TAKEN PRISONERS
"That arm of yours always seems to be getting itself damaged, Jack,"
Hawtry said next morning, as he came into the hut. "You put it in the
way of a bullet last time, and now you've got it smashed up. How do
you feel altogether?"
"I am awfully bruised, Dick, black and blue all over, and so stiff I
can hardly move."
"That's just my case," Dick said, "though, as you see, I can move. The
doctor's been feeling me all over this morning, and he said it was
lucky I was a boy and my bones were soft, for if I had been a man, I
should have been smashed up all over. As to my elbows and my knees,
and all the projecting parts of me, I haven't got a bit of skin on
them, and my uniform is cut absolutely to ribbons. However, old boy,
we did a good night's work. We saved sixteen lives, we got no end of
credit, and the chief says he shall send a report in to the Admiral;
so we shall be mentioned in despatches, and it will help us for
promotion when we have passed. The bay is a wonderful sight. The
shores are strewn with floating timber, bales of stores, compressed
hay, and all sorts of things. Fellows who have been down to the town
told me that lots of the houses have been damaged, roofs blown away,
and those gingerbread-looking balconies smashed off. As for the camps,
even with a glass there is not a single tent to be seen standing on
the plateau. The gale has made a clean sweep of them. What a night the
soldiers must have had! I am put on the sick list for a few days so I
shall be able to be with you. That's good news, isn't it?"
"Wonderfully good," Jack laughed, "as if I haven't enough of your jaw
at other times. And how long do you suppose I shall be before I am
out?"
"Not for some little time, Jack. The doctor says you've got four ribs
broken as well as your arm."
"Have I?" Jack said, surprised. "I know he hurt me preciously while he
was feeling me about this morning; but he didn't say anything about
broken ribs."
A broken rib is a much less serious business than a broken arm, and in
ten days Jack was up and about again, feeling generally stiff and
sore, and with his arm in a sling. The surgeon had talked of sending
him on board ship, but Jack begged so hard for leave to remain with
the party ashore, that his request was granted.
Winter had now set in in earnest. The weather was cold and wet;
sometimes it cleared up overhead, and the country was covered with
snow. A month after the accident, Jack was fit for duty again. Seeing
what chums the lads were, the officer in command had placed them in
the same watch, for here on land the same routine was observed as on
board ship. The duties were not severe. The guns were kept bright and
polished, the arms and accoutrements were as clean as if at sea. Each
day the tars went through a certain amount of drill, and fatigue
parties went daily down to the harbor to bring up stores, but beyond
this there was little to do. One of the occupations of the men was
chopping wood for fuel. The sides of the ravine immediately below the
battery had long since been cleared of their brushwood, and each day
the parties in search of fuel had to go farther away. Upon the day
after Jack returned to duty, he and Hawtry were told off with a party
of seamen to go down to cut firewood. Each man carried his rifle in
addition to his chopper, for, although they had never been disturbed
at this occupation, the Russians were known not to be far away. The
sailors were soon at work hacking down the undergrowth and lopping off
branches of trees. Some were making them up into faggots as fast as
the others cut them, and all were laughing and jesting at their work.
Suddenly there was a shout, and looking up, they saw that a party of
Russians had made their way noiselessly over the snowclad ground, and
were actually between them and the heights. At the same moment a
volley of musketry was poured in from the other side, and three or
four men fell.
"Form up, form up," Hawtry shouted. "Well together, lads. We must make
a rush at those beggars ahead. Don't fire till I tell you, then give
them a volley and go at them with the butt-end of your muskets, then
let every one who gets through make a bolt for it."
The sailors, some twenty strong, threw themselves together, and,
headed by the midshipmen, made a rush at the Russians. These opened
fire upon them, and several dropped, but the remainder went on at the
double until within twenty yards of the enemy, when pouring in a
volley and clubbing their muskets, they rushed upon them.
For a moment there was a sharp _mèlèe_; several of the sailors were
shot or bayoneted, but the rest, using the butt-ends of their muskets
with tremendous execution, fought their way through their opponents.
Jack had shot down two men with his revolver, and having got through,
was taking his place at the rear of the men--the proper place for an
officer in retreat?--when he saw Hawtry fall. A Russian ran up to
bayonet him as he lay, when Jack, running back, shot him through the
head. In a moment he was surrounded, and while in the act of shooting
down an assailant in front, he was struck on the back of the head with
the butt of a musket, and fell stunned across the body of his friend.
When he recovered consciousness, he found that he was being carried
along by four Russians. He could hear the boom of cannon and the
rattle of musketry, and knew that the defenders on the heights were
angrily firing at the retreating party, who had so successfully
surprised them. As soon as his bearers perceived that Jack had opened
his eyes, they let him drop, hauled him to his feet, and then holding
him by his collar, made him run along with them.
When they had mounted the other side of the slope, and were out of
fire of the guns, the party halted, and Jack, hearing his own name
called, looked round, and saw Hawtry in the snow, where his captors
had dropped him.
"Hullo, Dick! old fellow," Jack shouted joyfully; "so there you are. I
was afraid they had killed you."
"I'm worth a lot of dead men yet, Jack. I've been hit in the leg, and
went down, worse luck, and that rascally Russian would have skewered
me if you hadn't shot him. You saved my life, old fellow, and made a
good fight for me and I shall never forget it; but it has cost you
your liberty."
"That's no great odds," Jack said. "It can't be much worse stopping a
few months in a Russian prison, than spending the winter upon the
heights. Besides, with two of us together, we shall be as right as
possible, and maybe, when your leg gets all right again, we'll manage
to give them the slip."
The Russian officer in command of the party, which was about 200
strong, now made signs to the boys that they were to proceed.
Dick pointed to his leg, and the officer examined the wound. It was a
slight one, the ball having passed through the calf, missing the bone.
He was, however, unable to walk. A litter was formed of two muskets
with a great-coat laid between them, and Dick, being seated on this,
was taken up by four men, and Jack taking his place beside him, the
procession started. They halted some four miles off at a village in a
valley beyond the Tchernaya.
The next day the boys were placed on ponies, and, under the escort of
an officer and six troopers, conducted to Sebastopol. Here they were
taken before a Russian general who, by means of an interpreter,
closely examined them as to the force, condition, and position of the
army.
The lads, however, evaded all questions by stating that they belonged
to the fleet, and were only on duty on the heights above Balaklava,
and were in entire ignorance of the force of the army and the
intentions of its general. As to the fleet, they could tell nothing
which the Russians did not already know.
The examination over, they were conducted to one of the casemates of
Fort St. Nicholas. Here for a fortnight they remained, seeing no one
except the soldier who brought them their food. The casemate was some
thirty feet long by eighteen wide, and a sixty-eight-pounder stood
looking out seaward. There the boys could occasionally see the ships
of war of the allies as they cruised to and fro.
It was very cold, for the opening was of course unglazed. They had
each a heap of straw and two blankets, and these in the daytime they
used as shawls, for they had no fire, and it was freezing sharply.
Dick's leg had been examined and dressed by a surgeon upon his first
arrival; but as the wound was not serious, and the surgeons were
worked night and day with the enormous number of wounded at Inkerman,
and in the various sorties, with which the town was crowded, he did
not again come near his patient. The wound, however, healed rapidly.
As Jack remarked, the scanty rations of black bread and tough
meat--the latter the produce of some of the innumerable bullocks which
arrived at Sebastopol with convoys, too exhausted and broken down for
further service--were not calculated to cause any feverish excitement
to the blood, nor, had it been so, would the temperature have
permitted the fever to rise to any undue height.
Their guards were kind to them so far as was in their power, and upon
their using the word "tobacco," and making signs that they wanted to
smoke, furnished them with pipes and with tobacco, which, although
much lighter and very different in quality from that supplied on board
ship, was yet very smokable, and much mitigated the dulness from which
the boys suffered. A few days after their captivity the boys heard the
church bells of Sebastopol ringing merrily.
"I wonder what all this is about?" Dick said; "not for a victory, I'll
be bound."
"Why, bless me," Jack exclaimed, "if it isn't Christmas day, and we
had forgotten all about it! Now, that is hard, monstrously hard. The
fellows on the heights will just be enjoying themselves to-day. I know
they were talking about getting some currants and raisins from on
board ship, and there will be plum-duff and all sorts of things. I
wonder how they're all getting on at home? They're sure to be thinking
often enough of us, but it will never enter their minds that here we
are cooped up in this beastly hole."
The day, however, did not pass unnoticed, for a Russian officer who
spoke English called upon them, and said that he came at the request
of the governor himself to express to them his regret that their
quarters were so uncomfortable and their fare so bad. "But," he said,
"we cannot help ourselves. Every barrack in the town is crowded; every
hospital, every private house even, filled with wounded. We have fifty
or sixty thousand troops, and near twenty thousand sick and wounded.
Your people are very good not to fire at the town, for if they did, I
do not know what the poor fellows would do. For to-day the governor
has sent you down a dinner from his own table, together with a few
bottles of wine and spirits--and what you will not prize less, for I
see you smoke, a box of cigars. It is very cold here. I will see that
you have some more blankets."
Two soldiers came in with baskets, the one with tin-covered dishes,
the other with wines. These were set out on the ground, and the boys,
after sending a message expressing their cordial thanks to the general
for his thoughtfulness, sat down, when alone, in the highest spirits
to their unexpected feast.
"This is a glorious spread, Jack. I wonder what all these dishes are?
I don't recognize any of them. However, this is soup, there is no
doubt about that, so let's fall to on that to begin with. But first of
all, get out the cork of one of those champagne bottles. Now fill up
your tin, Jack, and let's drink 'God bless all at home, and a merry
Christmas to them.' We'll have our other toasts after dinner. I
couldn't begin till we drank that. Now set to."
The dishes were not as cold as might have been expected, for each had
been enveloped in flannel before placing it in the basket. The soup
was pronounced excellent, and the unknown meats, prime--better than
anything they had tasted since they left England. There were sweets,
too, which they made a clean sweep of. Then they called their guard,
to whom they gave the remains of their dinner, together with a strong
pannikin of water and spirits, to his extreme delight.
Then, making themselves snug in the straw, wrapping themselves well
in their blankets, fencing in their candle, so that it was sheltered
from the draughts, they opened a bottle of brandy, drank a variety of
toasts, not forgetting the health of the governor, who they agreed
was a brick, they sang a song or two, then blew out the light, and,
thoroughly warm and comfortable, were asleep in a minute or two.
A few days later, an officer came in, signed to them to make their
blankets into a bundle, and to follow him.
The boys slipped four bottles of spirits which they had still
remaining, and also the stock of cigars, into the rolls. Then,
holding the bundles on their shoulders, they followed him.
Dick, although still weak on his legs, was now able to walk.
Presently they came to a large party of men, some of whom had their
arms in slings, some were bandaged on the head, some lay in stretchers
on the ground.
"It is a convoy of wounded," Jack said. "I suppose we're going to be
taken into the interior."
An officer, evidently in charge, saluted the boys as they came up, and
said something in Russian.
They returned the salute. He was a pleasant-looking fellow with
light-blue eyes, and yellowish moustache and beard. He looked at them,
and then gave orders to a soldier, who entered the building, and
returned with two peasants' cloaks lined with sheep-skin, similar to
the one he himself wore.
These were handed to them, and the midshipmen expressed their warmest
gratitude to him; their meaning, if not their words, being clearly
intelligible.
"These are splendid," Jack said. "They've got hoods too, to go over
the head. This is something like comfort. I wish our poor fellows up
above there had each got one. It must be awful up on the plateau now.
Fancy twelve hours in the trenches, and then twelve hours in the
tents, with no fires, and nothing but those thin great-coats, and
scarcely anything to eat. Now there's a move."
A strong party of soldiers came down, lifted the stretchers, and in a
few minutes the whole convoy were at the water's edge. Other similar
parties were already there, and alongside were a number of flat
barges. Upon these the invalids walked, or were carried, and the
barges were then taken in tow by ships' boats, and rowed across the
harbor to the north side.
"I hope to goodness," Jack said, looking up at the heights behind
them, along which the lines of entrenchments were clearly visible
against the white snow, "that our fellows won't take it into their
heads to have a shot at us. From our battery we often amused ourselves
by sending a shell from one of the big Lancaster guns down at the
ships in the harbor. But I never dreamed that I was likely to be a
cockshy myself."
The usual duel was going on between the batteries, and the puffs of
white smoke rose from the dark line of trenches and drifted up
unbroken across the deep blue of the still wintry sky.
But happily the passage of the flotilla of boats attracted no
attention, and they soon arrived at the shore close to the work known
as Battery No. 4.
Here they were landed. Those who could not walk were lifted into
carts, of which some hundreds stood ranged alongside. The rest fell in
on foot, and the procession started. The boys, to their satisfaction,
found that the officer who had given them the coats was in charge of a
portion of the train, and as they started he stopped to speak a word
or two to them, to which they replied in the most intelligible manner
they could by offering him a cigar, which a flash of pleasure in his
face at once showed to be a welcome present.
It took some time to get the long convoy in motion, for it consisted
of some 700 or 800 carts and about 5,000 sick and wounded, of whom
fully three-fourths were unable to walk. It mounted to the plateau
north of the harbor, wound along near the great north fort, and then
across undulating land parallel with the sea. They stopped for the
night on the Katcha, where the allied army had turned off for their
flank march to the southern side.
The boys during the march were allowed to walk as they liked, but two
soldiers with loaded muskets kept near them. They discussed the
chances of trying to make their escape, but agreed that although they
might be able to slip away from the convoy, the probability of their
making their way through the Russian troops to their own lines at
Balaklava or Sebastopol was so slight that the attempt would be almost
madness. Their figures would be everywhere conspicuous on the snow,
their footsteps, could be followed, they had no food, and were
ignorant of the language and country. Altogether they determined to
abandon any idea of escaping for the present.
There were but a dozen soldiers with the convoy, the officers being
medical men in charge of the wounded. A halt was made in a sheltered
spot near the river, and close to the village of Mamaschia, which was
entirely deserted by its inhabitants.
The worst cases of sickness were carried into the houses, and the rest
prepared to make themselves as comfortable as they could in or under
the wagons. Stores of forage were piled by the village for the use of
the convoys going up and down, and the drivers speedily spread a
portion of this before their beasts.
The guard and such men as were able to get about went off among the
orchards that surrounded the village, to cut fuel. The boys' special
guard remained by them. When the doctor whom they regarded as their
friend came up to them, he brought with him another officer as
interpreter, who said in broken French,--
"Voulez-vous donner votre parole pas essayez echapper?"
Jack was as ignorant of French as of Russian, but Dick knew a little.
He turned to Jack and translated the question.
"Tell him we will give our words not to try and escape during the
march, or till we tell him to the contrary." This was almost beyond
Dick.
"Nous donnons notre parole pour le prèsent," he said, "pour la marche,
vous comprenez. Si nous changons notre--I wonder what mind is," he
grumbled to himself--"intention, nous vous dirons."
This was intelligible, although not good French, and their friend,
having shaken hands with them as if to seal the bargain, told the
soldiers that they need no longer keep a watch on the prisoners, and
then beckoned them to accompany him. The boys had, at starting, placed
their bundles upon a cart to which they had kept close during the
march. Putting these on their shoulders, they accompanied their friend
to a cart which was drawn up three or four feet from the wall of a
house. They set to work at once, and with the aid of some sticks and
blankets, of which there was a good supply in the wagon, made a roof
covering the space between it and the house, hung others at the end
and side, and had soon a snug tent erected.
One of the soldiers brought a large truss of straw, and another a
bundle of firewood. The blanket at the end of the tent sheltered from
the wind, was drawn aside, and a great fire speedily blazed up at the
entrance. The straw was shaken out to form a soft seat, just inside
the tent. All three produced their pipes and lit them, while the
doctor's servant prepared over the fire a sort of soup with the
rations. This turned out to be by no means bad, and when after it the
boys produced one of their bottles of brandy and three cigars, the
Russian doctor patted them on the back, and evidently told them that
they were first-rate fellows.
For half-an-hour he smoked his cigar and sipped his tin of brandy and
water, then, explaining by signs that he must go and look after his
wounded, left them.
The boys chatted for another half-hour, and then stowing their brandy
carefully away, they shook up the straw into a big bed, and, wrapping
themselves in their sheepskins, were soon soundly asleep; but it was
long after midnight before the doctor returned from his heavy work of
dressing wounds and administering medicine, and stretched himself on
the straw beside them.