Drums of War (32 page)

He
was strolling beside the stream where he'd met his nemesis when Daniel came
upon him. Hillier was astounded to see him.

'Good
morning, Captain Rawson,' he said.

'How
are you feeling, Tom?'

'It's
getting better, sir.'

'I
was shocked when your uncle told me what happened.'

'It
was my own fault,' said Hillier, too embarrassed to meet his eye, 'and I've no
quarrel with that. On this side of the stream, I'm abiding by army regulations.
On the other bank - and that's where I was on the night - I was deemed to be
absent without leave.' He pursed his lips. 'What a difference five yards of
water can make to your life!'

'You
went farther afield than five yards, I suspect,' said Daniel.

'I
did, Captain.'

'I'm
sorry that I wasn't here to help.'

'What
could you have possibly done?'

'I
could've remonstrated with Major Cracknell. I could've made sure that you were
treated fairly from the moment of arrest.'

Hillier
was moved. 'Why should you bother about me?'

'It's
because you're a rarity, Tom. You're a willing recruit and we get few of them.
Well, you've seen the character of the men we have. Some of them only agreed to
join the army because it was a way out of prison. According to Sergeant
Welbeck, the vast majority of our soldiers begin as rogues, vagabonds or
drunkards. You don't fit into any of those categories. You
wanted
a career in the army.'

'That
was a long time ago,' said Hillier, dreamily.

'You
took your flogging like a man, I hear.'

'That's
no consolation, sir.'

'It
is to your uncle. Sergeant Welbeck was impressed.'

'He'd
have been more impressed if I'd obeyed regulations.

But
I let him down and I let myself down. My parents will be disgusted.'

'There's
no reason for them to hear about it.'

'There
is, Captain Rawson. My first thought was to keep it from them and I begged
Uncle Henry to do likewise. It's just not possible,' said Hillier, quietly. 'I
was brought up to tell my parents the truth and my conscience won't allow me to
hide this. I can't lie to them.'

'Concealing
the truth is not the same as telling a lie.'

'It
is to me, sir.'

'In
saying nothing of this,' observed Daniel, 'you'd be sparing them untold pain.
More to the point, you'd be sparing yourself the ordeal of writing the letter.
The army is the army, Tom. It's a hard existence. I'm sure that your parents
realise that.'

'They
did, Captain. They kept warning me against it.'

Daniel
sighed. 'My mother warned
me
against it. She implored me to stay at home with her. My father died fighting
in an army and she feared the same would happen to me.'

'Why
didn't you listen to her?'

'For
the same reason you didn't pay any attention to your parents,' said Daniel. 'I
had an urge inside me. I wanted adventure.'

Hillier
made no comment. He seemed to have drifted off into a reverie. There was a
faraway look in his eye. It was almost as if Daniel was not even there.

Major
Cracknell was playing cards in his tent with Lieutenant Ainley and winning
handsomely. He was not pleased to be interrupted by a visitor. The lieutenant,
however, seized the opportunity to cut his losses. Seeing that Daniel was
intent on speaking to the major, he made an excuse and left. Cracknell tossed
his cards on the table.

'You've
just cost me a lot of money,' he complained.

'The
lieutenant can ill afford to lose it.'

'Since
when have you been concerned about Ainley's finances?'

'I
don't like to see anyone being exploited, Major.'

Cracknell
stood up. 'Are you accusing me of cheating?'

'No,
sir, I'm not.'

'Then
please refrain from making any further comment on the subject. That, after
all,' he said, hands on hips, 'is not what brought you here, is it? You've come
to talk about a squealing drummer with a back as red as a lobster.'

'I'm
reliably informed that Private Hillier didn't squeal.'

'Perhaps
not but he certainly
squirmed!

'You
obviously took pleasure from that.'

'The
pleasure I had was derived from the chance to administer a warning to the
others. A good flogging keeps the rest of the men in check for a month. If I'd
been lenient with Hillier, it would have encouraged others to emulate him.
Dozens of them would have been sneaking off at night to the nearest brothel. I
had to make an example of him. Eighty lashes were justified.'

'It
was a vindictive punishment.'

'What
would you have done, Captain?' asked Cracknell with a sneer. 'Would you have
docked his wages or simply given him a slap on the wrist?'

'I'd
have taken the circumstances into account. He was a young man, new to the army,
obviously cajoled by others into leaving camp without permission. It was his
first offence. If he'd been treated firmly but fairly,' argued Daniel, 'he'd
have learnt his lesson. But that wasn't enough for you, Major. You wanted
blood. You've been persecuting Hillier ever since you discovered that he was Sergeant
Welbeck's nephew.'

'I
deny that.'

'Your
conduct has been malicious and unwarranted.'

'I
need no lectures on conduct from you, Captain Rawson,' shouted Cracknell,
exploding with anger. 'While you've been cavorting off somewhere, it's been left
to me and others to maintain a high standard of discipline in this regiment.
It's the duty of officers to keep the lower ranks in order. Unlike you, I don't
try to befriend them. It's a sign of weakness and they need a show of
strength.'

'What
they need is to be able to respect an officer.'

'It's
the principle on which I operate.'

'No,
Major, you confuse cold fear with respect. They're very different. How can
anyone respect you for what you did to Hillier? You took a harmless lad and had
him beaten to a pulp to gratify your own desires. Had anyone else been caught
that night,' stressed Daniel, 'you wouldn't even have been involved in the
punishment.'

'I
won't be criticised!' yelled Cracknell.

'You
deserve more than criticism.'

'Is
that a threat, Captain Rawson?'

'Take
it as you wish, sir.'

'You're
talking to a superior officer.'

'No,
I'm not,' retorted Daniel. 'I'm talking to a cruel, jealous, twisted,
malevolent, self-important bastard who's a disgrace to the uniform he wears.'

Losing
his temper, Cracknell lashed out wildly with a fist but Daniel dodged the punch
with ease and pushed him away. He squared up to the major, hands bunched in
readiness. He looked lithe, fit and determined. He was fired by the opportunity
to take revenge on behalf of Hillier and to assuage his own hatred of the man.
It was a moment for which he'd always yearned. But it never came. Cracknell's
anger was replaced by a sulky wariness. Aware of Daniel's reputation as a
fighter, he had second thoughts about taking him on. The major was forced to
back down, glowering at him but making no move. They stood there for several
minutes. The tension was eventually broken by the appearance of a messenger.

'Excuse
me,' said the man, entering the tent. 'Lieutenant Ainley told me that you were
here, Captain Rawson. You're to report to General Churchill at once, sir. He
has orders for you.'

Daniel
was reluctant to leave the camp on the very day that he'd returned to it.
Orders from Marlborough, however, could not be ignored. A dispatch had arrived
from Vienna, instructing him to join the commander-in-chief as swiftly as
possible because he was needed as an interpreter. Evidently, Marlborough knew
about the success in France. Letters sent from The Hague had only given him
outline details and he was anxious to hear the full story from the captain's
own mouth. After a series of farewells, Daniel set out with a small escort on
the road to the Austrian capital. In the company of fellow-soldiers, he was
able to move much faster than he'd done during the flight from Paris. By
staying in the saddle longer, they covered much more distance each day.

When
they finally reached their destination, he expected Marlborough to be staying
in one of the Emperor's palaces. Daniel found him ensconced instead at the home
of the English ambassador in Vienna. Marlborough had been careful to avoid the
formality that would have been imposed upon him if he'd been the Emperor's
guest. In a private house, he was not dogged by ceremony. Daniel was given an
effusive welcome and, as soon as he'd had some refreshment, pressed to give a
detailed account of his trip to Paris. Both Marlborough and Adam Cardonnel were
avid listeners. Distressed to hear of Pierre Lefeaux' fate, they were agog when
Daniel explained how the escape from the Bastille had been engineered. He also
passed on the intelligence that Janssen had taken the trouble to confide in
him. As on previous occasions when he'd talked about the escapade, the names of
Amalia and Beatrix did not feature.

'We
owe you thanks and congratulations,' said Marlborough. 'When we heard that
Janssen had been imprisoned, we abandoned all hope of ever seeing him again.'

'We
wondered if we'd ever see
you
again,' added Cardonnel. 'It sounds to me as if you had some narrow escapes.'

'We
did, sir,' said Daniel.

'Rather
more of them than you told us about, in fact.'

'I
don't follow.'

'We
have another report of what took place in France. It's a shade more fulsome
than your own.'

'Yes,'
said Marlborough, reaching for a sealed letter on the table, 'we had a missive
from Emanuel Janssen. He's put much more flesh on the story than you. You've
been too self-effacing, Daniel. You said nothing about your capture by
highwaymen or the crisis you met when you tried to drive a coach across a river.'

'They
seemed irrelevant details, Your Grace,' said Daniel. 'My orders were to get
someone out of Paris and that's what took up most of my energy. It's not
something to boast about. I simply did what I felt was necessary.'

Marlborough
laughed. 'Do you hear that, Adam?'

'Yes,
Your Grace,' replied Cardonnel. 'I've never known a soldier less willing to
take credit for his achievements.'

'It
can't all be put down to modesty, I think. Daniel's loss of memory is another
factor to consider.'

Daniel
frowned. 'I had no loss of memory, Your Grace.'

'Then
why did we not hear about Janssen's daughter, not to mention his assistant and
servant? You rescued
four
people. One of them in
particular has been singing your praises.' 'Oh?'

'I
refer to Amalia Janssen. According to her father, she reveres you in every way.
Well,' he went on, holding out the letter, 'you can read what she has to say.
This was written in her own fair hand and enclosed with the missive from
Janssen.'

'Thank
you, Your Grace,' said Daniel, taking the letter.

'Read
it in private,' suggested Marlborough. 'Later on, I trust, when your memory has
been sufficiently jogged, you can tell us what
really
happened during your escape from
France.'

Notwithstanding
his regrets at having to leave his regiment, Daniel was delighted with his new
duties. In taking part in diplomacy as an interpreter, he was helping to
further the war effort. He was intrigued by the way that Marlborough persuaded
Emperor Joseph to commit soldiers to the next campaign even though he gave no
details of how he would deploy them. It was only at his lodging that
Marlborough talked openly about the strategy for the coming year. Daniel felt
honoured to be present at the discussion, a sign that his opinion was valued
and his discretion taken for granted.

'Italy
is the key to the whole enterprise,' said Marlborough, pointing at the map that
lay open on the table. 'We must transfer all our regiments there so that we can
unite with Prince Eugene and save Savoy from being overrun.'

'What
of the Dutch army, Your Grace?' asked Daniel.

'It
can stay in the Low Countries and do what it always does.

Namely,
avoid anything resembling a full-scale battle. They and the French are kindred
spirits. Instead of going on the attack, they'd rather adopt defensive
positions and stare at each other over the intervening territory without firing
a shot.'

'Moving
our entire force to northern Italy is taking a huge risk.'

'That's
precisely why the enemy will never expect it.'

'Think
what happened last year,' said Cardonnel. 'Our march to the Danube was a
triumph because it took the French by surprise. They never imagined we'd take
so many men so far south.'