THE DEPARTURE.
"Our native land--our native vale--
A long and last adieu;
Farewell to bonny Teviotdale,
And Cheviot mountains blue!
The battle-mound, the border-tower,
That Scotia's annals tell;
The martyr's grave--the lover's bower--
To each, to all--farewell."--PRINGLE.
Cosmo studiously and ungenerously omitted the slightest mention of
Quentin's name or existence in the letters which he wrote home to
Carrick, well knowing that if he did so, the kind old general, his
father, would at once address the authorities at the Horse Guards on
the subject of the young volunteer's advancement; and he knew, that
if appointed to any other corps than the Borderers, Quentin would be
beyond his influence, and free from the wiles and perils in which he
had mentally proposed to involve his future career.
At last came the day so long looked forward to by all the
regiment--the day of its departure for foreign service, as it proved
in the Spanish Peninsula, the land to which, after several useless
and bloody expeditions to Holland, Flanders, Sweden, and Italy, the
thoughts and hopes and all the sympathies of Britain turned, with the
desire of driving out the victorious French, and restoring the
Bourbon dynasty--almost an old story now, so remote have the
struggles before Sebastopol and the wars of India made the great
battles of those days seem to be.
The regiment had been under orders, and in a state of readiness for
weeks; but until, for it and for others, the _route_ came in the
sabretasche of an orderly dragoon who rode spurring in "hot haste" to
Colchester Barracks, its members knew not for what country they were
destined.
The drums beat the _générale_, the signal for marching, early in the
morning of a soft September day, and the four pipers of the regiment
played loud and high a piobroch, that rang wildly, in all its various
parts, through the calm air, waking every echo of the old barrack
square; for the piobroch, we may inform the uninitiated, is a regular
piece of music, containing several portions; beginning with an alarm,
after which follow the muster, the march, the fury of the charge, the
shrill triumph of victory, and the low sad wail for the slain.
With our battalion of the Borderers, there were to march on this
morning another of the Gordon Highlanders--the 92nd--one of the most
noble of our national corps, together with a strong detachment of the
91th, under Captain Warriston, so the enthusiasm of all was at its
height when, in heavy marching order, with great coats rolled on the
knapsacks, blankets folded behind them, havresacks and wooden
canteens slung, the companies fell in, and there seemed to be a
rivalry between the kilted pipers of the 92nd and the Borderers as to
who should excel most, or (as Cosmo, who was not inspired by overmuch
nationality, said to Middleton) who should "make the most infernal
noise."
Silent and grim, and keeping somewhat haughtily aloof from all his
officers, Cosmo sat on his black horse, gnawing the chin-strap of his
shako, as if controlling some secret irritation, while watching the
formation of the corps, looking very much the while as if longing to
find fault with some one.
"And so we are destined to reinforce the army under Sir John Moore?"
said Quentin, for lack of something more important to remark.
"Yes," said Askerne, as he adjusted the cheek-scales of his tall
grenadier cap; "Sir John is a glorious fellow, and quite the man of
to-day."
"I would rather be the man of _to-morrow_," said Monkton, with an air
that implied a joke, though there was something prophetic in the wish.
"I knew Moore when he was serving as a subaltern with the 82nd in
America--he is a brave, good fellow, and a countryman of our own,
too," said Middleton, whose orderly brought forward his horse at that
moment; "and now," he added, putting his foot in the stirrup, "a long
good-bye to the land of roast-beef, and to poor old Scotland, too! I
wonder who among us here will see her heather hills and grassy glens
again--God bless them all!" And reverentially the fine old man
raised his hand to his cap as he spoke.
A crowd formed by the soldiers' wives and children of the regiment,
now gathered round him, for the old major knew all their names and
little necessities, and was adored by them all. Now he was
distributing among them money, advice, and letters of recommendation
to parish ministers and others, and to none was he more kind than to
the weeping wife of Allan Grange, who, by his reduction to the ranks,
lost nearly every chance of accompanying the troops abroad.
To the screaming of the bagpipes had now succeeded the wailing of
women, for many soldiers' wives and children were to be left behind,
and to be transferred to their several parishes in Scotland; many to
remote glens that are desolate wildernesses now; and it was touching
to see these poor creatures, looking so pale and miserable in the
cold grey light of the early morning, each with her wondering little
brood clinging to her skirts, as she hovered about the company to
which her husband belonged, his quivering lip and glistening eye
alone revealing the heart that ached beneath the coarse red coat,
amid the monotony of calling rolls and inspecting arms.
On one of the waggons which was piled high with baggage, huge chests
of spare arms, iron-bound trunks, camp-beds and folded tents, Quentin
tossed the little portmanteau which contained his entire worldly
possessions; then the baggage-guard, looking so serviceable and
warlike with their havresacks and canteens slung crosswise, came with
bayonets fixed, and the great wains rumbled away through the echoing,
and as yet empty streets of Colchester.
None of the officers were married men, fortunately for themselves
perhaps, at such a juncture. The colours were brought forth with
their black oilskin cases on; the advanced guard marched off, and
just as the sun began to gild the church vanes and chimney-tops, and
while reiterated cheers rang from the thousands of soldiers who
crowded the barrack windows, and whose turn would come anon, the
troops moved off, the brass bands of other regiments--the usual
courtesy--playing them out, the whole being under the command of the
senior officer present, Lieutenant-Colonel Napier of Blackstone, who
afterwards fell at the head of the 92nd Highlanders on the field of
Corunna.
In the excitement of the scene, Quentin felt all its influences and
marched happily on. He forgot his affronts, his piques and
jealousies, and as the young blood coursed lightly through his veins,
he felt that he could forgive even Cosmo, were it only for Lady
Winifred's sake, when he saw him riding with so stately and
soldier-like an air between Major Middleton and Buckle the adjutant,
at the end of the column, where the splendid grenadiers with their
black bearskin caps and braided wings, made a martial show such as no
company of the line could do in the shorn uniform of the present day.
All the happy impulses of youth made Quentin's spirit buoyant; thus
his light heart beat responsive to the crash of the drums and
cymbals, and to every note of the brass band. Thus, when on looking
to the rear, he saw so many hundred bayonets and clear barrels (they
were not browned in those days) flashing in the sun, with the long
array of plumed Highlanders that wound through the streets after his
own regiment, he forgot, we say, his grievances, and the cold and
haughty Master--we believe he forgot even Flora Warrender--he forgot
all but that he was a soldier--one of the old 25th, and bound for the
seat of war! Ah, there is something glorious in these emotions--this
flushing up of the spirit in a young and generous breast; but alas!
the time comes when we look back to the long-past days with envy,
regret, and, it may be--wonder!
The sorrowful parting, the hurried embraces, the last kisses, the sad
and lingering glances of farewell being exchanged along the line of
march every moment, by husbands and wives, by parents and children,
as group after group gradually dropped to the rear of the column they
could but follow with their eyes and hearts, ceased after a time to
impress him by their very number and frequency; thus he soon laughed
with the gay, and enjoyed all the silly banter of the heedless, as
the officers began to group by twos and threes, after Colchester was
left behind, and the troops were permitted to "march at ease" along
the dusty highway between the meadows and ploughed fields.
"I have never seen so jolly a morning as this," said Ensign Boyle, as
he trudged along with the regimental colour crossed on his left
shoulder; "never since first I saw my own name in print!"
"How in print?" asked Quentin, with simplicity; "you do not mean on
the title-page of a book?"
"Not at all--nothing so stupid--I mean in the Army List----"
"Where you have never been tired of contemplating it since--eh,
Pimple?" asked Monkton; "but I hope you have left your flirting
jacket and best epaulettes with the heavy baggage--you only need your
fighting traps now."
"I say, Pimple," said Colyear, the senior ensign, who, of course, had
the King's colour, "how much of the ready had that flax-spinner's
daughter, about whom Monkton quizzes you so much?"
"Rumour said twenty thousand pounds."
"The devil! You might have done worse--aw--eh!"
"We're all doing worse, damme, marching for embarkation on this fine
sunny morning," said Monkton. "There goes the band again to the old
air; but, save you, Pimple, few among us leave 'girls behind us' with
twenty thousand pounds."
"Adieu to Colchester, its morning drills and monotonous guards, and
that devilish incessant patter of little drum-boys practising their
da-da, ma-ma, on the drum from sunrise till sunset," said Colville,
looking back to where the strong old Saxon castle and the brick
steeple of St. Peter were being shrouded in yellow morning haze
exhaled by the sun from the river Colne.
"Bon voyage," cried a gay staff-officer, lifting his plumed cocked
hat, as he cantered gaily past; "good-bye, gentlemen."
"Adieu, Conyers," replied Monkton; "can I do anything for you?"
"Where?"
"Among the ladies in Lisbon?"
The officer made no reply, but rode hurriedly on.
"That is the fellow who had to quit Wellesley's staff for eloping
with some hidalgo's wife, the night after Vimiera," said Askerne.
"Monkton, you hit him hard there."
"Don't you think old Jack Middleton looks dull this morning?" asked
some one.
"The colonel is in a devil of a temper, I think," replied Askerne.
"Perhaps he has left his love behind him," suggested Boyle, raising
his stupid white eyebrows sentimentally; "don't you think so,
Kennedy?"
"Pimple, allow me to rebuke you," said Monkton, with an air of mock
severity. "An ensign may wear a faded rose next his beating heart;
but in a field-officer, such an insane proceeding is not to be
thought of."
While this empty talk was in progress, about eight miles from
Colchester, a troop of the Scots Greys approached en route for that
place; and, as they drew near, the drums and fifes of the Borderers
struck up a lively national quick step; the Greys brandished their
swords, and gave a hearty cheer on coming abreast of the colours of
each regiment, and loud were the hurrahs which responded.
This little episode, and the thoughtless banter which preceded it,
had raised Quentin's spirits to a high state of effervescence. Fresh
hope had come with all her ruddiest tints to brighten the future and
blot out the past, and with all the glorious confidence of youth, he
was again building castles in the air, on this morning march, when
the sun that shone so joyously on the green English landscape, added
to the brilliance of his thoughts and enhanced his joy and happiness.
From his day-dreams, however, he was roughly awakened by the harsh
voice of the Master of Rohallion, who half reined in his horse, and
turning round with his right hand planted on the crupper, said with
great sternness:
"Captain Askerne, I must remind you that, though officers may
converse together when the men are marching at ease, such a privilege
can by no means be accorded to a mere volunteer. Mr. Kennedy, rejoin
your section, and keep your place, sir!"
Askerne's dark and handsome face coloured up to the rim of his
bearskin cap, and his eyes sparkled with rage at the colonel's
petulant wantonness; while poor Quentin, who, lost in his bright
day-dreamings, had certainly, but unconsciously, diverged a few paces
from the line of march to converse with his friends, fell sadly back
into the ranks, and felt that the dark cloud was enveloping him again.