by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XIX.
VITTORIA.
General Clausel fell back as Wellington advanced to Burgos, and theBritish laid siege to the castle of that place. Like all Wellington'ssieges this was commenced with a wholly insufficient train ofartillery, and without the time necessary to carry out regular siegeoperations. A considerable portion of the army were posted so as towatch Clausel. The place was badly fortified, but the French underGovernor Dubreton defended themselves with immense skill and courage,the English assaults were repulsed, successful sorties were made bythe garrison, and at last, after the failure of the fourth assault,the siege was given up, and the allied armies turned their faces oncemore towards Portugal.
It was time; the operations in the south upon which Wellington hadrelied to keep at least a portion of the French forces engaged, hadfailed signally, and the French generals were bringing up theirtroops from all parts of Spain, and General Souham, having under himGenerals Clausel, Maucune, and Foy, with a force far superior tothat of the British, advanced to give battle. Then Wellington, whoseAnglo-Portuguese troops were much weakened by sickness, fell backrapidly, sending orders to General Hill, who commanded the troops leftbehind in Madrid, to evacuate that city, and to fall back and unitewith him on the Tormes.
It was only by some masterly maneuvering and some stiff fighting atVenta de Pozo, on the Carrion, and on the Huebra, that Wellington drewoff his army to Ciudad Rodrigo.
During the retreat the British suffered very severely, and thediscipline of the army became greatly impaired, so much so that LordWellington issued a general order rebuking the army, saying that"discipline had deteriorated during the campaign in a greater degreethan he had ever witnessed or read of in any army, and this withoutany unusual privation or hardship, or any long marches."
The number of stragglers may be imagined by the fact that the loss ofthe allied army was upwards of nine thousand, of whom not more thantwo thousand were killed and wounded at Burgos, and in the combatsduring the retreat. This number includes the Spanish as well as theAnglo-Portuguese loss.
It was the beginning of December when the allied army reached theirwinter quarters around Ciudad Rodrigo. It was fortunate that theseason of the year, and the necessity which the French had to refilltheir magazines, and collect food, gave breathing time and rest tothe British. Although strengthened by his junction with Hill, and bythe arrival of reinforcements from the coast, Wellington was not in aposition to have made a stand against such a force as the French couldhave brought against him.
Tom and Peter Scudamore had rejoined the army at the hottest partof the siege of Burgos, and had taken up their work at once. LordWellington heard from Tom a brief account of what had taken place,and said a few kind words expressive of his pleasure at their bothhaving escaped from so great a peril, and, grave and preoccupied ashe was with the position of his army, he yet laughed at the accountof the scare Sam had given the guerillas. Among their friends nothingwas talked of for a day or two but their adventure. The times werestirring, however, and one event rapidly drove out another. Sambecame a greater favorite than ever among the officers of the staff,while the orderlies were never tired of hearing how he pretty nearlyfrightened a band of guerillas to death by pretending to be the evilone in person.
The next four months were passed in preparations for the grand attackwith which Wellington confidently hoped to drive the French out ofSpain. The news of the defeat of Napoleon in Russia had cheered thehearts of the enemies of France, and excited them to make a greateffort to strike a decisive blow. The French army was weakened by thewithdrawal of several corps to strengthen the armies which Napoleonwas raising for his campaign in Germany, and British gold had been sofreely spent, that the Portuguese army was now in a really efficientstate; a portion of the Spanish army had been handed over toWellington, and were now in a far more trustworthy condition thanthey had been heretofore, while the whole of the north of Spain wasin a state of insurrection, which the French, in spite of all theirefforts, were unable to repress.
The invasion was delayed until the end of May, in order that the cropsmight be in a fit state for the subsistence of the cavalry and baggageanimals; but in the last week in that month all was ready, and, inseveral columns, the allied army poured into Spain nearly a hundredthousand strong. The French, ignorant alike of Wellington's intentionsand preparations, were in no position to stem effectually this mightywave of war, and were driven headlong before it, with many fierceskirmishes, until their scattered forces were, for the most part,united on the Ebro.
Here Joseph occupied a strong position, which he thought to hold untilthe whole of his troops could come up; but Wellington made a detour,swept round his right, and the French fell back in haste, and tookup their position in the basin of Vittoria, where all the stores andbaggage which had been carried off as the army retreated from Madrid,Valladolid, Burgos, and other towns, were collected. At Vittoria weregathered the Court, and an enormous mass of fugitives, as all theSpaniards who had adhered to the cause of Joseph had, with theirwives and families, accompanied the French in their retreat. Hencethe accumulation of baggage animals, and carts, of stores of alldescriptions, of magazines, of food and artillery, of helpless,frightened people, was enormous, and, for the retreat of the army incase of defeat, there was but one good road, already encumbered withbaggage and fugitives!
This terrible accumulation arose partly from the fault of Joseph, whowas wholly unequal to the supreme command in an emergency like thepresent. Confused and bewildered by the urgency of the danger, he hadhesitated, wavered, and lost precious time. By resistance at any ofthe rivers, which Wellington had passed unopposed, he might easilyhave gained a few days, and thus have allowed time for the great massof fugitives to reach the French frontier, and for Foy and Clausel,each of whom were within a day's march upon the day of the battle, tohave arrived with a reinforcement of 20,000 good fighting men. Insteadof this, he had suffered himself to be outflanked day after day, andhis army forced into retreat, without an effort at resistance--acourse of action irritating and disheartening to all troops, butespecially to the French, who, admirable in attack, are easilydispirited, and are ill suited to defensive warfare.
The position which he had now chosen for the battle, on which hiskingdom was to be staked, was badly selected for the action. The frontwas, indeed, covered by the river Zadora, but this was crossed byseven available bridges, none of which had been broken down, whilethere was but the one good line of retreat, and this, besides beingalready encumbered with baggage-wagons, could be easily turned by theallies. The French army, weakened by 5000 men, who had marched uponthe preceding days, in charge of convoys for France, were still about70,000 strong, the allies--British, Portuguese, and Spanish--about80,000. The French were the strongest in artillery.
Wellington, seeing that Joseph had determined to stand at bay, madehis arrangements for the battle. On the left, Graham, with 20,000 men,was to attempt to cross the Zadora at Gamara Mayor, when he wouldfind himself on the main road, behind Vittoria, and so cut the Frenchline of retreat. Hill, with a like force, was to attack on the right,through the defile of Puebla, and so, entering the basin of Vittoria,to threaten the French right, and obtain possession of the bridge ofNanclares. In the center, Wellington himself, with 30,000 troops,would force the four bridges in front of the French center, and attacktheir main position.
At daybreak on the 21st of June, 1813, the weather being rainy withsome mist, the troops moved from their quarters on the Bayas, passedin columns over the bridges in front, and slowly approached theZadora. About ten o'clock, Hill seized the village of Puebla, andcommenced the passage of the defile, while one of the Portuguesebattalions scaled the heights above. Here the French met them, and afierce fight ensued; the French were reinforced on their side, whilethe 71st Regiment and a battalion of light infantry joined thePortuguese.
Villette's division was sent from the French center to join the fray,while Hill sent up reinforcements. While the fight on the heightsstill raged,
the troops in the defile made their way through, and,driving the French back, won the village of Subijano de Alava, infront of the French main position.
Meanwhile, far to the left, Graham came into action with Reille'sdivision at Gamara Mayor. The French here, knowing the vitalimportance of the position, fought desperately, and the village ofGamara was taken and retaken several times, but no effort upon thepart of the allies sufficed to carry either the bridge at this placeor that by which the main road crossed the river higher up. A force,however, was pushed still farther to the left, and there took up aposition on the road at Durana, drove back a Franco-Spanish forcewhich occupied it, and thus effectively cut the main line of retreatto France for Joseph's army. The main force under Wellington himselfwas later in coming into action, the various columns being delayed bythe difficulties of making their way through the defiles.
While waiting, however, for the third and seventh divisions, whichwere the last to arrive, a peasant informed Wellington that the bridgeof Tres Puentes was unbroken and unguarded. Kempt's brigade of thelight division were immediately ordered to cross, and, being concealedby the inequalities of the ground, they reached it and passed overunobserved, taking their place under shelter of a crest within a fewhundred yards of the French main line of battle, and actually in rearof his advanced posts.
Some French cavalry now advanced, but no attack was made upon thisisolated body of British troops, for the French were virtually withouta commander.
Joseph, finding his flank menaced by the movements of Graham and Hill,now ordered the army to fall back to a crest two miles in the rear,but at this moment the third and seventh divisions advanced at a runtowards the bridge of Mendoza, the French artillery opened upon them,the British guns replied, a heavy musketry fire broke out on bothsides, and the battle commenced in earnest. Now the advantage gainedby the passage of Kempt's brigade became manifest, for the riflemenof his division advanced and took the French advanced cavalry andartillery in flank. These, thus unexpectedly attacked, fell backhastily, and a brigade of the third division took advantage of themoment and crossed the bridge of Mendoza. The other brigade forded theriver a little higher up, the seventh division and Vandeleur's brigadeof the light division followed, Hill pushed the enemy farther back,and the fourth division crossed by the bridge of Nanclares; othertroops forded the river, and the battle became general all along theline.
Seeing that the hill in front of Arinez was nearly denuded of troopsby the withdrawal of Villette's division earlier in the day to opposeHill, Wellington launched Picton with the third division and Kempt'sbrigade against it, and the French, thus attacked with great strengthand fury, and dispirited by the order to retreat, began to fall back.Fifty pieces of artillery and a cloud of skirmishers covered themovement, and the British guns answering, the whole basin becamefilled with a heavy smoke, under cover of which the French retiredto the heights in front of Gomecha, upon which their reserves wereposted. Picton and Kempt carried the village of Arinez with thebayonet, Vandeleur captured the village of Margarita, and the 87thRegiment won that of Hermandad.
This advance turned the flank of the French troops near Subijana deAlava, and of those on the Puebla mountain, and both fell back indisorder for two miles, until they made a junction with the main bodyof their army. Still the British troops pressed forward, the Frenchagain fell back, and for six miles a running fight of musketry andartillery was kept up, the ground being very broken, and preventingthe concerted action of large bodies of troops. At six o'clock in theafternoon the French stood at bay on the last heights before Vittoria,upon which stood the villages of Ali and Armentia. Behind them wasthe plain upon which the city stood, and beyond the city thousandsof carriages, animals, and non-combatants, women, and children, werecrowded together in the extremity of terror as the British shots rangmenacingly over their heads.
The French here defended themselves desperately, and for a while theallied advance was checked by the terrible fire of shot and shell.Then the fourth division with a rush carried a hill on the left, andthe French again commenced their retreat. Joseph, finding the greatroad absolutely blocked up, gave orders for a retreat by the road toSalvatierra, and the army, leaving the town of Vittoria on its left,moved off in a compact mass towards the indicated road. This, however,like the other, was choked with carriages. It led through a swamp,and had deep ditches on each side; the artillery, therefore, had tocut their traces and leave their guns behind them, the infantry andcavalry thrust aside the encumbrances and continued their march.Reille, who had defended the upper bridges nobly until the lastmoment, now came up, and his division acting as a rear guard, coveredthe retreat, and the French retired with little further loss.
They had lost the battle solely and entirely from the utter incapacityof their general, for their loss had been but little greater thanthat of the allies, and they fell back in perfect order and full offighting. The French loss, including prisoners, was not more than6000, and that of the allies exceeded 5000. The French loss, however,in material was enormous. They carried off two guns only, and 143fell into the hands of the British. They lost all their parks ofammunition, all their baggage, all their stores, all their treasures,all their booty. Last of all, they lost Spain.
The British pursued the French army for some days, and then investedthe two fortresses of San Sebastian and Pampeluna.
Ten days after the battle of Vittoria, Napoleon despatched Soult, oneof the best of his generals, to displace Joseph and assume the supremecommand of the French troops. Traveling with great speed, he reachedthe frontier upon the 11th of July and took command. He soon collectedtogether the divisions which had retired beaten but not routed fromVittoria, drew together the troops from Bayonne and the surroundingtowns, and in a few days found himself at the head of an army,including the garrisons, of 114,000 men. Besides these there were thearmies of Aragon and Catalonia, numbering 60,000 men.
After spending a few days in organizing the army, Soult moved forwardto relieve Pampeluna, and then in the heart of the Pyrenees werefought those desperate combats at Maya, Roncevalles, Buenza, Sauroren,and Dona Maria, which are known in history as the battles of thePyrenees. In these terrible nine days' fighting there were ten seriouscombats, in which the allies lost 7300 men, the French, includingprisoners, over 15,000, and Soult fell back baffled and beaten acrossthe frontier.
Throughout this account of the short and sanguinary campaign by whichin two short months Wellington shattered the power of the French anddrove them headlong from the Peninsula, but little has been saidrespecting the doings of the Scudamores. Their duties had been heavy,but devoid of any personal achievements or events. Wellington, theincarnation of activity himself, spared no one around him, and fromearly dawn until late at night they were on horseback, carrying ordersand bringing back reports. At night their quarters were sometimesin a village hut, sometimes in a straggling chateau, which affordedaccommodation to the commander-in-chief and his whole staff.
Sam, a good horseman now, was in the highest of spirits at being ableto accompany his masters, and, although the Spanish women crossedthemselves in horror when they first saw his black face, the boyswould hear shouts of laughter arising before they had been a quarterof an hour in fresh quarters. He was a capital cook, and a wonderfulhand at hunting up provisions.
There might not be a sign of a feathered creature in a village whenthe staff came in, but in half an hour Sam would be sure to returnfrom foraging with a couple of fowls and his handkerchief full ofeggs. These were, of course, paid for, as the orders against pillagingwere of the strictest character, and the army paid, and paidhandsomely for everything it ate.
It was, however, difficult to persuade the peasants that payment wasintended, and they would hide everything away with vigilant care atthe approach of the troops. When by the display of money they werereally persuaded that payment was intended, they would produce allthat they had willingly enough, but the number of officers wantingto purchase was so great and the amount of live stock so small inthe
war-ravaged country, that few indeed could obtain even for moneyanything beside the tough rations of freshly-killed beef issued by thecommissariat.
Let the supply be ever so short, however, Sam never returnedempty-handed, and the fowls were quickly plucked and on the firebefore any one else had succeeded in discovering that there was a birdin the village.
Sam's foraging powers passed into a joke with the staff, and theScudamores became so curious to discover the reason of his success,that after repeated questioning they persuaded him to tell them.
"Well, massa, de matter berry simple--just easy as fallin' off log.Sam go along, look into yard ob de cottages, presently see featherhere, feather there. Dat sign ob fowl. Den knock at door. Woman openalways, gib little squeak when she see dis gentleman's colored face.Den she say, 'What you want? Dis house full. Quarter-master take himup for three, four officer.' Den Sam say, 'Illustrious madam, me wantto buy two fowls and eggs for master,' and Sam show money in hand. Denshe hesitate a little, and not believe Sam mean to pay. Den she say,'No fowls here.' Den Sam point to de feathers. Den she get in rage andtell lie and say, 'Dem birds all stole yesterday.' Den Sam see it timeto talk to de birds--he know dem shut up somewhere in de dark, and Samhe begin to crow berry loud; Sam berry good at dat. He crow for allde world like de cock. Dis wake dem up, and a minute one, two, three,half a dozen cock begin to answer eider from a loft ober house, orfrom shed, or from somewhere. Den de woman in terrible fright, shesay, 'Me sell you two quick, if you will go away and swear you tell noone.' Den Sam swear. Den she run away, come back wid de fowls and someeggs, and always berry much astonished when Sam pay for dem. After datshe lose her fear, she see me pay, and she sells de chickens to oderswhen they come till all gone. Dat how dis chile manage de affairs,Massa Tom."
The Scudamores had a hearty laugh, and were well pleased to find thatSam's method was one to which not even the strictest disciplinariancould object, a matter concerning which they had previously had gravedoubts.
While the battles of the Pyrenees were being fought, the siege ofSt. Sebastian had continued, and once again the British troops hadsuffered a terrible loss, from the attempt to carry a fortress withan insufficient siege-train, and without the time necessary to drivethe trenches forward in regular form. St. Sebastian stood upon apeninsula. In front of the neck of this peninsula was the hill of SanBartholomeo, on which stood the convent of that name. At the narrowestpart of the neck stood a redoubt, which was called the Cask Redoubt,because it was constructed of casks filled with stand. Behind thiscame the horn-work and other fortifications. Then came the town, whileat the end of the peninsula rose a steep rock, called Mount Orgullo,on which stood the citadel. Upon its left side this neck of land wasseparated from the mainland by the River Urumea; and upon the heightsof Mount Olia and the Chofres, across the Urumea, were placed theBritish batteries, which breached the fortifications facing the river.
General Graham commanded the allied forces, which were detached toundertake the siege, and on the 10th of July batteries were commencedagainst the convent of San Bartholomeo, which had been fortified bythe French. On the 17th the convent was in ruins, and an assault wasmade upon the position. The 9th Regiment took the place in gallantstyle, but an attempt being made to carry the cask redoubt, with arush, the assault was repulsed, the British remaining possessors ofSan Bartholomeo.
On the 24th the batteries on Mount Olia, having effected what wasbelieved to be a practicable breach, 2000 men of the fifth division,consisting of the 3d battalion of the Royals, the 38th, and the 9th,made an assault at night. To arrive at the breach they had to maketheir way along the slippery rocks on the bed of the Urumea, exposedto a flank-fire from the river-wall of the town. The breachers hadbeen isolated from the town, and guns placed to take the stormers inflank. The confusion and slaughter were terrible, and at daybreak thesurvivors fell back, with a loss of forty-nine officers and 520 men.
The whole arrangement of the siege was bad. The plan of Major Smith,of the engineers, a most excellent officer, which had been approvedby Wellington, was not followed, and the assault, contrary toWellington's explicit order, took place at night, instead of by day,the consequence being confusion, delay, and defeat. The total loss tothe allies of this first siege of St. Sebastian was 1300 men.
Neither of the Scudamores were present at the first siege, but bothwitnessed the second assault, of the 31st of August, as Wellingtonhimself was present on the 30th, to see to the execution of thepreparation for attack, and they obtained leave to remain for the nextday to witness the assault. The siege had been resumed on the 5th ofthat month, and on the 23d the batteries had opened fire in earnest,and immense damage was done to the defenses and garrison. But uponthis occasion, as upon the former one, the proper precautions were nottaken; no lodgment had been effected in the horn-work, and, worst ofall, the blockade had been so negligently conducted by the fleet, thatlarge bodies of fresh troops, guns, and ammunition had been passedin, and the defense was even stronger than it had been when the firstassault was delivered.
General Graham took up his position on the heights of the Chofres toview the assault, and the Scudamores stationed themselves near him.A dense mist hid the fortress from view, and it was not until eighto'clock that the batteries were able to open. Then for three hoursthey poured a storm of shot and shell upon the defences. TheScudamores sat down in one of the trenches, where they were a littlesheltered from the blazing heat of the sun, and Sam took his place ata short distance from them.
As the clock struck eleven the fire slackened, and at that moment Samexclaimed, "Grolly, Massa Tom, dere dey go." As he spoke Robinson'sbrigade poured out from the trenches, and, passing through theopenings in the sea-wall, began to form on the beach.
It was known that the French had mined the angle of the walloverhanging the beach, and a sergeant, followed by twelve men, dashedgallantly forward to try to cut the train leading to the mine. He wasunsuccessful, but the suddenness of the rush startled the French, whoat once fired the mine, which exploded, destroying the brave sergeantand his party, and thirty of the leading men of the column, but notdoing a tithe of the damage which it would have inflicted had thecolumn been fairly under it.
"Hurrah! dere dey go," Sam exclaimed as the column clambered overthe ruins and pursued its way unchecked along the beach. They had,however, to make their way under a storm of fire.
The French, as before, lined the wall, and poured a tremendousmusketry fire into their flank, and the batteries of Mount Orgullo andSt. Elmo plied them with shot and shell, while two pieces of cannon onthe cavalier and one on the horn-work raked them with grape.
Still the column neither halted nor faltered, but dashed, like a wave,up the breach. When, however, they reached the top they could go nofarther. A deep gulf separated them from the town, while from everyloop-hole and wall behind, the French musketry swept the breach. Thetroops could not advance and would not retreat, but sullenly stoodtheir ground, heaping the breach with their dead. Fresh bodies of mencame up, and each time a crowd of brave men mounted the breach, onlyto sink down beneath the storm of fire.
"This is awful, horrible, Tom!" Peter said in a choked voice. "Comeaway, I can't look at this slaughter, it is a thousand times worsethan any battle."
Tom made no reply, his own eyes were dim with tears, and he rose togo, taking one more look at the deadly breach, at whose foot thesurvivors of the last attempt had sunk down, and whence the mass ofsoldiers were keeping up a musketry fire against the guns and unseenfoes who were sweeping them away, when an officer ran up from GeneralGraham's side, and in a minute fifty guns from the Chofres batteriesopened a storm of fire upon the curtain and the traverses behind thebreach.
It was a terrible trial to the nerves of the assaulting columns whenthis terrific fire was poured upon a spot only twenty feet above them;but they were not men to shrink, and the men of the light divisionseized the opportunity to pull up the broken masonry and make abreastwork, known in military terms as a lodgment.
For half
an hour the iron storm poured overhead unchecked, smashingthe traverse, knocking down the loop-holed walls, and killing numbersof the defenders. Then it ceased, and the troops leapt to their feet,and again rushed up the breach, while the 13th Portuguese Regiment,followed by a detachment of the 24th, waded across the Urumea under aheavy fire from the castle, and attacked the third breach.
But still no entry could be effected. The French fire was as heavy asever, and the stormers again sank baffled to the foot of the greatbreach. The assault seemed hopeless, the tide was rising, the reserveswere all engaged, and the men had done all that the most desperatecourage could do. For five hours the battle had raged, when, just asall appeared lost, one of those circumstances occurred which upset allcalculations and decide the fate of battles.
Behind the traverses the French had accumulated a great store ofpowder barrels, shells, and other combustibles. Just at this momentthese caught fire. A bright flame wrapped the whole wall, followed bya succession of loud explosions; hundreds of French grenadiers weredestroyed, and before the smoke had cleared away, the British burstlike a flood through the first traverse.
Although bewildered by this sudden disaster, the French rallied, andfought desperately; but the British, desperate with the long agonyof the last five hours, would not be denied; the light divisionpenetrated on the left, the Portuguese on the right. The French, stillresisting obstinately, were driven through the town to the line ofdefense at the foot of Mount Orgullo, and the town of St. Sebastianwas won.
"Will you go across, Peter, and enter the town?"
"No, no, Tom; the sight of that horrible breach is enough for me.Let us mount, and ride off at once. I am quite sick after this awfulsuspense."
It was as well that the Scudamores did not enter the town, as, hadthey done so, they might have shared the fate of several otherofficers, who were shot down while trying to stop the troops in theirwild excesses. No more disgraceful atrocities were ever committed bythe most barbarous nations of antiquity than those which disgraced theBritish name at the storming of St. Sebastian. Shameful, monstrous ashad been the conduct of the troops at the storming of Ciudad Rodrigoand at Badajos, it was infinitely worse at St. Sebastian. As Rapinsays, hell seemed to have broken loose.
The castle held out until the 9th, when it surrendered, and thegovernor and his heroic garrison marched out with the honors of war.The British loss in the second siege exceeded 2500 men and officers.
There was a pause of two months after the fall of St. Sebastian,and it was not until the 10th of November that Wellington hurledhis forces against the lines which, in imitation of those of TorresVedras, Soult had formed and fortified on the river Nivelle towithstand the invasion of France. After a few hours' desperatefighting the French were turned out of their position with a loss ofkilled, wounded, and prisoners, of 4265 men and officers, the loss ofthe allies being 2694.
Now the army of invasion poured into France. The French people,disheartened by Napoleon's misfortunes in Germany, and by the long andmighty sacrifices which they had for years been compelled to make, inorder to enable Napoleon to carry out his gigantic wars, showed butslight hostility to the invaders.
Wellington enforced the severest discipline, paid for everythingrequired for the troops, hanging marauders without mercy, and, findingthat it was impossible to keep the Spanish troops in order, he sentthe whole Spanish contingent, 20,000 strong, back across the Pyrenees.
He then with the Anglo-Portuguese army moved on towards Bayonne, andtook up a position on both sides of the river Nive, driving the Frenchfrom their position on the right bank on December 9th. On the 13th,however, Soult attacked that portion of the army on the right of theriver, and one of the most desperate conflicts of the war took place,known as the battle of St. Pierre. General Hill commanded at thisbattle, and with 14,000 Anglo-Portuguese, with 14 guns, repulsed thefurious and repeated attacks of 16,000 French, with 22 guns.
In five days' fighting on the river the French lost more than as manythousand men.
The weather now for a time interrupted operations, but Wellington waspreparing for the passage of the Adour. Soult guarded the passagesof the river above Bayonne, and never dreamed that an attempt wouldbe made to bridge so wide and rough a river as is the Adour belowthe town. With the assistance of the sailors of the fleet the greatenterprise was accomplished on the 13th of February, and leavingGeneral Hope to contain the force in the entrenched camp at Bayonne,Wellington marched the rest of the army to the Gave.
Behind this river Soult had massed his army. The British crossed bypontoon bridges, and before the operation was concluded, and thetroops united, Soult fell upon them near Orthes.
At first the French had the best of the fight, driving back bothwings of the allied forces, but Wellington threw the third and sixthdivisions upon the left flank of the attacking column and sent the52nd Regiment to make a detour through a marsh and fall upon theirother flank. Taken suddenly between two fires the French wavered,the British pressed forward again, and the French fell back fightingobstinately, and in good order. The allies lost 2300 men, and theFrench 4000. Soult fell back towards Toulouse, laying Bordeaux open tothe British.
CHAPTER XX.
TOULOUSE.
Promotion for those who have the good fortune to have a post upon thecommander-in-chief's staff is rapid. They run far less risk than dothe regimental officers, and they have a tenfold better chance ofhaving their names mentioned in despatches. The Scudamores were somentioned for their conduct at Vittoria, the Pyrenees, and Orthes,and shortly after the last-named battle the _Gazette_ from Englandannounced their promotion to majorities. This put an end totheir service as aides-de-camp, and they were attached to thequarter-master's branch of the staff of Lord Beresford, who was uponthe point of starting with a small force to Bordeaux, where theauthorities, thinking more of party than of patriotism, had invitedthe English to enter and take possession, intending to proclaim theiradhesion to the Bourbon dynasty.
The boys were sorry at the exchange, as they feared that they shouldlose the crowning battle of the campaign. It was evident that theresistance of France was nearly at an end, the allies were approachingParis in spite of the almost superhuman efforts of Napoleon; thepeople, sick of the war, refused all assistance to the militaryauthorities, and were longing for peace, and the end of the strugglewas rapidly approaching.
Lord Beresford, however, divining their thoughts, assured them thathis stay at Bordeaux would be but short, and that they might relyupon being present at the great battle which would probably be foughtsomewhere near Toulouse, towards which town Soult had retreated afterthe battle of Orthes.
Upon the 8th of March, Beresford marched with 12,000 men for Bordeaux,and meeting with no opposition by the way, entered that city on the12th. The mayor, a royalist, came out to meet them, and by the upperclasses of the town they were received as friends rather than foes.Handsome quarters were assigned to Lord Beresford and his staff, andthe Scudamores for a day or two enjoyed the luxury of comfortableapartments and of good food after their hard fare for nine months.
The day after they entered Bordeaux Tom had occasion to call atthe office of a banker in order to get a government draft cashed,to pay for a number of wagons which had been purchased for thequarter-master's department. The banker's name was Weale, an American,said to be the richest man in Bordeaux. His fortune had been made, itwas said, by large government contracts.
When Tom returned, Peter was surprised to see him looking pale andexcited.
"What is the matter, Tom?"
"Do you know, Peter, I am convinced that that American banker I havebeen to see to-day is neither more nor less than that scoundrel,Walsh, who bolted with all the bank funds, and was the cause of ourfather's death."
"You don't say so, Tom."
"It is a fact, Peter, I could swear to him."
"What shall we do, Tom?"
"I only cashed one of the two drafts I had with me this morning;Peter, you go this afternoon with the other, and, if you
are ascertain as I feel about it, we will speak to Beresford at dinner."
Peter returned in the afternoon satisfied that his brother's surmiseswere correct, and that in the supposed American Weale they had reallydiscovered the English swindler Walsh.
After dinner they asked Lord Beresford to speak to them for a fewminutes alone.
The general was greatly surprised and interested at theircommunication.
"Of how much did this fellow rob your father's bank?" he asked.
"The total defalcation, including money borrowed on title-deedsdeposited in the bank, which had to be made good, was, I heard, from75,000_l._ to 80,000_l._," Tom said.
"Very well," said Lord Beresford, "we will make the scoundrel pay upwith interest. Order out thirty men of the 13th."
While the men were mustering, the general returned to the dining-roomand begged the officers who were dining with him to excuse him forhalf an hour, as he had some unexpected business to perform. Then hewalked across with the Scudamores to the banker's house, which wasonly in the next street.
Twenty of the men were then ordered to form a cordon round the houseand to watch the various entrances. The other ten, together with theofficer in command, the general told to follow him into the house. Thearrangements completed, he rang at the bell, and the porter at onceopened the gate.
He started and would have tried to shut it again, on seeing the armedparty. But Lord Beresford said, "I am the general commanding theBritish troops here. Make no noise, but show me directly to yourmaster."
The man hesitated, but seeing that the force was too great to beresisted, led the way through the courtyard into the house itself.
Some servants in the hall started up with amazement, and would haverun off, but Lord Beresford cried, "Stay quiet for your lives. No onewill be hurt; but if any one moves from the hall, he will be shot."Then, followed by Tom and Peter only, he opened the door which theporter pointed out to him as that of the room where the banker wassitting.
He was alone, and started to his feet upon beholding three Britishofficers enter unannounced. "What means this?" he demanded angrily."I am a citizen of the United States, and for any outrage upon mesatisfaction will be demanded by my Government."
"I am Lord Beresford," the general said quietly, "and quite know whatI am doing. I do not quite agree with you that the Government of theUnited States will make any demand for satisfaction for any outrageupon your person, nor, if they do so, will it benefit you greatly;for I am about, in five minutes' time, to order you to be shot, Mr.Walsh."
As the name was uttered the banker, who had listened with increasingpallor to the stern words of the general, started violently, andturned ghastly white. For a minute or so he was too surprised andconfounded to speak. Then he said, in a husky tone, "It is false; I aman American citizen. I know nothing whatever about James Walsh."
"James Walsh!" the general said; "I said nothing about James. It isyou who have told us his Christian name, which is, I have no doubt,the correct one."
He looked to Tom, who nodded assent.
"I know nothing about any Walsh," the banker said doggedly. "Who saysI do?"
"We do, James Walsh," Tom said, stepping forward. "Tom and PeterScudamore, the sons of the man you robbed and ruined."
The banker stared at them wildly, and then, with a hoarse cry, droppedinto his chair.
"James Walsh," the general said sternly, "your life is doubly forfeit.As a thief and a swindler, the courts of law will punish you withdeath;" for in those days death was the penalty of a crime of thiskind. "In the second place, as a traitor. As a man who has given aidand assistance to the enemies of your country, your life is forfeit,and I, as the general in command here, doom you to death. In fiveminutes you will be shot in your courtyard as a thief and a traitor."
"Spare me!" the wretched man said, slipping off his chair on to hisknees. "Spare my life, and take all that I have. I am rich, and canrestore much of that which I took. I will pay 50,000_l._"
"Fifty thousand pounds!" the general said; "you stole 80,000_l._,which, with interest, comes up to 100,000_l._, besides which you mustpay for acting as a traitor. The military chest is empty, and we wantmoney. I will value your wretched life at 25,000_l._ If you make thatsum a present to our military chest, and pay Major Scudamore the100,000_l._ of which you swindled his father, I will spare you."
"One hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds!" the banker saidfiercely. "Never, I will die first."
"Very well," Lord Beresford said quietly. "Major Scudamore, pleasecall in the officer and four men." Tom did as requested, and LordBeresford then addressed the officer. "You will take this man, who isan Englishman, who has been acting as a traitor, and giving assistanceto the French army, you will take a firing party, place him againstthe wall of the yard, give him five minutes to make his peace withGod, and when the five minutes are up, unless he tells you before thatthat he wishes to see me, shoot him."
Pale and desperate, the banker was led out.
"He will give way, I hope," Tom said, as the door closed behind him.
"He will give way before the time is up," Lord Beresford said. "He isa coward; I saw it in his face."
Four minutes passed on, the door opened again, and the officerreturned with his prisoner. "He says he agrees to your terms, sir"
"Very well" Lord Beresford answered; "remain outside with your men;they may be wanted yet."
The prisoner, without a word, led the way into an adjoining room,which communicated with the public office. This was his privateparlor, and in a corner stood a safe. He unlocked it, and, taking outsome books and papers, sat down to the table.
His mood had evidently changed. "I was a fool to hold out," he said,"for I had my name for wealth against me, and might have known youwould not give way. After all, I do not know that I am altogethersorry, for I have always had an idea that some day or other the thingwould come out, and now I can go back and be comfortable for the restof my life. How will you have the money, gentlemen? I have 50,000_l._in cash, and can give you a draft on the Bank of England for the rest.You look surprised, but I have always been prepared to cut and runfrom this country at the shortest notice, and every penny I havebeyond the cash absolutely required is in England or America."
"I will take 25,000_l._ in cash for the use of the army," LordBeresford said. "I will send an officer of the commissariat to-morrowfor it. The 100,000_l._ you may pay these gentlemen in drafts onEngland. Until I hear that these drafts are honored, I shall keep youunder surveillance, and you will not be suffered to leave your house."
"It will be all right," Walsh said. "There--is my Bank of Englandpass-book; you will see that I have 120,000_l._ standing to the creditof J. Weale there. I have as much in America. I should not tell youthis did I not know that you are a gentleman, and therefore will notraise terms now that you see I can pay higher. There, Mr. Scudamore,is the draft, and, believe me or not, I am glad to repay it, and tofeel, for the first time for many years, a free man. Please to giveme a receipt for the 80,000_l._ due by me to the Bank, and for20,000_l._, five years' interest on the same."
Tom did as he was desired without speaking. There was a tone ofeffrontery mingled with the half-earnestness of this successfulswindler that disgusted him.
"There," the general said, as the receipts were handed over; "comealong, lads, the business is over, and I do not think that we have anymore to say to Mr. Weale."
So saying, without further word, the three went out.
Upon rejoining the officer without, Lord Beresford directed that asergeant and ten men were to be quartered in the house, and that asentry was to be placed at each entrance night and day, and that thebanker was not to be permitted to stir out under any pretence whateveruntil further orders.
"There, lads, I congratulate you heartily," he said as they issuedfrom the gate, in answer to the warm thanks in which the boysexpressed their gratitude to him; "it is a stroke of luck indeed thatyou came with me to Bordeaux. It was rough-and-ready justice, and Id
on't suppose a court of law in England would approve of it; but weare under martial law, so even were that fellow disposed to questionthe matter, which you may be very sure he will not, we are safeenough. They say 'ill-gotten gains fly fast' but the scamp hasprospered on the money he stole. He owned to having another hundredthousand safe in the States, and no doubt he has at least as much morein securities of one sort or other here. I daresay he was in earnestwhen he said that he did not mind paying the money to get rid of thechance of detection and punishment, which must have been ever in hismind. The best thing you can do, Scudamore, is to write to JamesPearson--he's my solicitor in London--and give him authority topresent this draft, and invest the sum in your joint names in goodsecurities. Inclose the draft. I shall be sending off an orderly withdespatches and letters at daybreak, and if you give me your letterto-night, I will inclose it in a note of my own to Pearson."
Five days later an order arrived for Lord Beresford to leave theseventh division under Lord Dalhousie, in Bordeaux, and to march withthe fourth division to join the Commander-in-Chief, who was graduallydrawing near to Toulouse, beneath whose walls Soult was reorganizinghis army. The position was a very strong one, and had been renderedalmost impregnable by fortifications thrown upon the heights.Wellington had, too, the disadvantage of having to separate his army,as the town lay upon both sides of the Garonne.
On the 10th of April the allied army attacked. Hill attacked thedefences of the town on the left bank, while Freyre's Spaniards,Picton, with the third and light divisions, and Beresford with thefourth and the sixth divisions, assaulted a French position. Theentrenchments in front of Picton were too strong to be more thanmenaced. Freyre's Spaniards were repulsed with great loss, and thebrunt of the battle fell upon Beresford's division, which noblysustained the character of the British soldier for stubborn valorin this the last battle of the war. The French fought stubbornlyand well, but fort by fort the British drove them from their strongpositions, and at five in the afternoon Soult withdrew the last of histroops in good order across the canal which separated the positionthey had defended from the town itself. The French lost five generalsand 3000 killed and wounded; the allies four generals and 4659 killedand wounded, of which 2000 were Spaniards, for they upon this occasionfought bravely, though unsuccessfully.
On the 11th all was quiet, Wellington preparing for an attack upon thecity on the following day. Soult, however, finding that the Britishcavalry had been sent off so as to menace his line of retreat,evacuated the city in the night, drew off his army with great orderand ability, and by a march of twenty-two miles placed it in safety.Upon the morning of the 12th Wellington entered Toulouse, and thesame afternoon two officers, one British, the other French, arrivedtogether from Paris, with the news of the abdication of Napoleon, andthe termination of the war.
These officers had been detained for two days at Blois by theofficials there, and this delay had cost the blood of 8000 men, amongwhom was Tom Scudamore, who had his left arm carried away by a cannonball. Sam, in the act of carrying his master from the field, was alsoseverely wounded in the head with a musket ball.
Before the battle was fought they had received news from England thatthe draft had been paid at the Bank of England, and that their futurewas in consequence secure. The war being over, officers unattached toregiments had little difficulty in getting leave of absence, as thetroops were to be embarked for England as soon as possible. Peter'sapplication, therefore, to accompany his brother was acceded towithout hesitation, and ten days after the battle of Toulouse he wason board ship with Tom and Sam, both of whom were doing well. Threedays afterwards they landed in England.
Rhoda met them, with Miss Scudamore, at Portsmith, having received aletter telling them of Tom's wound, and of their being upon the pointof sailing. There was a great reduction of the army at the end of thewar, and the Scudamores were both placed upon half pay. This was amatter of delight to Rhoda, and of satisfaction to themselves. Theyhad had enough of adventure to last for a life-time; and with theprospect of a long peace the army no longer offered them any strongattraction.
When they returned to Miss Scudamore's their old friend Dr. Jarviscame to visit them, and a happier party could not have been found inEngland. The will of Mr. Scudamore, made before he was aware of hisruin, was now acted upon. He had left 20,000_l._ to Rhoda, and therest of his fortune in equal parts between his boys. Both Tom andPeter were fond of a country life, and they bought two adjoiningestates near Oxford, Rhoda agreeing to stop with them and MissScudamore alternately.
For a brief time there was a break in their happiness, Napoleonescaped from Elba, and Europe was in a flame again. All the officerson half pay were ordered to present themselves for duty, and theScudamores crossed with the army to Belgium, and fought at Waterloo.Neither were hurt, nor was Sam, who had of course accompanied them.Waterloo gave them another step in rank, and the Scudamores returnedas colonels to England.
It was their last war. A few years afterwards they married sisters,and Rhoda having the year previous married a gentleman whose estatewas in the same county, they remained as united as ever. Sambo heldfor many a year the important position of butler to Tom, then he foundthat one of the housemaids did not regard his color as any insuperableobstacle, and they were accordingly married. It was difficult to sayafter this exactly the position which Sam held. He lived at a cottageon the edge of the estate, where it joined that of Peter, and his timewas spent in generally looking after things at both houses, and asyears went on his great delight was, above all things, to relate tonumerous young Scudamores the adventures of their father and unclewhen he first knew them as the Young Buglers.
THE END.
