The Sabre's Edge (31 page)

Hervey had been busy on his own account with matters of uniform. For some time now he had become convinced that for field service their own coats should be modified in the same way as had their horses' bridles. Early on in the Peninsula the regiment had doubled the leather browband with chain so that a sword could not cut it and make the bridle fall from the animal's head. He had listened to accounts of Maratha and Rajpoot swordsmanship and learned that a favoured device was the passing cut at the shoulder, and he had concluded that chain on the shoulder - as of old - would serve them well. Major Joynson had been persuaded, and the metalworkers of Calcutta had been engaged to fashion six inches of mail, three inches wide, for each dragoon's shoulder. Lord Combermere saw it when he inspected his troops at Agra, and much approved. And when, three days later, he went by dawk upstream to Muttra to inspect the other half of his army, and there found Hervey and his troop, he remarked on it favourably, so that Hervey was in no doubt that Lord Combermere's estimation of him was truly of the highest order.

'I intend beginning a general advance on Bhurtpore three days hence, on the ninth,' the commander-in-chief told him as he turned his horse away. 'I shall make all appearances of wanting to parley, so that they do not take steps to inundate the defences, but I shall want you to break from the force at last light and move to seize the bund. Then at dawn next day I shall send with all despatch a force to relieve you.'

It was exactly as Hervey had urged at Fort William. 'Very good, General.'

'Two squadrons, you said.'

'Yes, sir. One of the Eleventh's, and a rissalah from Skinner's Horse, they with their galloper guns. The horse artillery would only impede us.'

Combermere nodded, but slowly, as if considering. 'The Eleventh, yes - and your own troop, I should suppose.'

Hervey nodded his confirmation.

'But the irregular horse . . . are they to be so relied upon?'

Hervey smiled assuringly. 'I may say with utter certainty, your lordship, that one could do no better in trusting them with one's very life. Three years ago, in Burma, I had proof of it myself.'

Combermere nodded again, this time more definitely. 'Very well, then, I shall have Colonel Watson write the orders at once. Is there any more you would have me do?'

'No, sir. Except, of course, that our orders should not be made general.'

'Of course.'

Hervey knew he had suggested the obvious, but he had his reasons. Combermere rode high in his estimation from all that had gone before in Portugal and Spain, but this was India.

'Cap'n 'Ervey, sir, if yon farrier's sick another day I'm gooin' to 'ave to ask one 'o' t'Eleventh's to do Gilbert. Them corns are gettin' bad.'

Gilbert's shoes were a problem that Hervey could do without. It wasn't just Gilbert, either, for although Corporal Brennan's assistants were capable of admirable cold-shoeing by replacing worn iron with the stock shoes carried by each dragoon, they were not yet proficient enough to make a therapeutic set, and there were half a dozen troopers needing that attention. 'I'll speak to their colonel, then,' replied Hervey, still wondering when he might have the orders which would give him authority to address his mission.

Johnson was content. 'Lord Combermere looked 'appy enough this mornin'. I were tellin' all them green'eads that
fancies themselves as dragoons,
about 'im at T'loose.'

Hervey looked pained. 'Not anything in connection with General Slade, I hope.'

'Of course it were about Slade. That were t'story!'

Indeed it was a story. Lord Combermere's timely appearance at Toulouse had made General Slade drop his prey - and Hervey had raced back to the regiment a free man again. But Combermere, as far as Hervey could tell, had never known how providential had been his arrival. He had known only the eagerness of the wounded cornet to be back in action. There was a time, however - and certainly at Toulouse - when Hervey would have been truly perturbed, believing that the disparaging of a senior officer, even one such as Slade, would have been inimical to discipline. Now he cared not at all. The canteen was entitled to its views, as long as it held them in private, so to speak. And if they could disparage Slade they could extol Combermere, as it seemed they might. Johnson did the commander-in-chief a service therefore; Hervey ought to commend him, indeed. There were always difficulties attendant on commending Johnson, though. 'That reminds me
—'

But Johnson was not finished. 'Word is in t'can-teen that them walls is
fifty
feet thick, and made of bones and solid rock.'

Hervey raised an eyebrow. 'How do the intelligence agents of the canteen believe solid rock and bones are mixed together?'

Johnson did not consider it an impossible notion. 'They didn't say, only that the walls is so thick it'd take a month o' Sundays just to scratch 'em.'

Hervey frowned. 'They're thick, Johnson, I grant you that, but not fifty feet, and not solid rock. They'll withstand some battering, but they're bound to be breached at some point, and then it will be the bayonet in the old way.'

'Let's 'ope so, sir,' said Johnson matter-of-factly, taking the rein
s of Hervey's second charger as
Hervey himself began picking up each of the little Marwari's feet to check for stones. "Ave yer 'eard there've been some deserters an' all?'

'There are always deserters, Johnson,' replied Hervey, just as matter-of-fact, picking out a pebble from the off-fore.

'Ay, but they reckon these've gone over to t'
Jhauts.'

'Who reckons? How do they know?'

'Corporal McCarthy 'eard. 'E always 'ears everything if they're Irish.'

Hervey continued checking his mare's feet (they looked in good shape). 'And who are they from, these men?'

'T'
artillery.'

Hervey looked up. 'The
artillery!
'

'Ay, and supposed to be good gunners an' all.'

Hervey tutted. He was not disposed to think that they could have gone over to the enemy, for he could see no inducement . . . except that as experienced gunners their services would be keenly sought, and therefore, he supposed, well rewarded. But surely they would not
—'

'An' one of 'em was at Waterloo, even!'

That concluded it. 'Tattle, Johnson. I should sooner imagine the sar'nt-major a preacher!'

But Johnson was unmoved. 'Well, that's what they're saying, Cap'n 'Ervey. Is there owt else?'

Hervey shook his head. 'No, I believe we may offsaddle and give them some hay.' There was only grass, but hay was what they called it still. 'And we can take our ease too for an hour or so. Call me if Mr Sledge comes in. He said he might come up from Agra today. Oh, and . . . see if you can find out any more about these deserters, will you?'

There was much to do, even had he not had the assignment at the Bhurtpore jheels. The camp was beginning to look like a bestiary come alive, with every manner of creature to provide milk or flesh for the army, or muscle or a strong back. His own troop might occupy him every minute, though for the most part they were not without experience. It was strange that they had seen action - fierce action - but had not yet been 'shot over', as the saying went. The affair at the river three years before had turned them into veterans overnight, and it had been long enough past to give them the taste for more of it now. Yet there were things he must check for himself - the firelocks especially, since he expected that what would come first against them at the jheels was better seen off with the carbine than the sabre. It was not something he could leave to his subalterns. Or rather,
would
leave. It was out of the question in any case to give the duty to Green, still as ineffectual as ever. Indeed, he would not even have passed the duty to Seton Canning, had he been with him still, for certain things were properly his particular responsibility.

In the afternoon, he received copies of general and field general orders. He was keen to see the appointments to both the staff and to commands of brigades and divisions, for there had been endless speculation and not a little wagering, and he retired to the relative peace of his tent to peruse them with as much leisure as seemed apt:

GENERAL ORDERS

Head-Quarters, Agra, 3rd Dec. 182
5

The following officers are appointed Brigadier-Generals from 1st inst., subject to the confirmation of the Right Hon. The Governor-General in Council:

Brevet-Col. J. M'Combe, 14th Foot. Brevet-Col. J. W. Sleigh, C. B. 11th Dragoons. Col. W. J. Edwards, 14th Foot. Lieut.-Col. Childers to be Brigadier.

Capt. Hervey to be Loc-Major. Lieut. Maxwell to be Aide-de-Camp to Brigadier-General Sleigh.

Division of Cavalry. - Brigadier-General J. W. Sleigh, C.B. to Command.

1st Cavalry Brigade. - Brigadier Murray, C. B. 16th Lancers, to Command. Capt. W. Harris, 16th Lancers, Major of Brigade. - To consist of H.M. 6th Lt. Dragoons, 16th Lancers, 6th, 8th, and 9th Regiments of Light Cavalry.

2nd Cavalry Brigade. - Brigadier M. Childers. 11th Dragoons, to Command. Lieutenant G. Williamson to be Major of Brigade. - To consist of H. M. 11th Dragoons, 3rd, 4th and 10th Regiments of Light Cavalry. - N.B.

The Brigade of Irregular Cavalry, consisting of the 1st Local Horse, under Col. James Skinner. Troop 6th Lt. Dragoons under Maj. M. P. Hervey. 1st Division of Infantry . . .

On went the list, specifying each and every non-permanent appointment. 'Baggage-Master of the Army
^’
, as onerous a position as any might be, was to be filled by Lieut. J. M'Dermot, H.M. 14th Foot. And 'Brigadier-Gen. Sleigh, C.B., will be pleased to select, and send in the names of three smart, active, and intelligent Non-commissioned Officers of Dragoons, for appointments as Assistant Baggage Master of Divisions.' Hervey thought he had better have someone in mind lest the general devolve one of the number on his troop. Stray would be best, of course, except that he was not from his troop. Neither was he by any standard smart.

And then, enclosed with these orders, there were others - a long exhortation, and in a style he knew from many a time in the Peninsula and France. The duke's own, indeed:

FIELD GENERAL ORDERS

Head-Quarters, Camp, Agra, Dec. 2, 182
’
The Army now assembling for Service on the Agra and Muttra Frontier, being about to advance, His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief req
uests, that Officers commanding
Regiments will impress upon their Officers, &c. the imperious necessity which exists, for each individual reducing the number of his servants to the lowest scale, and taking the Field as little encumbered with Baggage as possible; and desires that they will use their utmost endeavours to prevent superfluous individuals following the Bazaars of their respective Corps. All superfluous Baggage will be left at Muttra and Agra respectively, in the first instance, by Divisions, on advancing.

The March about to commence being through the Territory of an Ally of the British Government, and not that of an enemy, His Excellency prohibits in the strictest manner, all marauding or plundering; and desires that Officers commanding Divisions and Brigades will cause it to be three times proclaimed to their respective Corps, that the Provost-Marshal has received peremptory orders to se
ize, and inflict summary punish
ment of Death, on any individual or individuals caught in the act of plundering. In thus publicly promulgating the decided measures to be resorted to in support of discipline, His Excellency feels assured, from the correct habits of the European and Native Troops under his command, that, as
far
as they are concerned, the warning above given is unnecessary; but as the followers of Bazaars of Corps might avail themselves of opportunities to plunder the inhabitants of the country and others, the Commander-in-Chief deems it necessary to promulgate thus publicly the retribution which will await such conduct.

It was a handsome confidence, thought Hervey, if ill-disguised in its attempt to avoid besmirching the soldiers of the Line. It could scarcely be otherwise, this latter, though. His own troop he might vouch for, the NCOs certainly, but the arousal of baser instincts was something he had seen all too often to be so sure he would not see the same again, for there was nothing saintly about the men of E Troop. Better to tell them straight, perhaps with the excuse that one man might lose his wits in the noise of battle, and that Hervey's warning to him now might thereby save him his neck.

He read through half a dozen more routine orders and calls for returns, alternately relishing his independent command and ruing it, depending on the requirements of the paper. Just as he was nearing the end, a despatch rider from the Cavalry Staff Corps rode into the lines. Hervey watched keenly as the red-jacketed dragoon reported to the regimental orderly tent, whence the corporal of the day emerged at once to bring him to Hervey's.