Under Wellington\'s Command

G >> G. A. Henty >> Under Wellington\'s Command

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28

"But I have, certainly, no faith whatever in either Venegas or
Cuesta. Cuesta is loyal enough, but he is obstinate and pig headed
and, at present, he is furious because the Supreme Junta has been
sending all the best troops to Venegas, instead of to him; and he
knows, well enough, that that perpetual intriguer Frere is working
underhand to get Albuquerque appointed to the supreme command. As
to Venegas, he is a mere tool of the Supreme Junta and, as likely
as not, they will order him to do nothing but keep his army intact.

"Then again, the delay at Plasencia has upset all Sir Arthur's
arrangements. Had he pressed straight forward on the 28th of last
month, when he crossed the frontier, disregarding Cuesta
altogether, he could have been at Madrid long before this; for I
know that at that time Victor's force had been so weakened that he
had but between fourteen and fifteen thousand men, and must have
fallen back without fighting. Now he has again got the troops that
had been taken from him, and will be further reinforced before Sir
Arthur arrives on the Alberche; and of course Soult has had plenty
of time to get everything in readiness to cross the mountains, and
fall upon the British rear, as soon as he hears that they are
fairly on their way towards Madrid. Here we are at the 20th, and
our forces will only reach Oropesa today.

"Victor is evidently afraid that Sir Arthur will move from Oropesa
towards the hills, pass the upper Alberche, and so place himself
between him and Madrid; for a strong force of cavalry reconnoitred
in this direction, this morning."

"Would it not be as well, sir," said Terence, "if we were to
arrange some signals by which we could aid each other? That hill
top can be seen from the hill beyond which is the little village
where I have established myself. I noticed it this morning, before
I started. If you would keep a lookout on your hill, I would have
one on mine. We might each get three bonfires, a hundred yards
apart, ready for lighting. If I hear of any great force approaching
the defiles I am watching, I could summon your aid either by day or
night by these fires; and in the same way, if Soult should advance
by the line that you are guarding, you could summon me. My men are
really well trained in this sort of work, and you could trust them
to make an obstinate defence."

"I think that your idea is a very good one, and will certainly
carry it out. You see, we are really both of us protecting the left
flank of our army, and can certainly do so more effectually if we
work together.

"We might, too, arrange another signal. One fire might mean that,
for some reason or other, we are marching away. I may have orders
to move some distance towards Madrid, so as to compel Victor to
weaken himself by detaching a force to check me; you may be
ordered, as the army advances, to leave your defiles in charge of
the Spaniards, and to accompany the army. Two fires might mean,
spies have reported a general advance of the French coming by
several routes. Thus, you see, we should be in readiness for any
emergency.

"I should be extremely glad of your help, if Soult comes this way.
My own corps of 1200 men are fairly good soldiers, and I can rely
upon them to do their best; but the other 3000 have been but
recently raised, and I don't think that any dependence can be
placed upon them, in case of hard fighting; but with your two
battalions, we ought to be able to hold any of these defiles for a
considerable time."

Two days later, Terence received orders to march instantly with his
force down into the valley, to follow the foot of the hills until
he reached the Alberche, when he was to report his arrival, wait
until he received orders, and check the advance of any French force
endeavouring to move round the left flank of the British. The
evening before, one signal fire had announced that Wilson was on
the move and, thinking that he, too, might be summoned, Terence had
called in all his outposts, and was able to march a quarter of an
hour after he received the order.

He had learned, on the evening he returned from his visit to Sir
Robert, from men sent down into the plain for the purpose, that
Cuesta's army and that of Sir Arthur had advanced together from
Oropesa. He was glad at the order to join the army, as he had felt
that, should Soult advance, his force, unprovided as it was with
guns, would be able to offer but a very temporary resistance;
especially if the French Marshal was at the head of a force
anything like as strong as was reported by the peasantry. As to
this, however, he had very strong doubts, having come to distrust
thoroughly every report given by the Spaniards. He knew that they
were as ready, under the influence of fear, to exaggerate the force
of an enemy as they were, at other times, to magnify their own
numbers. Sir Arthur must, he thought, be far better informed than
he himself could be; for his men, being Portuguese, were viewed
with doubt and suspicion by the Spanish peasantry, who would
probably take a pleasure in misleading them altogether.

The short stay in the mountains had braced up the men and, with
only a short halt, they made a forty-mile march to the Alberche by
midnight. Scarcely had they lit their fires, when an Hussar officer
and some troopers rode up. They halted a hundred yards away, and
the officer shouted in English:

"What corps is this?"

Terence at once left the fire, and advanced towards them.

"Two Portuguese battalions," he answered, "under myself, Colonel
O'Connor."

The officer at once rode forward.

"I was not quite sure," he said, as he came close, "that my
question would not be answered by a volley. By the direction from
which I saw you coming, I thought that you must be friends. Still,
you might have been an advanced party of a force that had come down
through the defiles. However, as soon as I saw you light your
fires, I made sure it was all right; for the Frenchmen would not
likely have ventured to do so unless, indeed, they were altogether
ignorant of our advance."

"At ten o'clock this morning I received orders from headquarters to
move to this point at once and, as we have marched from Banos, you
see we have lost very little time on the way."

"Indeed, you have not. I suppose it is about forty miles; and that
distance, in fourteen hours, is certainly first-rate marching. I
will send off one of my men to report who you are. Two squadrons of
my regiment are a quarter of a mile away, awaiting my return."

"Have you any reason to believe that the enemy are near?"

"No particular reason that I know of, but their cavalry have been
in great force along the upper part of the river, for the last two
days. Victor has retired from Talavera, for I fancy that he was
afraid we might move round this way, and cut him off from Madrid.
The Spaniards might have harassed him as he fell back, but they
dared not even make a charge on his rear guard, though they had
3000 cavalry.

"We are not quite sure where the French are and, of course, we get
no information from the people here; either their stupidity is
something astounding, or their sympathies are entirely with the
French."

"My experience is," Terence said, "that the best way is to get as
much information as you can from them, and then to act with the
certainty that the real facts are just the reverse of the
statements made to you."

As soon as the forces halted a picket had been sent out; and
Terence, when the men finished their supper, established a cordon
of advanced pickets, with strong supports, at a distance of a mile
from his front and flanks; so as to ensure himself against
surprise, and to detect any movement upon the part of the enemy's
cavalry, who might be pressing round to obtain information of the
British position. At daybreak he mounted and rode to Talavera, and
reported the arrival of his command, and the position where he had
halted for the night.

"You have wasted no time over it, Colonel O'Connor. You can only
have received the order yesterday morning, and I scarcely expected
that you could be here till this evening."

"My men are excellent marchers, sir. They did the forty miles in
fourteen hours, and might have done it an hour quicker, had they
been pressed. Not a man fell out."

"Your duty will now be to cover our left flank. I don't know
whether you are aware that Wilson has moved forward, and will take
post on the slopes near the Escurial. He has been directed to
spread his force as much as possible, so as to give an appearance
of greater strength than he has."

"I knew that he had left his former position," Terence said. "We
had arranged a code of smoke signals, by which we could ask each
other for assistance should the defiles be attacked; and I learned
yesterday morning, in this way, that he was marching away."

"Have you any news of what is taking place on the other side of the
hills, since you sent off word two days ago?"

"No, sir; at least, all we hear is of the same character as before.
We don't hear that Soult is moving, but his force is certainly put
down as being considerably larger than was supposed. I have deemed
it my duty to state this in my reports, but the Spaniards are so
inclined to exaggerate everything that I always receive statements
of this kind with great doubt."

"All our news--from the juntas, from Mr. Frere, and from other
quarters--is quite the other way," the officer said. "We are
assured that Soult has not fifteen thousand men in condition to
take the field, and that he could not venture to move these, as he
knows that the whole country would rise, did he do so.

"I have no specific orders to give you. You will keep in touch with
General Hill's brigade, which forms our left and, as we move
forward, you will advance along the lower slopes of the Sierra and
prevent any attempt, on the part of the French, to turn our flank.

"I dare say you do not know exactly what is going on, Colonel
O'Connor. It may be of assistance to you, in taking up your
position, to know that the fighting is likely to take place on the
line between Talavera and the mountains. Cuesta has fallen back, in
great haste, to Talavera. We shall advance today and take up our
line with him.

"The Spaniards will hold the low marshy ground near the town. Our
right will rest on an eminence on his left flank, and will extend
to a group of hills, separated by a valley from the Sierra. Our
cavalry will probably check any attempt by the French to turn our
flank there, and you and the Spaniards will do your best to hold
the slope of the Sierra, should the French move a force along
there.

"I may say that Victor has been largely reinforced by Sebastiani,
and is likely to take the offensive. Indeed, we hear that he is
already moving in this direction. We are not aware of his exact
strength, but we believe that it must approach, if not equal, that
of ourselves and Cuesta united.

"Cuesta has, indeed, been already roughly handled by the French.
Disregarding Sir Arthur's entreaties, and believing Victor to be in
full retreat, he marched on alone, impelled by the desire to be the
first to enter Madrid; but at two o'clock on the morning of the
26th of July, the French suddenly fell upon him, drove the Spanish
cavalry back from their advanced position, and chased them hotly.
They fled in great disorder, and the panic would have spread to the
whole army, had not Albuquerque brought up 3000 fresh cavalry and
held the French in check, while Cuesta retreated in great disorder
and, had the French pressed forward, would have fled in utter rout.
Sherbrooke's division, which was in advance of the British army,
moved forward and took up its position in front of the panic-stricken
Spaniards, and then the French drew off.

"Cuesta then yielded to Sir Arthur's entreaties, recrossed the
Alberche, and took up his position near Talavera. Here, even the
worst troops should be able to make a stand against the best. The
ground is marshy and traversed by a rivulet. On its left is a
strong redoubt, which is armed with Spanish artillery; on the right
is another very strong battery, on a rise close to Talavera; while
other batteries sweep the road to Madrid. Sir Arthur has
strengthened the front by felling trees and forming abattis, so
that he has good reason to hope that, poor as the Spanish troops
may be, they should be able to hold their part of the line.

"Campbell's division forms the British right, Sherbrooke comes
next, the German legion are in the centre, Donkin is to take his
place on the hill that rises two-thirds of the way across the
valley, while General Hill's division is to hold the face looking
north, and separated from the Sierra only by the comparatively
narrow valley in which you have bivouacked. At present, however,
his troops and those of Donkin have not taken up their position."

The country between the positions on which the allied armies had
now fallen back was covered with olive and cork trees. The whole
line from Talavera to the hill, which was to be held by Hill's
division, was two miles in length; and the valley between that and
the Sierra was half a mile in width, but extremely broken and
rugged, and was intersected by a ravine, through which ran the
rivulet that fell into the Tagus at Talavera.

Chapter 2: Talavera.

On leaving the Adjutant General, Terence--knowing that Mackenzie's
brigade was some two miles in advance on the Alberche river, and
that the enemy was not in sight--sent off one of the orderlies who
accompanied him, with a message to Herrara to fall back and take up
his station on the lower slopes of the Sierra, facing the rounded
hill; and then went to a restaurant and had breakfast. It was
crowded with Spanish officers, with a few British scattered among
them.

As he ate his food, he was greatly amused at the boasting of the
Spaniards as to what they would accomplish, if the French ventured
to attack them; knowing as he did how shamefully they had behaved,
two days before, when the whole of Cuesta's army had been thrown
into utter disorder by two or three thousand French cavalry, and
had only been saved from utter rout by the interposition of a
British brigade. When he had finished breakfast, he mounted his
horse and rode to the camp of his old regiment.

"Hooroo, Terence!" Captain O'Grady shouted, as he rode up, "I
thought you would be turning up, when there was going to be
something to do. It's yourself that has the knack of always getting
into the thick of it.

"Orderly, take Colonel O'Connor's horse, and lead him up and down.

"Come on, Terence, most of the boys are in that tent over there. We
have just been dismissed from parade."

A shout of welcome rose as they entered the tent, where a dozen
officers were sitting on the ground, or on empty boxes.

"Sit down if you can find room, Terence," Colonel Corcoran said.
"Wouldn't you like to be back with us again, for the shindy that we
are likely to have, tomorrow?"

"That I should, but I hope to have my share in it, in my own way."

"Where are your men, O'Connor?"

"They will be, in another hour, at the foot of the mountains over
there to the left. Our business will be to prevent any of the
French moving along there, and coming down on your rear."

"I am pleased to hear it. I believe that there is a Spanish
division there, but I am glad to know that the business is not to
be left entirely to them. Now, what have you been doing since you
left us, a month ago?"

"I have been doing nothing, Colonel, but watching the defiles and,
as no one has come up them, we have not fired a shot."

"No doubt they got news that you were there, Terence," O'Grady
said, "and not likely would they be to come up to be destroyed by
you."

"Perhaps that was it," Terence said, when the laughter had
subsided; "at any rate they didn't show up, and I was very pleased
when orders came, at ten o'clock yesterday, for us to leave Banos
and march to join the army. We did the forty miles in fourteen
hours."

"Good marching," Colonel Corcoran said. "Then where did you halt?"

"About three miles farther off, at the foot of the hills. We saw a
lot of campfires to our right, and thought that we were in a line
with the army, but of course they were only those of Mackenzie's
division; but I sent off an orderly, an hour ago, to tell them to
fall back to the slopes facing those hills, where our left is to be
posted."

"You are a lucky fellow to have been away from us, Terence, for it
is downright starving we have been. The soldiers have only had a
mouthful of meat served out to them as rations, most days; and they
have got so thin that their clothes are hanging loose about them.
If it hadn't been for my man Doolan and two or three others, who
always manage, by hook or by crook, to get hold of anything there
is within two or three miles round, we should have been as badly
off as they are. Be jabers, I have had to take in my sword belt a
good two inches; and to think that, while our fellows are well-nigh
starving, these Spaniards we came to help, and who will do no
fighting themselves, had more food than they could eat, is enough
to enrage a saint.

"I wonder Sir Arthur puts up with it. I would have seized that
stuck-up old fool Cuesta, and popped him into the guard tent, and
kept him there until provisions were handed over for us."

"His whole army might come to rescue him, O'Grady."

"What if they had? I would have turned out a corporal's guard, and
sent the whole of them trotting off in no time. Did you hear what
took place two days ago?"

"Yes, I heard that they behaved shamefully, O'Grady; still, I think
a corporal's guard would hardly be sufficient to turn them, but I
do believe that a regiment might answer the purpose."

"I can tell you that there is nothing would please the troops more
than to attack the Spaniards. If this goes on many more days, our
men will be too weak to march; but I believe that, before they lie
down and give it up altogether, they will pitch into the Spaniards,
in spite of what we may try to do to prevent them," the Colonel
said. "Here we are in a country abounding with food, and we are
starving, while the Spaniards are feasting in plenty; and by Saint
Patrick's beard, Terence, it is mighty little we should do to
prevent our men from pitching into them. There is one thing, you
may be sure. We shall never cooperate with them in the future and,
as to relying upon their promises, faith, they are not worth the
breath it takes to make them."

As everything was profoundly quiet, Terence had no hesitation in
stopping to lunch with his old friends and, as there was no
difficulty in buying whatever was required in Talavera, the table
was well supplied, and the officers made up for their enforced
privation during the past three weeks.

At three o'clock Terence left them and rode across to his command,
which he found posted exactly where he had directed it.

"It is lucky that we filled up with flour at Banos, before
starting, Colonel," Bull said, "for from what we hear, the soldiers
are getting next to nothing to eat; and those cattle you bought at
the village halfway, yesterday, will come in very handy. At any
rate, with them and the flour we can hold out for a week, if need
be."

"Still, you had better begin at once to be economical, Bull. There
is no saying what may happen after this battle has been fought."

While they were talking, a sudden burst of firing, at a distance,
was heard.

"Mackenzie's brigade is engaged!" Terence exclaimed. "You had
better get the men under arms, at once. If the whole of Victor's
command is upon them, they will have to fall back.

"When the men are ready, you may as well come a few hundred feet
higher up the hill, with me. Then you will see all over the
country, and be in readiness to do anything that is wanted. But it
is not likely the French will attempt anything serious, today. They
will probably content themselves with driving Mackenzie in."

Terence went at once up the hill, to a point whence he could look
well over the round hills on the other side of the valley, and make
out the British and Spanish lines, stretching to Talavera. The
troops were already formed up, in readiness for action. Away to his
left came the roll of heavy firing from the cork woods near the
Alberche and, just as his three officers joined him, the British
troops issued pell mell from the woods. They had, in fact, been
taken entirely by surprise; and had been attacked so suddenly and
vigorously that, for a time, the young soldiers of some of the
regiments fell into confusion; and Sir Arthur himself, who was at a
large house named the Casa, narrowly escaped capture. The 45th,
however, a regiment that had seen much service, and some companies
of the 60th Rifles presented a stout front to the enemy.

Sir Arthur speedily restored order among the rest of the troops,
and the enemy's advance was checked. The division then fell back in
good order, each of its flanks being covered by a brigade of
cavalry. From the height at which Terence and his officers stood,
they could plainly make out the retiring division, and could see
heavy masses of French troops descending from the high ground
beyond the Alberche.

"The whole French army is on us!" Macwitty said. "If their advance
guard had not been in such a hurry to attack, and had waited until
the others came up, not many of Mackenzie's division would have got
back to our lines."

It was not long before the French debouched from the woods and, as
soon as they did so, a division rapidly crossed the plain towards
the allies' left, seized an isolated hill facing the spur on to
which Donkin had just hurried up his brigade, and at once opened a
heavy cannonade. At the same time another division moved towards
the right, and some squadrons of light cavalry could be seen,
riding along the road from Madrid towards the Spanish division.

"They won't do much good there," Terence said, "for the country is
so swampy that they cannot leave the road. Still, I suppose they
want to reconnoitre our position, and draw the fire of the
Spaniards to ascertain their whereabouts. They are getting very
close to them and, when the Spaniards begin, they ought to wipe
them out completely."

At this moment a heavy rattle of distant musketry was heard, and a
light wreath of smoke rose from the Spanish lines. The French
cavalry had, in fact, ridden up so close to the Spaniards that they
discharged their pistols in bravado at them. To this the Spaniards
had replied by a general wild discharge of their muskets. A moment
later the party on the hill saw the right of the Spanish line break
up as if by magic and, to their astonishment and rage, they made
out that the whole plain behind was thickly dotted by fugitives.

"Why, the whole lot have bolted, sir!" Bull exclaimed. "Horse and
foot are making off. Did anyone ever hear of such a thing!"

That portion of the Spanish line nearest to Talavera had indeed
broken and fled in the wildest panic, 10,000 infantry having taken
to their heels the instant they discharged their muskets; while the
artillery cut their traces and, leaving their guns behind them,
followed their example. The French cavalry charged along the road,
but Sir Arthur opposed them with some British squadrons. The
Spanish who still held their ground opened fire, and the French
drew back. The fugitives continued their flight to Oropesa,
spreading panic and alarm everywhere with the news that the allies
were totally defeated, Sir Arthur Wellesley killed, and all lost.

Cuesta himself had for some time accompanied them, but he soon
recovered from his panic, and sent several cavalry regiments to
bring back the fugitives. Part of the artillery and some thousands
of the infantry were collected before morning, but 6000 men were
still absent at the battle, and the great redoubt on their left was
silent, from want of guns.

In point of numbers there had been but little difference between
the two armies. Prior to the loss of these 6000 men, Cuesta's army
had been 34,000 strong, with seventy guns. The British, with the
German Legion, numbered 19,000, with thirty guns. The French were
50,000 strong, with eighty guns. These were all veteran troops,
while on the side of the allies there were but 19,000 who could be
called fighting men.

"That is what comes of putting faith in the Spaniards!" Bull said
savagely. "If I had been Sir Arthur, I would have turned my guns on
them and given them something to run for. We should do a thousand
times better, by ourselves; then we should know what we had to
expect."

"It is evident that there won't be any fighting until tomorrow,
Macwitty. You will place half your battalion on the hillside, from
this point to the bottom of the slope. I don't think that they will
come so high up the hill as this; but you will, of course, throw
some pickets out above. The other wing of your battalion you will
hold in reserve, a couple of hundred yards behind the centre of the
line; but choose a sheltered spot for them, for those guns Victor
is placing on his heights will sweep the face of this hill.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28