by Balefanio
We had been ordered not to wantonly spoil anything, for it would be sold to pay and feed us, but where food and gold were concerned the men preferred helping themselves, as being the surer way. Even Ferris grabbed what he could, and I saw him lay hand on a purse and two shirts, one of which he straightway gave to me. In my sack I had three bottles of wine, a necklace set with rubies which I had found thrust under a pillow, and two fine silver candlesticks. All this was picked up in the chambers and apartments, after which we made our way to the barn and brought away as much food and drink as we could carry. On the way we passed some of the hotter sort slashing at Romanist pictures or statues, which were to be broken and not sold, but most soldiers were starved for comfort rather than set on destruction, and their most sacred mission was to fill their bellies.
We found rows of sweet wax candles, like ghostly rushes, in the idolaters' chapel and took them to one of the chambers where there
was a fire. To the troops it was morning, noon and night rolled into one. Our candles once lit, we sat in a blaze of light, other men soon joining us with provisions of their own. There was a deal of victual captured from the great barn and we had the wine, some hams, cheeses, salt beef, sausages and pies in the room with us. Someone was cooking eggs in a helmet over the fire. All were merry: each had a sack stuffed with plunder and a bellyful of drink.
Russ was nowhere to be seen. No more was Nathan, and I wondered if I had spared him only to afford another the pleasure of the kill.
'Have you seen any of— the rest?' I asked, not liking to say 'our friends' lest he challenge the words.
'None.' Ferris was flushed. He threw back his head and swilled the wine, eyes shining. 'Here, give me your knife.'The clumsy way in which he cut the ham put me in mind of Mervyn Roche. We gorged the meat without bread, washing it down with wine. Ferris pulled a bolster from the bed, where men were already asleep before midday, and laid it on the floor so that we could sprawl there in comfort.
There was singing, of the bawdiest kind. Someone had set to music a filthy thing I had never heard before:
An Elder's maid near Temple Bar
Ah what a Queen was she
Did take an ugly mastiff cur Where Christians used to be ...'
Not even coarse-minded Peter at Beaurepair would have sung that. Ferris seemed hardly to notice it, by which I saw how far gone he was in weariness and drink.
'We are in for trouble if an officer hears,'I said to him under cover of the final verses which the men roared out fit to split the ceiling. '"An Elder's maid”, that is not only lewd but against our own side, surely!'
'Picked up from the Cavaliers,' he murmured. 'This is not a time for psalms. Cromwell has turned the place over to pillage. That means drink, and drink brings all the rest.'
'Why does he allow it? Because Paulet was a Papist?'
'And put us to the trouble of a storm. Besides, the soldiers are owed this for Winchester, for good conduct.'
'Men must have something.'
He nodded. "The women of the house have cause to thank Cromwell. He hangs any that rapes.'
I blushed at that word, and even more when he said, 'I will say one thing for you, Rupert: concerning pillage you are innocence itself
The wine spoke up before I could stop it: 'Is there nothing else you can say for me?'
Such pleading was in the words that his look softened at once. 'Much. You have strength in you for anything.'Then his face hardened again; he frowned. 'But you are altogether too fierce.'
I had known it. His mind was poisoned. 'What has Tommy told you?'
'Tommy? Nothing.'
'I beg of you, Ferris, don't lie to me! I know he—'
Ferris held up his hand to interrupt. 'When have you seen me sit and blacken another's name?'
'But they tell you things?'
'You should rather ask do I give ear to them. Our quarrels, Rupert, are between us two.'
'You gave ear to Nathan.'
'That was my quarrel. I had already begged—' He broke off and I saw that he was backing away from a dispute with me. 'Nathan is a boy, tender, gently raised. He should be home with his mother and sisters.'
'We talked of this before,' I said.
'Let us try it again. You are a man, why crush him in your fist?'
'He comes between me and you. I have no other friend.'
Though I waited for him to say, 'You must make yourself friends,' he took another pull on the wine, then handed over the bottle saying, 'Give me some cheese.'
I watched him eat. The room was hot with the fire, with men's bodies and with flaring candles; there was a shine on his brow and the sides of his nose. I ached to tell him how I could have made my teeth meet in Nathan, but had saved him instead.
'I could gladly drink myself to death,'Ferris said, closing his eyes.
I started. 'Is this a time to be sad?'
'O yes.' His laugh was harsh.
'But you are come through the siege,' I said, 'and in one piece.'
'I were better cut in two.'
'Are you afraid for Nathan?'
'More afraid than you know.'He opened his eyes and turned them on me. 'He may be safe and well. Let us not kill him yet.'
'With all my heart.' I offered him the wine again; he drank off the rest of the bottle and asked me to fetch another. There was one opened and left untouched by the fireside, and I gave it him. None protested. Though the odd man whispered or swore here and there, the roaring stage was past. Several had been sick, their heads hanging out of the chamber window. Not all of them were got so far, and the unlucky ones had been roundly cursed by their mates. A fug of wine and vomit hung on the air as the fire burnt down and the revellers sank into sleep.
When I ceased staring round the room I saw Ferris looking at me very hard.
'You have watched in the field every day,' he said.
Unsure what to answer, I held my tongue.
'Nat told me,' he added.
'Nathan?' Now I suspected Ferris of trying to reconcile us through lies. 'He told you of my doings? Why?'
'I asked him.'
We regarded one another. A silence grew between us, and did not frighten me; I looked him in the eyes longer than I had ever done with any man, save Izzy.
'What a thing is wine,' he murmured.
The next minute there was a shout; two of the men, grown quarrelsome, were begun pushing at one another, jabbing their sleeping neighbours into the bargain. Since they would not lie quiet, those of us who could still stand pushed them out into the corridor and turned the key on their threats and oaths.
When we lay down again Ferris arranged himself for sleep, injured cheek upwards. I at first settled beside him, but my hips, which had
pained me so sorely till now, were no better for the warmth, so I went to the bed and found one side of it empty. It seemed that after months of longing for a mattress, most of the men had been too drunk to get onto it. Still wearing my boots, I stretched out next to a man called Bax sprawled on the other side, and was asleep before I could strip or get under the covers. Some time later I woke to find Ferris crept in between me and Bax.
Around noon our rest was broken up by a hammering at the door: hucksters and merchants come for anything worth having. Basing was to be flayed, then picked to the bones. What we could not eat from the garrison was sold off to the local folk; the pictures, together with missals, rosaries and wicked sculptures, were packed upon carts for public burning, to show our contempt for a religion that was half superstition and half Mammon. Whatever the soldiers could not pocket up fell prey to dealers: carpets, hangings, plate, linen, beds and other furniture, clothing, slipware and glass. There was enough to furnish two palaces, and crows aplenty come to fat themselves on the carcass. The very flesh of the building was devoured, for Cromwell bade the country people help themselves to brick and stone. Paulet having razed their own homes, this was a thing they were mighty willing to do.
When Ferris and I rose from the bed, step
ping over the men half dead from drink, we were ordered to the great hall and there put with one Rigby, our task to count, and sort, the gowns taken from the women. My head ached, and Ferris looked bruised round the eyes. Rigby too seemed as if he could have wished for more self-governance, or a stronger stomach.
We had scarce begun piling the garments up on the table when Nathan came up to us and asked if he might help; the captain had told him to make himself useful where he could.
Ferris brightened at the sight of the lad, kissed him on both cheeks and said he was right glad to see all his limbs in one piece. Nathan beamed at me in a fashion I could ill endure and I almost thought he would come over and kiss my cheeks as recompense for my saving of him, but he stayed himself at smiling.
'Let us make three piles,' offered Rigby, 'gentlewomen's, servants', and one where the stuffs are spoilt.'
This seemed a good plan. Ferris was a sound judge of the linen, and Nathan evidently a keen observer of ladies for he pronounced upon which were the rarest cloths and costliest laces.
Laughing, Ferris asked him, 'How does a lad get to be such a proficient in silk?'
'O, my sisters: they were mad for robes, always on at Father to buy new stuffs. And they are brave, these things, are they not?' He held up a dazzling crimson skirt. 'I'll marry no dull mouse, she must be bright and beautiful.'
'A noble lady?' Ferris teased him.
Rigby joined in, ‘A princess!'
We were as merry, for a moment, as I had once been at home. But then Ferris held up a shining green robe with a deep slit in it, and around the slit a blackening crust of blood. Flies buzzed away as he shook it out. Nathan's laugh stopped short.
'Not hard to guess what happened to her,' said Ferris.
'I saw it,' I said, feeling the same cold within me as I had then. 'She gave our man a sharp answer.'
And he gave her another.' He spread out the glistening, ruined stuff. 'I wonder who will they find in London to buy that? Some thrifty citizen—!'
Rigby looked sheepish at this talk. I said to him, 'He cut her down for nothing.'
'Not doing God's work?' asked Ferris, but his voice was gentler than it would have been two days before.
'Rupert did God's work,' said Nathan.
I bridled up but got command of myself, and it was well, for he went on, 'He saved me in the assault. I had otherwise died, there was a fellow all set to knock out my brains.'
Ferris stared at me, lowering the gown without knowing it until his hands rested on the table. I raised my eyebrows, as one who says, Well?
'There was none other there, he was my only help,' Nathan prattled on, making my happiness complete.
Ferris seemed dazed. I took the wounded gown from him and laid it to one side.
'You had great good fortune, Nat,' he said quietly. 'Let's all hear the tale, but first could you take that green one and ask the captain what we shall do with it? He's somewhere upstairs.'
Nathan bounded off like a deer.
'The man's outside,' said Ferris. He pulled me over to the corner, away from Rigby; I was surprised at his vehemence. 'Can this be possible?' he whispered. 'Why did you? And don't say it was for love of him.'
'I don't say so.'
'So why?'
I glanced round. Rigby was staring after us curiously. For once in my life the right thing came to me by nature, as it would have come to Zeb. I pulled out the woman's cap from my shirtbreast and gave it to Ferris.
'Look inside,'I said.
He unfolded the cloth, found the glass with its inscription and hung his head. I listened to his breath as it came fast and then slowed again. At last he looked up to me, smiling on the good side of his mouth.
'What shall I do with you, Prince Rupert? It seems I cannot stay angry for long.'
'For a start, call me by my own name,' I said. 'I'm not myself without my name.'
'What man can be himself here?'He scratched his head. 'So what would you be called? Cullen?'
'I can't go from Rupert to Cullen.' I had never liked my sir-name in any case. 'Call me Jacob.'
And what will you call me?'
'You are Ferris.'
'Jacob.' He tried the name against my face. 'Jacob, I have something I must tell you.'
'This is about Tommy,' I said. 'He told you my name before.'
Ferris hesitated, then drew me further from Rigby. His lips worked an instant before he stuttered, 'I, I am—'
'Say it!'I cried.
'I am — leaving. Leaving the army.'
I had known one day he would say this. My loneliness had whispered it in nightmares; I would dream he was run away, gone out of the New Model and lost to me.
'May— God— be with you.' Each word cut me as it came, and after the last I felt my, throat close. I knew what that presaged, and indeed the water was already in my eyes. I raged inwardly that at such a moment I should dissolve like any mewling girl, like Nathan, and so be remembered. 'I guess you go to London,' I forced out, tongue strangling in my mouth.
'We will go,' he said. 'Do you think I am so cruel, to tell you and then leave you behind?'
The tears burst out then. I smeared them away with the palm of my hand, and begged him to say it again.
'Come with me,' he said. 'If you will,' and I felt his smile go warm through my blood.
I was panting, laughing and crying together as I hugged Ferris to me; over his shoulder, I saw Rigby's face duck down to the linen.
'If! If!' I cried, light and free through all my flesh. It was the feeling called happiness, which I had near forgotten.
Ferris put me away from him. "The army is bad for you,' he said. 'I got you in, I must get you out.'
'When shall it be?'I asked.
The door was kicked open and Nathan burst in upon us. Ferris laid a finger across his lips. 'Nat'was not to know, then. I was a soul in bliss as we went towards the table where Rigby was trying to look as if the piles of clothes occupied him entirely.
'He says to cut out the stains,' Nathan called, 'but keep the rest to be sold in pieces.'
We went on with our work, the boy ripping at the bloody stuff with a swaggering relish born of fear. I wondered why Ferris had chosen to leave him behind, perhaps because Nathan had Russ and other comrades. I hoped it was because he had to choose between us, and though turbulent and troublesome, I was the friend with whom, in the end, he could not part.
ELEVEN
The Man of Bones
Towards evening A chill breeze sprang up. Men complained, after their drunkenness, of aching heads; weariness possessed the camp. We sprawled in the park, on a heap of blankets we had found, mocking Nathan's tale of a miraculous fish.
'I tell you true,'Nathan insisted. 'Twenty pounds'weight.'
'Who weighed it? Does he carry scales with him?' Russ mocked.
'Aye, fish scales,' offered another.
Ferris rolled his eyes in disbelief. 'No matter for the weight. But as to the rest—'
'Will you listen to me?' Nathan was flushed. "This was witnessed -sworn to - there was a paper in its mouth, and this paper said—'
"Throw me back in!' a man shouted. The rest laughed.
Ferris asked, 'Nat, how could they read a paper all wet?'
The day had been too long; none was in the mood for foolish stories. Hoping to stop his mouth, I handed Nathan a piece of cheese, my thigh wounds paining me as I did so.
'My thanks Rupert, and— but will you listen! This paper was a prophecy, that the war should end with the Second Coming—'
'Aye, to be sure,' said Russ. 'It won't go on after it, at any rate.'
The others grinned. Nathan, sulking, bit into his cheese.
All around stood barrows and carts stacked with goods. Most of Basing had already been devoured, though men still crawled over the skeleton.
'Look there,' said Russ.
An orange light was sprung up inside the pillaged house.
'He's had it fired,'Nathan exclaimed.
&
nbsp; Ferris said, 'But there was stuff yet left to sell.'
I admired the fragile sparks floating like angels in the deepening blue sky. The orange light dimmed, and a pale smoke began pouring from the windows as the flames found doors, carved panels and beams. Some things, at least, would escape the dealers, and I was glad, for though I knew that they paid for what they took, yet I resented their easy scuttling off with what we had won with sweat and blood.
But I could not feel much anger. Though it was hours since Ferris had made my happiness, the excitement was scarce gone down. I sat gloating.
'And so an end to Basing,' Russ said. 'What are they doing, there?'
Soldiers were running towards the ruin. The crash and crackle of burning drifted to us on the wind, then swept away.
'I shall go and see,'exclaimed Nathan, making to rise.
'Nat-' Ferris clutched at the boy's jacket. 'Stay here.'
'Be easy, I won't go in!' Nathan wriggled free and ran towards the crowd.
'Nat!' Ferris called after him. 'Nat - wait—'
I stood to get a better look. 'There's Cromwell riding up,' I told Ferris. 'What is it? Do you know?'
'There are wounded under the rubble,' Russ answered for him.
I stared at him. 'How do you know?'
'Why else would—' He broke off as the wind again veered in our direction. The sounds from the burning house grew louder and I could distinguish shouts and screams. Ferris, his eyes on the retreating Nathan, sat biting his lip.
All was packed and ready for the next day's march on the West Country; soldiers sat around, glancing from time to time at the ruins. The sky was now black except for the orange-bellied smoke clouds over Basing.
'I must show you something,' Ferris whispered to me. 'Go to the courtyard. I will stay for you.'
I waited awhile, making a point of talking to others as he rose and walked off towards the carts drawn up for the night. When I judged it right I went directly to the place, where I found my friend in talk with a man I had not met before, the two of them leaning against a cart and their voices very low. There was a stink of scorched brick and of something else which I did not choose to name. The man looked up and froze as I approached. 'My friend,' I heard Ferris whisper.
