Welbeloved had a strong desire to grab him by the collar and shake him until his teeth rattled. Instead, he pitched his voice low to force him to listen more carefully. “I am not acquainted with the three gentlemen yew have just mentioned sir, nor am I representing the Royal Navy in the matter of the transports. I am however, on a particular service on behalf of the Duke of York and the Admiralty.”
It was blatant name-dropping and he knew it. He had though, judged the man’s character well. The mention of the Duke of York worked like a charm. “The Duke, d’ye say, Captain? I had no idea that his Royal Highness was directly concerned with this venture.” His whole attitude had changed and his voice showed strains, almost of servility.
Welbeloved became confidential, man to man. “I said it was a particular service Brigadier. Affairs of State, yew understand, but it has involved me in events which could prove disastrous to yew, Sir John and the army, unless yew can take effective countermeasures without delay. In short, there is a French army less than a hundred miles away, marching on La Coruña from the north-east, with the intention of cutting off our forces from the sea.”
Cooke’s jaw dropped. “Good God! That’s terrible! Are you certain sir? How have you come by this news? “ He seemed close to panic.
Welbeloved spoke soothingly. “I am certain, Brigadier. I’m certain because I have been fighting a delaying action for the last couple of weeks, together with a force of Spanish cavalry and irregulars commanded by Sir John’s own aide, Major Anstruthers. We’ve done considerable damage and delayed them by several days. They’d have been here by now, else.
Their total strength is now about four and a half thousand men, of which six or seven hundred are cavalry. However, we’ve managed to destroy their guns and much of their reserves of powder. They are now so demoralised that I’m confident that yew could stop them if yew could find a couple of thousand men to stand in their way. I would be quite happy to attack their rear with my Spanish irregulars in support of yor action.”
The Brigadier’s face had been gradually becoming more purple as Welbeloved spoke. He now burst out furiously. “Enough sir! You presume to try and make a fool of me? I don’t believe a word you are saying! I don’t believe there is a French army at all. You are telling me this ridiculous story to lead me to take some stupid action, which can be used to attack my reputation and discredit me. I warn you sir. I will have you brought before a court martial and ruined. I know who has put you up to this!”
It was incredible behaviour. The man was surely unbalanced. Welbeloved was almost speechless with surprise. He recovered with an effort and turned to the aide. “Major, will yew please walk outside the main door and order the sergeant to march the prisoners in here immediately?”
The Major left in a hurry, without pausing to question the request. He may have been arrogant, but he had obviously decided not to take sides yet. Cooke had subsided into rumblings of discontent, while he waited for further revelations and his eyes bulged when the prisoners were escorted in.
“Brigadier Cooke!” Welbeloved spoke loudly and clearly. “May I present General Tasselot, sometime commander of the French army presently in Galicia; his deputies, Colonels Leclerque and Dumas and his aide-de-camp, Major Deschampsneuf.”
The four Frenchmen bowed stiffly, acknowledging the presentation and Cooke gobbled and spluttered until Welbeloved lost patience and turned to the aide. “Thankyew Major. If yew will now arrange for these gentlemen to be held in another room, I will finish my business with the Brigadier.”
As the door closed behind them, he turned back to Cooke. “My men and I made a raid on their headquarters two nights ago. We captured all the commanders except one. That should be sufficient proof of what I’ve just told yew. Now, I won’t presume to tell yew what yew need to do to protect the flank of the army, but I would be happy to support yor action by shipping as many men as can be brought together. We would land in the rear of the enemy and catch the French between the two of us. Find me some men and arms and yew can make a name for yorself as the man that saved the day.”
Cooke had stopped quivering now and was merely looking thoroughly miserable. It was evident that his career in the army had been entirely administrative: a clerk sitting behind a desk, supporting the men doing the fighting with supplies, arms and reinforcements; writing out orders to move stores from place to place.
At length, he burst out plaintively. “But Welbeloved, there aren’t any men, only wounded that have been sent on ahead. The only military personnel within fifty miles are quartermasters, storemen, paymasters and a penal battalion doing all the heavy labouring and loading jobs. There’s nothing to stop them except a couple of companies of Spanish infantry, who straggled back here after Soult whipped them.”
Gone was the bluster together with his composure. Always before, he had been protected by the system: other, abler men taking the difficult decisions. He was silently pleading with Welbeloved to tell him what he should do. And Welbeloved didn’t know. He was so sure that there would have been some sort of garrison holding the port through which the army had to escape, or at least some of the units of Sir John’s forces, who would have been the first to arrive.
He walked over to the table where a large map of the north of Spain was spread out, and studied it, seeking inspiration. The road out of La Coruña, through the mountains into old Castille and Madrid, was the road along which Sir John and his army were retreating; each step contested by three times his number of French under the veteran Marshal Soult.
“Exactly where is our army reported to be at this minute, Brigadier?” Cooke shuffled over to the table and put his finger on the town of Lugo, about fifty miles away. “The head of the columns has reached here and the rearguard is expected to take up defensive positions around the town by tomorrow. Depending on whether or not Sir John makes a stand at Lugo, we would expect them to start to arrive here in another six or seven days.”
Welbeloved measured distances with his spread hand. “Unfortunately, the French from the north can be here in three or four days unless they are distracted; although I see that all the roads from the north and east have to come through this place here.” He prodded the map. “Betanzos. About twelve miles out. If Sir John can get there first, he can’t be outflanked. The best that those fellows can do then, is to join up with the main French forces. What we have to do, Brigadier, at the very least, is to hold them up for another two or three days.”
Ideas were beginning to rush through his head. “What are yor stores like, Brigadier? Have yew got spare uniforms, muskets, powder and shot?”
Welbeloved’s enthusiasm struck a chord of hope and Cooke responded in a more lively fashion. “That’s one area where we have an embarrassment, Captain. I am having to make arrangements to destroy large quantities of stores and equipment in case they fall into French hands once we’ve gone.”
Welbeloved grinned for the first time. “Very good, Gentlemen. Here is what we will do –.”
CHAPTER 28
Captain Thoroughgood of the frigate Hermes 32 was fortunate in that his father was brother to an earl and brother-in-law to a marquess. He was only twenty-five, but his powerful relations had pushed him rapidly up the ladder of promotion. His appointment to post rank and command of Hermes had had a certain inevitability about it.
Captain Welbeloved was also fortunate in that Thoroughgood’s promotion had occurred several months after his own, which would make the young man forever his junior as they both climbed the captain’s list.
Thoroughgood would, without doubt, have offered his support in any event. He was thoroughly bored, awaiting the arrival of his admiral and the convoy of transports. Had he not been junior though, he would have expected to assume command of the undertaking that the strange, restless fellow Welbeloved had proposed, and to which he had eagerly joined his brand new command.
Now his ship, together with Daphne, was a hive of activity. Boats were in the water, transporting great quantities of powder, s
hot and muskets from warehouses in the port, and stowing them safely wherever space could be found on board.
Space was at a premium. There was never enough room for the crew, their stores, the guns, ammunition and all the necessities to sustain life for months on end in the crowded hull of a man-of-war. Now they were having to stow all this extra equipment and stores, together with two hundred redcoats, who would have to be shared between the two vessels.
Thoroughgood had seen the soldiers paraded, ready for marching to the jetty. A more villainous bunch he had never seen, regardless of their brand-new uniforms and equipment. Thieves, pickpockets, even murderers no doubt, ruffians of every sort, living a life of misery in a penal battalion before that odd American fellow had talked to them. On reflection, he hadn’t really given them much choice, but he doubted that there were many among them who didn’t believe that they had willingly volunteered to exchange their miserable but safe existence for some madcap scheme that would kill them all, as likely as not.
The speed with which all the stores, all the arms and new uniforms were made available was astonishing in itself. Thoroughgood may have been only twenty-five but he had been in the navy since he was twelve, and he knew that nothing but nothing was ever issued, but with the utmost reluctance, and after days and sometimes weeks of argument and requisitioning. Here, he had watched wide-eyed, as storemen and quartermasters had opened their warehouses and pressed him to take more.
Welbeloved had told him a little about the French force that they were going to attack, and he had listened to some extraordinary stories that his First Lieutenant had picked up from Parsons of Daphne. They seemed utterly wild and improbable, but the Daphnes believed them to a man, and there must be some substance to them, or the local Brigadier wouldn’t be running around like a buck rabbit in a penful of does, falling over himself to help further their efforts.
There was also something odd about the circumstances surrounding the French prisoners. There was no doubt that they were high ranking officers and that Welbeloved had captured them, but again, the story of their capture could hardly be credited. And why was Welbeloved going to such extraordinary lengths to ensure that they ‘accidentally’ observed the activity surrounding the embarkation of the redcoats? They had been marched so many times past the house where the French were confined, that they must have thought that an army was being embarked. Why also had he arranged for the final conference before they sailed, to be held in the house by the harbour where the prisoners were being held, instead of at the Brigadier’s headquarters?
An awful lot of questions were not being answered, largely because he hadn’t had the opportunity to ask them. From the moment he had agreed to co-operate with Welbeloved, he had been involved in a frenzy of activity without a second to spare to think the whole thing through, or the chance to talk with anyone who might know more than he did.
He had managed to find the time during all this bustle, to observe the non-stop comings and goings of Welbeloved, who seemed to manage to be everywhere at once. He watched the boat pulling from Daphne with the tall figure, sitting relaxed on his way to collect him and take him to the conference. Maybe he would now learn something more. He hoped so; he would like to be able to make some sensible contribution to the council of war they were about to attend.
For Welbeloved, the work had occupied him to the exclusion of everything else. Parsons and his officers, together with the Condesa, had all been pressed into service. Armed with written authority, they had been everywhere about the business of getting the ships loaded and the redcoats outfitted and embarked. Once the Brigadier had signified his agreement, Welbeloved pushed him unmercifully. To be fair, he and his aide had responded magnificently. They were on ground they understood and were thoroughly at home issuing orders and bullying subordinates into achieving the impossible.
The broad outline of the plan had come to him remarkably easily when he was studying the map with the Brigadier. Once he accepted that there were no men available, other than the military convicts and the marines from the two ships, the ideas started to flow and the Brigadier clutched at them like the proverbial drowning man and his straw.
It would be dark within the hour, he realised as the boat swung alongside Hermes, and Thoroughgood prepared to join him. High tide would be two hours later and all the preparations were practically complete. All the men were embarked, and most of the supplies. Hermes’s marine lieutenant and his sergeant, together with the sergeant in charge of the small squad in Daphne, were now in command of two hundred and fifty men. They were rapidly going grey, organising their command, appointing under-officers, and trying to make sure that they had half-way competent veterans in key positions with each company.
Thoroughgood settled beside him in the sternsheets and the oarsmen gave way and pulled across the harbour to the jetty. The house he had chosen for the final conference, was a large building on the waterfront. It had been used by the local excisemen and had several large rooms where they could meet. It also had one or two smaller rooms where the prisoners could be held in some degree of comfort. Welbeloved had spent some time with the Condesa, exploring the sound-carrying qualities of the various rooms.
The boat came smoothly alongside the jetty. The two officers scrambled out and fell into step. Welbeloved slowed the pace. “I’m greatly indebted to yew, Thoroughgood, and I’m sorry there hasn’t been more time to make yew fully acquainted with what I’m planning. Fact is, I reckon that yew’ve smoked that everything ain’t what it seems and I have to tell yew that yew’ll be hearing a lot of unadulterated balderdash in this conference that we’re going to.”
Thoroughgood nodded. “I must admit sir, that sending two hundred men to take five thousand in the rear seems highly optimistic, but then some of the stories I’ve been hearing sound deuced improbable, to say the least.”
Welbeloved stopped. Their destination was only fifty yards away. “Thankyew for yor support in spite of that. Much of what I’m doing is pure bluff. We haven’t much option with the door to La Coruña wide open and only a few hundred convicts to defend the place. Just play along with what will be said and bear in mind that practically every word will, hopefully, be reported to the Frogs. We haven’t time for any more details now, but follow my lead if yew will.”
The Brigadier and several of his staff were waiting for the two captains. He greeted them cordially, but spoke quite slowly and loudly. “Ah Welbeloved, glad you could make it. I won’t keep you long. I know you have to catch the tide, or some such naval expression. Perhaps you will introduce your colleague?”
“Certainly sir. Brigadier Cooke, might I name Captain Thoroughgood, who is commanding the escort for the transports that will carry our force.”
The introductions complete, he went on. “May I compliment yew sir. I have never seen such efficiency and co-operation with our sister service. To get two thousand men mobilised and embarked in only half a day is little short of miraculous. If we now do our part, we’ll catch those damned Frenchies between us and squash them like beetles. I assume that yor forces are assembling to meet them at Betanzos?”
“Not yet Captain. Soldiers don’t grow on trees and you’ve taken my entire reserve on yor fleet. However, within forty-eight hours there will be three regiments of the army of Galicia and twenty guns coming from the south to defend the town. Sir John Moore will be sending three or four thousand men across country towards Villalba, to confront them or take them in the flank, depending on how far they’ve got. One way or the other, we’ll have them like a nut in our crackers.”
“Every thing is in train then Brigadier. Give us two days to land our men behind the enemy. If yew make yor attack on the third day, we will be in a position to assist. Don’t forget that the enemy must be very short of powder and shot and that all their guns have been destroyed. The best of good fortune go with yew.”
“And you too Captain. Nothing less than a complete rout will satisfy me.”
Welbeloved and Thoroughgood stro
lled back to their boat. Welbeloved was amused. “Yew know, Thoroughgood, Brigadier Cooke is a much better actor than he is a soldier. He gave a most impressive performance. I hope that his unseen audience was impressed. Tasselot and his officers are confined in the room above and everything that was said could be heard by them, particularly if they placed their ears to the floorboards as I’ve no doubt they did. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if all four of them make a daring and spectacular escape later tonight. I only hope that the drunken troopers, whose horses they will steal, don’t make it too easy, so that they become suspicious.”
CHAPTER 29
They sailed at high tide and by dawn had made good time, assisted by the strong, prevailing, westerly winds in their coat tails, enabling them to weather Cape Ortegal and sail within sight of the shore, keeping close in and studying all the prominent points for the signal from Vere.
The large green ensign was flying from the highest building in Ribadeo, and the two vessels nosed cautiously through the narrow entrance into the broad estuary. Vere must have been waiting for them in the harbour below the town and he rowed out to meet them. He was able to report that the French had marched into Galicia on the previous day, having made good time in spite of an improvised ambush by Anstruthers and his Wolves, who had caught and scattered a sizeable detachment of the rearguard.
Welbeloved gave the signal for the disembarkation to begin. The ship’s boats rowed back and forth, landing the marines and redcoats, who were greeted with wild enthusiasm by the citizens of the port, as they formed up in companies and marched up into and through the town, making a brave show in their new scarlet tunics and white breeches.
The Hornets were waiting with his horse and they rode off quickly along the road taken by the French, looking to make contact with Anstruthers, whose horsemen were shadowing the enemy and snapping at their heels at every opportunity.
A Despite of Hornets Page 30
