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Authors: David Donachie
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Victory
and report to Lord Hood. Give my clerk what you need in writing. I assume you will begin the clearing straightaway, as we are without a moon.’
‘Of course, sir,’ said Pearce, who had only just realised that there would be, on this night, nothing more than a sliver of moon. Dilnot had, no doubt, calculated on that too.
Chapter Five
Pearce went out with the marine party in a borrowed greatcoat, relying on starlight to see his way, which led to many a stumble and under- the-breath cursing. Dilnot had thrown out a screen of armed skirmishers well ahead, with orders not to fire their muskets unless absolutely necessary, to protect those clearing a path from being disturbed. At the same time the party of sailors, under their competent coxswain, were laying out a pair of cables fetched from the arsenal and rigging blocks to stakes that a unit of sappers had sunk into the ground behind the ramparts to the redoubt; running the guns up the slope to that defence work, no doubt being pursued by the French, was not an option. The night was warm, with wind enough to rustle what foliage existed on such a barren landscape, with the odd clink of metal touching something solid freezing everyone in case it was theenemy patrolling prior to an attack, looking for a prisoner who could tell them the nature and numbers of the defence.
‘Prosser,’ hissed Dilnot to his sergeant, a small Londoner. ‘We want some brushwood cut to lay on the passage, otherwise the clearances we have made will look too obvious once the sun is up. And don’t just roll any rocks and boulders to the side. Move them a distance.’
The sound of hacking seemed like the knell of doom, so loud was it and that was when Dilnot’s other ruse came into play. He carried a shaded lantern, and when he opened it to show a light to his rear torches began to wave and move about, only enough to light the area right in front of the rampart, and loud shouting filled the air, the idea that if all French eyes were on the redoubt, they would not be simultaneously looking into the darkened hollow ground that lay between the positions. They worked their way forward to the base of the outcrop, and here the ground began to rise, not by much, but enough to imagine the task of hauling a cannon up there to be a telling one.
‘It has to be human muscle, Mr Pearce, we cannot risk an animal, but with good fortune we will have the whole night to accomplish it, and if we can get the cannon rigged on some reasonably level ground, I reckon we can make their encampment a place too warm for comfort.’
The party worked on until Dilnot, carefully unshading to take a look at his fob watch, called a halt. Having done that he went right to the edge of the small plateau on which he intended to site the guns and stared hard at the fires of the French encampment.
‘You know, Mr Pearce, it would be a fine thing to open up before they
reveille
. Damn me, we could catch them in their smalls.’
‘If I am not mistaken, sir, it is time we retired.’
‘True. You go ahead, while I call in my skirmishers.’
They were all back behind the rampart walls as the sky turned grey, that soon followed by a red ball of sun rising behind the French camp, which led to an anxious period of waiting, till it rose enough to cease blinding those looking east, and showed that it would take a sharp eye to find the line of the track they had made during the night.
‘Breakfast I think, Mr Pearce, then I fancy that you, like me, will welcome some rest.’
Dilnot stood his men down, and they immediately made up beds under the ox-wagons, shaded from the sunlight. Within minutes the first sound of snoring emerged, and that soon turned into a cacophony. Pearce, finishing a bowl of coffee, reckoned they had managed a good night’s work, and he had to admire the way Dilnot had handled things, yet he was dying to ask what had causedElphinstone’s outburst, while knowing that was an impossibility.
‘I am
Victory
and report to Lord Hood. Give my clerk what you need in writing. I assume you will begin the clearing straightaway, as we are without a moon.’
‘Of course, sir,’ said Pearce, who had only just realised that there would be, on this night, nothing more than a sliver of moon. Dilnot had, no doubt, calculated on that too.
Chapter Five
Pearce went out with the marine party in a borrowed greatcoat, relying on starlight to see his way, which led to many a stumble and under- the-breath cursing. Dilnot had thrown out a screen of armed skirmishers well ahead, with orders not to fire their muskets unless absolutely necessary, to protect those clearing a path from being disturbed. At the same time the party of sailors, under their competent coxswain, were laying out a pair of cables fetched from the arsenal and rigging blocks to stakes that a unit of sappers had sunk into the ground behind the ramparts to the redoubt; running the guns up the slope to that defence work, no doubt being pursued by the French, was not an option. The night was warm, with wind enough to rustle what foliage existed on such a barren landscape, with the odd clink of metal touching something solid freezing everyone in case it was theenemy patrolling prior to an attack, looking for a prisoner who could tell them the nature and numbers of the defence.
‘Prosser,’ hissed Dilnot to his sergeant, a small Londoner. ‘We want some brushwood cut to lay on the passage, otherwise the clearances we have made will look too obvious once the sun is up. And don’t just roll any rocks and boulders to the side. Move them a distance.’
The sound of hacking seemed like the knell of doom, so loud was it and that was when Dilnot’s other ruse came into play. He carried a shaded lantern, and when he opened it to show a light to his rear torches began to wave and move about, only enough to light the area right in front of the rampart, and loud shouting filled the air, the idea that if all French eyes were on the redoubt, they would not be simultaneously looking into the darkened hollow ground that lay between the positions. They worked their way forward to the base of the outcrop, and here the ground began to rise, not by much, but enough to imagine the task of hauling a cannon up there to be a telling one.
‘It has to be human muscle, Mr Pearce, we cannot risk an animal, but with good fortune we will have the whole night to accomplish it, and if we can get the cannon rigged on some reasonably level ground, I reckon we can make their encampment a place too warm for comfort.’
The party worked on until Dilnot, carefully unshading to take a look at his fob watch, called a halt. Having done that he went right to the edge of the small plateau on which he intended to site the guns and stared hard at the fires of the French encampment.
‘You know, Mr Pearce, it would be a fine thing to open up before they
reveille
. Damn me, we could catch them in their smalls.’
‘If I am not mistaken, sir, it is time we retired.’
‘True. You go ahead, while I call in my skirmishers.’
They were all back behind the rampart walls as the sky turned grey, that soon followed by a red ball of sun rising behind the French camp, which led to an anxious period of waiting, till it rose enough to cease blinding those looking east, and showed that it would take a sharp eye to find the line of the track they had made during the night.
‘Breakfast I think, Mr Pearce, then I fancy that you, like me, will welcome some rest.’
Dilnot stood his men down, and they immediately made up beds under the ox-wagons, shaded from the sunlight. Within minutes the first sound of snoring emerged, and that soon turned into a cacophony. Pearce, finishing a bowl of coffee, reckoned they had managed a good night’s work, and he had to admire the way Dilnot had handled things, yet he was dying to ask what had causedElphinstone’s outburst, while knowing that was an impossibility.
‘I am
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