Half an hour later, as he drank one of Johnson's fortified brews from regimental china, Perry and Armstrong came to his tent. They had first compared accounts of the night's wanderings and found them in essentials to be the same. 'Green admits to failing to rise at once to the alarm,’ said Perry. 'He went back to sleep until Needham rousted him out, and then he had to prime his pistols.’
'Why were they not primed at evening stand-to?’ said Hervey.
'Because he's an indolent officer,' said Perry decidedly. 'But he appears at least to tell the truth.'
'That, or he's very calculating in his confidences.'
Perry sighed. It wasn't the sort of remark that one officer should make of another, but Green had exhausted everyone's patience an age ago. 'By the time he was ready, it seems the regiment had moved off.'
'And he spent the whole night trying in vain to find us?' The incredulity in Hervey's voice was marked.
'He said he thought we would have ridden in the direction opposite to that from which the fire was coming, on account of wanting to fall back on the guns.'
Hervey paused to consider the notion. 'Astonishing. Why might he believe that?'
'Hervey, he is, as I said, an indolent and ineffectual officer. While you or I or any other would have ridden towards the sound of the firing, he it seems works with a different instinct. But it would be difficult to say that that instinct was any more than feeble. There is nothing to prove that he was . . . well, running away.'
Hervey thought for a while again. 'Sar'nt-Major?'
Armstrong inclined his head ever so slightly and raised an eyebrow. 'It's not for me, sir, to make comment on an officer's capability. All I can say is Needham's not a bad man. He says he kept saying to Mr Green that it seemed strange they were finding no sign of us, and saying they ought to make for the firing, but Mr Green was certain of himself. And then he says Mr Green seemed to lose his notion of where they were, so they stopped for an hour or two, and it was only at dawn that Mr Green could see which direction was camp.'
Hervey sighed. An entirely plausible story. And yet he was not inclined to believe it. He didn't doubt Needham. Nothing that he knew of him suggested he would run from a fight. The opposite, perhaps. And Corporal Wainwright messed with him regularly; that was surely recommendation as to character. CI just can't see how an officer could think in the way Green did!'
Green was no boon companion of Perry's, but the lieutenant was scrupulously fair. 'If every officer's instinct were the same, sir, there would be no occasion for surprise.'
'That might be so, but I can't believe it exculpates Green. There must be something wrong with the logic, but I haven't the time to look for it,' replied Hervey, his irritation increasing.
Armstrong could see no other conclusion either. 'Sir, with respect, if Mr Green had been a corporal we couldn't bring any charge as would stick - save failing to turn out for "alarm".'
Hervey shook his head. 'But he's not a corporal, Sar'nt-Major.'
'No, sir, of course he's not,' replied Armstrong, looking sideways at Perry. 'But the same evidence would apply if charges were brought. That's all I'm saying.'
Hervey was silent a while. Then he got up. 'Mr Green had better pay a good sum to the widows' fund, then. And you had better put him on his guard, Arthur. I do truly believe we have a wrong 'un here; and I say thus saving your presence, Sar'nt-Major.'
Armstrong said nothing. It was a confidence he would rather never have heard, but they had been together too long for Hervey to withhold even so infamous an opinion.
Hervey looked at him sternly. Armstrong was worth a hundred Greens. No, more than that, for a worthless thing did not gain in worth by mere increase in numbers. Come what may, Armstrong and his like would never have their just desserts; no more than would Green. Hervey put down the teacup. What a powerful thing was this drink: it brought the nation to fight in Hindoostan and it paid for Green to play the gentleman. Yet Armstrong's pension, if he were to have one, would scarcely keep his family in it. But this was no time for philosophy. He nodded emphatically: 'Very well, then, gentlemen. Boot and saddle at ten.'
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
SAPPERS AND MINERS
Two days later
FIELD GENERAL ORDERS.
Camp before Bhurtpore, 21 Dec. 1825
Parole - LUCKNOW
The nature of the operations upon which the Army is about to be employed, requiring that the Infantry Regiments should have as few calls upon them for Guards as possible, the Right Hon. The Commander-in-Chief is pleased to direct, that the following Detail only be furnished; all other Guards not included in this statement, are forthwith to be withdrawn . . .
Hervey passed the statements to Armstrong. 'They do not directly bear on us, but it's as well to know the comings and goings.'
Armstrong, sitting in a chair in front of him, with Lieutenant Perry to Hervey's right, took the papers and looked quickly over them.
Private Johnson emerged from Hervey's tent with a coffee pot. 'Any more, sir?'
Hervey gestured to the others first, then let his cup be filled with the blackest liquid he had seen in many a year. Johnson would never throw away the unexpended portion of the day's coffee ration, and so each morning he boiled up the same liquid and the same beans, throwing in more in random measure. With the addition of copious quantities of sugar, and warm buffalo milk, it was a fortifying and nourishing drink, even if only very distantly related to any that could be had in the coffee houses of London.
'But the infantry will have a longer wait than they think, by all accounts,' said Hervey, still stirring his cup. 'The Jhaut gunners have found their mark on a good number of saps.'
Armstrong looked puzzled. 'They are tunnelling, though, aren't they?'
'It seems not. They can't get close enough.'
Armstrong looked incredulous.
So did Perry, but for a different reason. 'I don't understand, Hervey.'
'They have to dig ventilation shafts once the tunnel exceeds a certain distance, which would rather give away the game.' Hervey took a sip of his coffee. 'And they're no fools behind those walls. There are counter-tunnels ready dug. I saw some of them myself. So I think we may safely say there will be no assault this side of the new year.'
The Sixth had been in worse places at Christmas.
Here at least it was warm when the sun was up, they were dry, there was firewood aplenty, and the supply of rations and powder was regular. Armstrong's expression changed to a smile. 'Corporal Stray'll be here today, sir, and a full load of rum.'
Hervey smiled too. The officers' mess was well stocked with excellent claret, but rum was so versatile an additive. He was almost of the opinion that he would exchange it bottle for bottle. 'Very well, then. There are no further orders. Interior economy today, make and mend. And I am brigade field officer, you'll recall.'
Perry and Armstrong rose. 'If it's all right with you, sir, I'd like to ride over and see them sappers working later on,' said the serjeant-major.
'By all means. Don't be too hard on them, though,' replied Hervey, smiling still.
'No indeed, sir. But I'd like to see how many of them would make colliers.'
Hervey reported to the headquarters of the First Brigade of Cavalry at ten o'clock. There was no telling what the duty might entail. Last night had been quiet, and the siege proceeded, as they were all informed, in the usual methodical if painfully slow manner. But activity was the nature of staff work, and he could therefore expect anything. Certainly the headquarters looked well-shod. The brigade tent had yellow pennants at each end of the ridge pole, and a lance-guard at the entrance.
There was no doubting that this was the post of Colonel Murray, a man fervent in holding to the cavalry opinion that everything mattered, from the patent shine on a pair of levee hessians to the edge on a troop man's sabre.
The major of brigade, Captain Harris - of the 16th Lancers like Murray himself - received him with a smile. 'Well, Hervey, we have at least seen how i
t is done!'
They had indeed, thought Hervey - many a time in the Peninsula. Siege after siege, it seemed in that campaign. 'I wonder if the Jhauts have.'
'I don't know what to make of their sortie the other night, that's for sure,' said the brigade-major.
'I thought perhaps they intended disturbing our sleep every night, but it seems not.'
'Thirty and more dead: they could not long afford that price.' He looked disturbed suddenly. 'I've offered you no refreshment. Where is that bearer?
But the bearer was alert to Hervey's arrival, and he now came into the big marquee that was the brigade orderly room with a tray of coffee and limewater.
'Shukria,' said Harris, and then turned to the staff orderly. 'Inform the brigadier that Major Hervey is come, if you will.'
'Colonel Murray wishes to see me?' asked Hervey, taking both coffee and limewater.
Harris nodded. 'He's not long back from General Sleigh's conference. The news wasn't good.'
'Oh?'
But before Harris could make much of a beginning, the officer commanding the First Cavalry Brigade came into the marquee looking far from his usual cheery self.
Hervey and Harris stood up as one. 'Good morning, sir,' said the former.
'Good morning, Hervey.' He turned to the bearer. 'I'll have some of that coffee, if you please, Manesh.' Then he sank heavily into a leather armchair.
Hervey and Harris sat down again and waited for the brigadier to begin. They were not kept waiting long.
'How does being an infantryman appeal to you?'
Hervey could see no sense in the question, but his recollection of the late events at Rangoon provided a prompt response. 'It does not especially appeal, sir,' he said plainly, and looking bemused. 'But we are part dragoons by name, so if there were compelling reason . . .'
'Combermere is so troubled lest he has not enough infantry for the attack that he's contemplating unhorsing the division, leaving just Skinner's for patrol and escort work.'
Hervey would agree that that was a compelling reason, albeit a desperate one. 'The trick, though, would be to judge the moment to dismount. We have no true idea how strong is the Jhaut cavalry, and they won't have lost their appetite for sorties completely.'
'Just so’ agreed the brigadier. 'And Combermere's worried too about the breaching. The sappers are having a deuced hot time of it. But they reckon they'll have the first parallel open in a day or so, and then they can get some of the siege train in close. We're expected to demonstrate up and down the place, to draw attention from the real activity, but it'll be a damned tedious business. And if this Durjan Sal knows his siegecraft it will not fool him.'
Hervey knew the siege design well enough, for all the field officers had been apprised of it. The principal object of the engineers' work was to dig parallels in front of each of the four most prominent bastions. The most troublesome was the one they had called the long-necked bastion, its height being such as to give the clearest view of any approach within half a mile. Sapping was a hazardous enough task at the best of times, but commanded by the guns of the long-necked bastion it was nearly suicidal. 'That would be the time for a bold sortie. Better for Durjan Sal not to let the guns come into action than to take them on in a duel, no matter how commanding a position his own may have. Nothing is certain in these things, as well we know, sir.'
'Quite. It's on this that I wanted to speak with you.' He held out his cup for more coffee. 'I have an idea we could tempt his cavalry out in strength, and if we lay the trap carefully enough we could despatch the lot of them very surely.'
Hervey said nothing for the moment. A grand fight of cavalry, on the scale of Waterloo - he had never imagined such a thing again. But he was unsure of more than just how they would tempt Durjan Sal out. 'It's a fair prospect indeed, sir. But I'm afraid I do not see its purpose, except to employ the cavalry actively - and I am all in favour of that.'
The brigadier smiled in a satisfied sort of way. Tm glad you don't immediately see the purpose, for that means Durjan Sal likely as not shan't.' He sipped at his coffee, clearly relishing the ingenious-ness of his plan. cDo you think that Durjan Sal is a man who would prefer to fight to the death rather than strike his colours?'
Hervey furrowed his brow. 'On that I have no true insight. I should judge, perhaps, that since he is a usurper he is at heart a hazarder, and therefore unlikely to stick.'
'Just so. And for as long as he has his cavalry he will know - or rather believe - that if the fortress were to fall he could make good his own escape.'
Hervey nodded. 'I would imagine that, yes.'
'Then what would be the purpose in destroying his cavalry?'
A smile crept across Hervey's face.
The brigade-major was not yet certain of his own comprehension. 'Do you mean, sir, that Durjan Sal would be obliged to seek terms rather than risk a fight over the walls?'
'I mean exactly that, Harris. We might never need a breach.' He turned back to Hervey. 'Now, you have ridden the whole of the ground, and seen inside the walls. Guns: where might our decoy be best placed to tempt him out?'
Hervey's brow furrowed again. 'I should need a little time to consider that, sir. I made some plans and sketches—'
'Good, good! I want you to consider it carefully and let me have your opinion. But your best estimate today, if you please. And by all means go and consult your sketches. But keep the notion to yourself, Hervey. Loose tongues would be the death of it.'
When he returned to the Sixth's camp that evening, Hervey found that the officers had already dined. Private Johnson was therefore despatched to bring food to his tent - hot food, for there was a distinct chill in the air already and the brazier was only just lit.
'Serjeant-major says 'e'd like a word when tha were back,' Johnson remembered, as he pulled open the tent flap.
'Well, you may tell him I'm at home. Did Corporal Stray arrive with rum, by the way?'
'Oh ay, sir. T' quartermaster made an issue after stables.'
'Good. He was also meant to be bringing some bottled fruit for the mess. You might see if any has survived.'
'Ah, so tha did know about it then?'
'The fruit? Why shouldn't I?' 'No, I mean ... it sounded as though th'd 'eard what'd 'appened.' 'Happened?' 'Ay, to Corporal Stray.' 'For heaven's sake, man!'
'Corporal Stray got attacked on 'is way 'ere. They killed t'bullocks pullin' 'is cart.'
Hervey looked almost alarmed. 'And is he all right?'
'Oh ay. T'two that were wi' 'im said 'e just stood on t' box like 'e were at sword exercise. Better than Collins they said 'e were. 'E killed 'alf a dozen of 'em an' then they ran off. T' Jhauts, I mean.'
Hervey smiled. He was not in the least surprised. Corporal Stray's resolute immobility atop the hackery box might have been in part the product of his great bulk, but it was in equal part the action of an old soldier. 'The hero of the wet canteen. I hope he gets a serjeancy for it.'
'I'll be gooin', then.' 'I'd be obliged.'
A few minutes later, Serjeant-Major Armstrong came to the tent.
'Come in, Geordie; sit down. There's nothing to eat but I can offer you some good Bordoo,' said Hervey, smiling again. 'Though I gather rum is the celebratory drink tonight.'
'You heard, then? Stray? I'd 'ave given aught to see it. The big fat bugger!'
Hervey laughed. 'When was he last on parade, do you think?'
'Mounted? Lord knows. He'd never have lasted if old Soggy hadn't been quartermaster.'
Hervey poured two glasses of claret and took his seat again. 'Otherwise a quiet day, I gather?'
'Ay, sir. Farriers have been busy, and the saddlers too.'
'Well, here's to Stray and all the stout hearts like him.'
Armstrong raised his glass. 'To stout hearts.'
Hervey refilled it at once, and his own. 'Johnson seemed to think there was something in particular you had?'
Armstrong frowned and nodded. 'Ay, there is. I went to see the sappers this
morning, as I said. This business of not being able to dig out a tunnel - they're not doing it right.'
'Oh?' Hervey looked sceptical, even allowing for Armstrong's aptness in all field matters.
'I talked to the artificer for a fair while and he said they'd wanted to drive tunnels under the main bastions, but they couldn't go more than two hundred yards without ventilating shafts. Then the captain came - a grand man, he were, not in the least bit bothered talking to me - and he said they'd started to drive one under the west bastion but the Jhauts had spied the venting shaft and driven it in.'
'I fear it's the same the whole way round. The Jhauts will be very wary of mining. The trouble is, the sappers can't begin close enough anywhere. And as soon as it's known they're digging, they'll blow the tunnels in by countermines. The galleries are already made. I've seen them.'
Armstrong nodded. 'Ay, but these engineers aren't miners. We drove some long galleries in Hebburn pit and got the air in. Longer than two hundred yards - a lot longer.'
Hervey looked even more sceptical. 'But that would have been with steam pumps, surely?'
'Not when we were digging. We got a draught going with a furnace. Anyway, I told the captain all about it, and he said he'd think on it.'
Hervey was still doubtful. 'But how much further do you think they could go, then?'
'Well, twice as far as they reckon they can now.'
' Twice as far?' Hervey's disbelief was clear.
But it did not dismay Armstrong. 'Ay, at least.'
Hervey said nothing, seeming rapt in thought.
'Look, sir, why not let me lend a hand to them? The sappers, I mean. There's nothing that Collins can't do with the troop as things stand. It's nowt but working parties and escorts. It'd be good for him to have some practice.'
Hervey was not easily persuaded, though he agreed Collins was more than up to the job, especially on what seemed increasingly like garrison duties but in the field. 'I seem to recall you believed colliery a sight more dangerous than life in regimentals.'
Armstrong pulled a face. 'Aw, come on sir. I no more ran from being a collier than I have from anything.'
The Sabre's Edge mh-5 Page 27
