Armstrong levelled his pistol at the middle Xhosa – twice the distance he wanted, but he needed time to transfer the sabre to his right hand. He pulled the trigger, the hammer fell. There was no spark. Nothing.
The Xhosa checked, but seeing there was no more to fear from the pistol, came on, crouching lower, animal-intent.
Armstrong switched pistol for sabre, coolly weighing the blade as he took stock of the new challenge: three Xhosa, three spears – odds he would not have faced willingly.
They edged towards him.
He could see their eyes – murderous as the tiger’s. He stayed on one knee.
They checked again.
He sprang – left, well left, to the flank of the right-hand Xhosa, cutting savagely, backhand, tearing open his shoulder. He leapt thence at the furthest before he could turn, slicing deep through the back of his neck. The remaining Xhosa spun round and feinted with his shield. But Armstrong knew the ruse. He dropped to one knee and drove his sabre under the shield into the gut with savage force. Two more points finished off the other two, leaving Armstrong on his feet, heart pounding, surveying the bloody outcome of twenty years’ drill and gymnasium.
Somervile could not speak, such was his admiration: Armstrong Agonistes.
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MATTHEW PAULINUS HERVEY
BOMM: 1791, second son of the Reverend Thomas Hervey, Vicar of Horingsham in wiltshire, and of Mrs Hervey; one sister, Elizabeth.
EDUCATED: Shrewsbury School (praepostor)
MARRIED: 1817 to Esady Henrietta, Lindsay, Ward of the Marquess of Bath, (deceased 1818).
CHILDREN: a daughter, Georgia-no,, born, 1818.
MILITARY HISTORY:
1808: Commissioned cornet by purctiase in His Majesty’s 6th Light Dragoons (Princess Caroline’s Own.)
1809-14: served Protugal and Spain; evacuated with army at Corunna, 1809, returned with regiment to Lisbon that year: Present at numerous battles and actions including Talacera, Badajoz, Salamanca, Victoria.
1814: present at Toulouse; wounded. Lieutenant.
1814-15: served Ireland, present at Waterloo, and in Paris with army of occupation.
1815: Additional ADc to the Duke of Wellington (acting captain); despatched for special duty in Bengal.
1816: saw Service against pindarees and Nizam of Hyderabad’s fordes; retrurned to regimental duty. Brtvet caption; brevet major.
1818: saw Service in Canada; briefly seconded to US forces, Michigan Territory; resigned commission.
1819: reistated, 6th Light Dragoons; caption.
1820-26: served Bengal; saw active service in Ava (wounded serverly); present at Siege of Bhurtpore; brevet major.
1826-27: detached service in Portugal.
1827: in temporary command of 6th Light Dragoons, major; in command of detachment of 6th Light Dragoons at the Cape Colony; seconded to raise Corps of Cape Mounted rifles; acting lieutenant-colonel.
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