spanish detachment, twohundred strong, at once laid down their arms.

  Evening was now approaching, and as the horses and dragoons were utterlyworn out, Peterborough halted for the night. He at once called togetherthe principal inhabitants, and informed them that he required all thehorses in the town, with such saddlery as they could obtain, to becollected and forwarded for his use to a point he named.

  The next morning the march was continued. Las Torres had continued hisflight, and this was hastened when he heard of the capture of Alcala. Hepushed through the town of Borriol and hastened on to Villa Real, a townstrongly favorable to King Charles. It opened its gates, however, onthe solemn promise of Las Torres to respect the life and property of theinhabitants; but no sooner had his troops entered than he gave the orderfor a general massacre and the sack of the town. This ferocious orderwas executed, and very few of the inhabitants escaped with their lives.

  The following day, on the news coming in from various points in his rearthat the enemy were pressing after him, he marched his dispirited armyto Nules, where the inhabitants were well affected. In answer to hisappeal a thousand of the citizens enrolled themselves and undertookto defend the town till the last against the English. Having assuredhimself of their earnestness Las Torres inspected the muster, and,having viewed all the dispositions for defense, continued hisflight. Nules was fortified by strong walls flanked with towers, thefortifications were in an excellent state of defense, and the town couldhave resisted a siege by a considerable ar
my.

  On arriving at Villa Real the British were horrified at the hideousmassacre which had taken place. They went from house to house and foundeverywhere the bodies of the slaughtered inhabitants, and the ardor ofthe dragoons was, if possible, heightened by the sight. They made but ashort stay here and then galloped on to Nules. As they neared the towna fire of musketry was opened from the walls, but, wholly disregardingthis, the earl at the head of his men dashed up to the gates anddemanded, in an imperious tone, that the principal inhabitants shouldassemble and hold parley with him.

  The boldness of the earl's manner and the imperative tone in which hespoke so astonished the citizens on the walls that they ceased firing,and sent for their magistrates and priests. When these assembled on thewall Peterborough told them in an angry tone that he gave them onlysix minutes for deliberation, and that if they offered the slightestresistance he would repeat at Nules the massacre which Las Torreshad carried out at Villa Real. He added that, unless they instantlysurrendered, he would blow down their walls the moment his artillery andengineers arrived. The terror stricken magistrates at once summoned thetown council, and, upon their repeating Peterborough's terrible threats,it was resolved at once to surrender, and the six minutes had scarcelyelapsed when the gates fell back on their hinges, and Peterborough andhis dragoons entered the town in triumph.

  Here the wearied band enjoyed a rest for some days, Peterboroughspreading the alarm, which his presence excited, by giving orders thatgreat quantities of provisions and forage should be brought in fromall directions for the supply of the large army which he stated to befollowing at his heels. As it never occurred to any one that he couldbe pursuing an army of seven thousand men through a hostile countrywith only a handful of dragoons, his statements were not doubted. Therequisitions were complied with, and provisions and stores poured intothe town.

  Las Torres at Almenara, where he had again perpetrated a horriblemassacre, heard the news of great preparations that Peterborough wasmaking for the supply of his army, and considering his position to beunsafe again retreated hastily.

  At Nules two hundred horses were found and at once appropriated for theuse of the army. With a portion of his force Peterborough rode out toCastillon de la Plana, an open town of some size, where the people werewell affected to the Austrian cause. Here he secured four hundred morehorses, at the same time assuring both friends and foes that hisarmy was driving the enemy out of the kingdom. On entering Nules,Peterborough had sent orders for Lord Barrymore's regiment of Britishinfantry, at that time under the command of Colonel Pierce, to marchfrom Vinaroz, where they had been sent with the rest of the infantryfrom San Matteo to Oropesa, a town about nine miles from Castillon,where he had collected all the horses he had obtained during his march.

  When the news reached Nules of the arrival of this regiment at Oropesa,Lord Peterborough at once rode over. The regiment was formed up for hisinspection; it had marched with the greatest speed, and the men wereworn out and footsore with their long tramp over the stony hills. Afterinspecting them the earl paid them a high compliment upon their pastachievements, and concluded by expressing his wish that they had buthorses and accouterments to try whether a corps of so high a characterwould maintain their reputation in the novelty of mounted service.

  The joke of their eccentric general seemed but a poor one to thefootsore and almost shoeless men, but they were astonished when Jackrode forward and presented to each of the officers a commission,which he had drawn out in the earl's name, as cavalry officers. Theirastonishment was changed to delight when Peterborough marched them tothe brow of the hill where they stood, and they saw eight bodies ofhorses drawn up in order ready for their eight companies. Amongthese were set apart three good chargers for each captain, two forlieutenants, and one for cornets. He ordered the regiment to mount, and,immensely amused at their sudden elevation to the cavalry service, thetroops rode back to the town.

  From the moment when he started from San Matteo Peterborough had, inspite of his incessant exertions and multifarious cares, been quietlymaking preparations for this event. He had sent to Barcelona for thenecessary accouterments for these men and for the dismounted Britishdragoons. The accouterments had been sent from Barcelona to the nearestport on the seacoast, and by continually urging on the local carriersthe earl had, in nine days after leaving San Matteo, collected them inreadiness at his depot at Castillon, and thus raised his little bandof horse to nearly a thousand men. These he dispersed at once among thewell affected towns of the neighborhood, whose walls would render themsafe from the attack of an enemy unsupported by artillery, moving themconstantly from place to place, partly to accustom them to their newduties, partly to confuse the enemy as to their numbers.