CHAPTER XIX.
Fromthe 26th of January up to the 20th of the following month nothing occurred, either to myself individually or to the portion of the army of which I was a member, particularly deserving of notice. During that interval, indeed, a fresh supply of wearing apparel, of flannels, stockings, and shoes, reached me, being a present from kind friends at home; and seldom has any gift proved more acceptable, or arrived more opportunely: but the reader is not, I daresay, over-anxious to know whether the articles in question were too large or too small, or whether they fitted to a hair's-breadth. Neither would it greatly amuse him were I to detail at length how ships freighted with corn reached Secoa; how fatigue parties were ordered out to unload them; and how the loads, being justly divided, were issued as forage for the horses, which stood much in need of it. It may, however, be worth while to state that, previous to the arrival of these corn-ships, even the cavalry and artillery were under the necessity of feedingtheir horses chiefly upon chopped furze; and hence that disease had begun to make rapid progress among them, many dying almost every day; and all, even the most healthy, falling fast out of condition. But for this providential supply of wholesome oats and barley, I question whether we should have been able to take the field, at least effectively, till later in the season.
On the 16th of February 1814, the Allied troops may be said to have fairly broken up from their winter quarters. The corps to which I belonged continued, indeed, under cover till the morning of the 21st; but we were already in a great measure at our posts, seeing that our cantonments lay immediately in rear of the pickets. Such divisions as had been quartered in and about St Jean de Luz began to move to the front on the 16th; and pitching their tents on the crest of the position, they waited quietly till their leader should see fit to command a farther advance. On these occasions, no part of the spectacle is more imposing than the march of the artillery. Of this species of force, six pieces form a battery, then called a brigade: each gun is dragged by four or six horses; by four, if the brigade be intended to act with infantry—by six, if it belong to what is called the horse-artillery. In the former case, eight gunners march on foot beside each field-piece, two ridingà la postilion; in the latter, the gunners are allmounted and accoutred like yeomanry cavalry. Then the tumbrils and ammunition-waggons, with their train of horses and attendants, follow in rear of the guns; and the whole procession covers, perhaps, as much ground as is covered by two moderately strong battalions in marching order.
The greater part of the infantry attached to the left column had passed when brigade after brigade of guns wound through our village. These, halting just after they had cleared the street, diverged into some open fields on the right and left of the road, where the whole park, amounting to perhaps thirty pieces, was established. In another green field at the opposite side of Bidart four heavy eighteen-pounders took their station, to be in readiness, in case of need, to be transported to Fort Charlotte. Last of all came the cavalry, consisting of the 12th and 16th Light Dragoons, and of two regiments of heavy Germans; nor could we avoid remarking that, though the 12th and 16th Dragoons are both of them distinguished corps, the horses of the foreigners were, nevertheless, in far better order than those of our countrymen. The fact I believe to be, that an Englishman, greatly as he piques himself on his skill as a groom, never acquires that attachment to his horse which a German trooper experiences. The latter dreams not under any circumstances of attending to his own comfort till after he has provided forthe comfort of his steed. He will frequently sleep beside it, through choice; and the noble animal seldom fails to return the affection of his master, whose voice he knows, and whom he will generally follow like a dog.
There was another striking difference in the two brigades of cavalry which I remarked. The English rode on, many of them silent, some chatting of a thousand things, others humming or whistling those tuneless airs in which the lower orders of our countrymen delight. The Germans, on the contrary, sang, and sang beautifully, a wild chorus—a hymn, as I afterwards learned—different persons taking different parts, and producing altogether the most exquisite harmony. So great an impression did this music make upon me that I caught the air, and would write it down for the benefit of my reader were I sufficiently master of the art of notation; but as this happens not to be the case, he must wait till we become personally acquainted, when I promise to play it for him in my very best style upon the flute.
Nor was it only on the left that warlike movements occurred. The whole army took the field; and that a serious campaign was already commenced the sound of firing at the extreme right of the line gave notice. I had wandered abroad with my gun on the morning of the 18th—not, indeed, venturingto proceed far from home, but trying the neighbouring copses for a hare or a woodcock—when my farther progress was arrested by the report of several cannon in the direction of Lord Hill's division. These were succeeded by a short, sharp discharge of musketry; and my sport was immediately abandoned: but I found on my return that no alarm was excited, and that every description of force which I had left in a state of inaction continued still inactive.
The same degree of suspense prevailed amongst us during the 19th and 20th. On the latter of these days my mind at least was kept busy by a journey to the harbour, for the purpose of bringing up a fresh supply of corn for the horses; though it was a species of employment with which I would have readily dispensed, inasmuch as the day chanced to be particularly cold, with snow. But our anxiety was destined not to be of long continuance, an order reaching us that night at a late hour to be accoutred and in line of march by three o'clock on the following morning. Now then at length we applied ourselves to the task of packing the baggage. The tents were once more summoned into use; their condition closely examined; such rents as appeared in the canvas were hastily repaired, and every deficiency in pegs and strings made good. Then the ordinary supply ofprovend, as Major Dalgettywould call it, being put up, we threw ourselves down in our clothes, and fell asleep.
It was still dark as pitch when the well-known sound of troops hurrying to their stations roused me from my slumber. As I had little to do in the way of accoutring, except to buckle on my sabre and to stick my pistols in a black leathern haversack, which on such occasions usually hung at my back, abundance of time was given for the consumption of as much breakfast as at that early hour I felt disposed to eat; after which I took post beside my men. The reader will have doubtless noted that, like the good soldier already named, I never set out upon any military expedition without having in the first place laid in a foundation of stamina to work upon. And here I would recommend to all young warriors, who may be gathering laurels when nothing of me shall remain except these Memoirs, invariably to follow my example. They may depend upon it that an empty stomach, so far from being a provocative, is a serious antidote to valour; and that a man who has eaten nothing previous to either an advance or a retreat runs no little risk of finding his strength fail at the very moment when its continuance is of vital importance to him. No, no; your hot-brained youth, who is too impatient to eat, is like your over-anxious hunter, which refuses its corn because the hounds pass the stable.Neither the one nor the other will go through a hard day's work.
The troops being formed in marching order, the word was given, and we advanced in the direction, now so familiar to us, of the mayor's house. As we passed the park of artillery, we heard rather than saw the drivers limbering up, and preparations busily making for service. The tramp of many feet, too, could be discerned, as well as the clattering of horses' hoofs, the jingling of steel scabbards, and the rattle of canteens and cartouch-boxes; but it was not till these various sounds had become faint and distant that daylight began to break upon us. We had, however, been conscious of having struck into a sort of by-lane, and of having proceeded for some time in a direction towards the right; and hence, when objects became visible, we were not surprised to find that we had passed even the village of Arcanques, and that all the country hitherto traversed by us was left behind. As may be guessed, this circumstance alone excited pleasurable emotions; for we were weary of the eternal mayor's house and Fort Charlotte, and anxious to reach some other field on which to prove our courage.
The point towards which our steps were turned was a lofty eminence, distant about a quarter of a mile from the banks of the Nive, and commanding an extensive view of a country extremely beautiful.The height had been occupied during the preceding day by a part of the fifth division, which now resigned the charge to us, and descending into the plain, crossed the river and pushed off in a direction to the right. For ourselves, we were commanded to halt here; and as neither the tents nor baggage had arrived—as indeed we soon learned that they were not to follow—we sedulously set about lighting fires, and prepared to bivouac. These were early days as yet, however, for bivouacking; and hence arrangements were made for getting us under cover during the night; in accordance with which we descended soon after sunset to a large chateau, close beside the advanced sentries, where ample accommodation was found for all of us. There the night was passed, not altogether free from apprehension, seeing that no pickets—only a chain of sentinels—were between us and the enemy; but as everything remained quiet, without any attempt being made to molest us, no evil consequences resulted from the adoption of a plan agreeable enough, it is true, but savouring perhaps of rashness rather than excess of wisdom.
As soon as the morrow's early parade was dismissed, and I perceived that no indication was given of farther movements, I took my gun and set off to the woods, where I hoped to find game enough to furnish out a comfortable repast in the evening.Nor was I disappointed. Hares and woodcocks abounded here; there were, moreover, numerous flocks of golden plovers; and of these I contrived to bring home a sufficient number to satisfy my own wants and the wants of others. But it was not alone because I chanced to be particularly successful in shooting that the day's excursion gave me pleasure; the country round was more romantic and striking than any which I had yet seen, and came nearer to a realisation of my previously-conceived notions respecting scenery in the south of France. All was hill and dale, sweeping groves and green meadows, with here and there a vineyard, already beginning to give signs of vegetation, and to put forth its delicate fibres, like our hop-plant in the month of May. The proximity of the Nive, too, added not a little to the beauty of the prospect, as it flowed gently and quietly on, winding for a while between sloping grass fields, and then eluding the eye amid the thick groves which overhung its banks. It would have been altogether as sweet and pastoral a landscape as the imagination can very well picture, but for the remote view of the intrenched camp which from various points might be obtained, and the nearer glimpse of numerous watch-fires, round which groups of armed men were swarming. But to me these were of course precisely the most interesting objects in the panorama.
The game which the sporting members of the corps contrived this day to pick up was so abundant that we resolved to admit the whole of our brother officers to a participation in it, and to spend an evening together after the fashion of a reunion at home. For this purpose all the culinary utensils within reach were put in requisition, and all the individuals skilled in the gastronomic art were invited to give proof of their abilities. Beef—lean beef—that everlasting and insipid food of soldiers—was disguised in every imaginable form; hares were melted down into soup, woodcocks stewed, golden plovers roasted, and sundry rabbits curried. In a word, we sat down, in number about five-and-twenty, at six o'clock, to a dinner which would have done no discredit in point of cookery to the favourite disciple of Dr Kitchener, and which Sir William Curtis himself would not have deemed unworthy of his notice. Good cheer, moreover, is generally the parent of good-humour, and good-humour is the source of benevolence; nor would it be easy to point out in this selfish world of ours five-and-twenty persons whose hearts overflow more richly with the milk of human kindness than did ours as we took our seats by the well-filled board. Fervently did we wish that every corps in the British army—ay, and in the French army too—could that day fare as well; while we proceeded to prove, inthe most satisfactory of all manners, that delicate viands were not thrown away, at least upon us.
These praiseworthy expressions had hardly ceased, and we had just begun to pay our addresses to the well-boiled soup, when the tread of horses' hoofs attracted our notice. It would have been a positive sin had the enemy come on at such a moment as this; and I verily believe we in our wrath would have given him no quarter. Nevertheless, sins are daily committed; nor were we by any means at ease touching this important matter, till the cause of the alarm appeared. It was a wounded officer, who had been shot in a skirmish this morning, and was now slowly travelling to the rear, being with difficulty held on his horse by a couple of attendants. Our dinner was instantly abandoned, and we all ran to offer such assistance as our means enabled us to offer. But the poor fellow was too seriously hurt to accept of our invitations to eat. The surgeon accordingly took him in charge, and having amputated the arm which one ball had broken, and striven in vain to extract another from his side, he left him to the care of his servant. The man was dead before morning.
It is impossible to describe the chilling effect of this adventure upon all of us. Steeled as men necessarily become in a continued state of warfare against the milder and more gentle feelings of ournature, they must be hardened indeed if they can behold a dying fellow-creature arrive among them in an hour of jollity and mirth without viewing the contrast in so strong a light as to damp, if it be unable utterly to destroy, their hilarity. For our own parts, we returned indeed to table, and chatted, or endeavoured to chat, as if no such guest had come among us. But it would not do. Our party, which we had designed to keep together till dawn, broke up soon after ten o'clock; and we lay down to sleep with minds more full of our suffering brother in arms than of our own joviality.
The wounded officer belonged to a regiment of the fifth division. He had acted with a small party as one of the flank patrol during an oblique movement of his brigade along the front of the enemy's line, and falling in with a body of their skirmishers, had been wounded in a wood, where the rapid advance of the column left him. His servant and another man, having procured a horse from one of his friends, returned to his assistance. But before they could discover him the division was too far on its way to be overtaken; consequently they took with him a direction to the rear, which brought them to our house. He had received his wounds at an early hour in the day, and had been preserved from bleeding to death only by the cold; but the long period which elapsed erethe hurts could be dressed rendered them doubly severe. Our surgeon indeed assured us, that no care, however speedily bestowed, could have saved him; and therefore it was perhaps as well that the absence of medical assistance shortened his misery by protecting him from the torture necessarily attendant upon useless dressings.
We had just begun to drop into a forgetfulness of all causes both of joy and sorrow when a dragoon arrived with orders for the commanding officer, by which it appeared that we were to be under arms at three o'clock next morning, and to follow where the bearer—a soldier of the corps of guides—should lead. Something, too, was whispered about a general attack upon the enemy's lines—of passing the Adour—and investing Bayonne; but these were mere surmises, naturally following upon such vague directions. For myself, I permitted them not to occupy much of my attention, or to keep their places long in my mind; but philosophically concluding that I had no choice submitted to me, and that I must go wherever I should be sent, and act exactly as I should be desired, I once more threw myself on the floor and closed my eyes. Sleep was not long a stranger to them.