DISEMBARKED
As soon as the vessels were under way again it was found that the lugger
was obliged to lower her main-sail to keep in her position astern of the
_Sea-horse_, while the brig was forced to take in sail after sail until
the whole of the upper sails had been furled.
"It is tedious work going along like this," O'Driscol said; "but it does
not so much matter, because as yet we do not know where we are going to
land. Sir Arthur has gone on in a fast ship to Corunna to see the Spanish
Junta there, and find out what assistance we are likely to get from
Northern Spain. That will be little enough. I expect they will take our
money and arms and give us plenty of fine promises in return, and do
nothing; that is the game they have been playing in the south, and if
there were a grain of sense among our ministers they would see that it is
not of the slightest use to reckon on Spain. As to Portugal, we know very
little at present, but I expect there is not a pin to choose between them
and the Spaniards."
"Then we are not going to Lisbon?" Terence said, in surprise.
"I expect not. Sir Arthur won't determine anything until he joins us after
his visit to Corunna, but I don't think that it will be at Lisbon, anyhow.
There are strong forts guarding the mouth of the river, and ten or twelve
thousand troops in the city, and a Russian fleet anchored in the port. I
don't know where it will be, but I don't think that it will be Lisbon. I
expect that we shall slip into some little port, land, and wait for Junot
to attack us; we shall be joined, I expect, by Stewart's force, that have
been fooling about for two or three months waiting for the Spaniards to
make up their minds whether they will admit them into Cadiz or not. You
see, at present there are only 9,000 of us, and they say that Junot has at
least 50,000 in Portugal; but of course they are scattered about, and it
is hardly likely that he would venture to withdraw all his garrisons from
the large towns, so that the odds may not be as heavy as they look, when
we meet him in the field. And I suppose that at any rate some of the
Portuguese will join us. From what I hear, the peasantry are brave enough,
only they have never had a chance yet of making a fight for it, owing to
their miserable government, which never can make up its mind to do
anything. I hope that Sir Arthur has orders, as soon as he takes Lisbon,
to assume the entire control of the country and ignore the native
government altogether. Even if they are worth anything, which they are
sure not to be, it is better to have one head than two, and as we shall
have to do all the fighting, it's just as well that we should have the
whole control of things too."
For four days they sailed along quietly. On the morning of the fifth the
signal was run up from the _Sea-horse_ for the prizes to close up to her.
Mr. Woods, the mate on board the brig, at once sent a sailor up to the
mast-head.
"There is a large ship away to the south-west, sir," he shouted down.
"What does she look like?"
"I can only see her royals and top-sails yet, but by their square cut I
think that she is a ship-of-war."
"Do you think she is French or English?"
"I cannot say for certain yet, sir, but it looks to me as if she is
French. I don't think that the sails are English cut anyhow."
Such was evidently the opinion on board the _Sea-horse_, for as the
prizes came up within a hundred yards of her they were hailed by the major
through a speaking-trumpet, and ordered to keep at a distance for the
present, but to be in readiness to come up alongside directly orders were
given to that effect.
In another half-hour the look-out reported that he could now see the lower
sails of the stranger, and had very little doubt but that it was a large
French frigate. Scarcely had he done so before the two prizes were ordered
to close up to the _Sea-horse_. The sea was very calm and they were able
to lie alongside, and as soon as they did so the troops began to be
transferred to them. In a quarter of an hour the operation was completed,
Major Harrison taking his place on board the lugger; half the men were
ordered below, and the prize sheered off from the _Sea-horse_.
"The Frenchman is bearing down straight for us," he said to O'Driscol;
"she is bringing a breeze down with her, and in an hour she will be
alongside. I shall wait another half-hour, and then we must leave the
_Sea-horse_ to her fate; except for our stores she is worthless. Well,
Terence, have you any suggestion to offer? You got us out of the last
scrape, and though this is not quite so bad as that, it is unpleasant
enough. The frigate when she comes near will see that the _Sea-horse_ is
a slow sailer, and will probably leave her to be picked up at her leisure,
and will go off in chase either of the brig or us. The brig is to make for
the north-west and we shall steer south-east, so that she will have to
make a choice between us. When we get the breeze we shall either of us
give her a good dance before she catches us--that is, if the breeze is not
too strong; if it is, her weight would soon bring her up to us."
"Yes, Major, but perhaps she may not trouble about us at all. She would
see at once that the lugger and brig are French, and if they were both to
hoist French colours, and the _Sea-horse_ were to fly French colours over
English, she would naturally suppose that she had been captured by us, and
would go straight on her course without troubling herself further about
it."
"So she might, Terence. At any rate the scheme is worth trying. If they
have anything like good glasses on board they could make out our colours
miles away. If she held on towards us after that, there would be plenty of
time for us to run, but if we saw her change her course we should know
that we were safe. Your head is good for other things besides mischief,
lad."
The lugger sailed up near the ship again, and the major gave the captain
instructions to hoist a French ensign over an English one, and then,
sailing near the brig, told them to hoist French colours.
"Keep all your men down below the line of the bulwarks, O'Grady. Mr.
Woods, you had better get your boat down and row alongside of the ship,
and ask the captain to get the slings at work and hoist some of our stores
into her; we will do the same on the other side. Tell the captain to lower
a couple of his boats; also take twenty soldiers on board with you without
their jackets; we will do the same, so that it may be seen that we have a
strong party on board getting out the cargo."
In a few minutes the orders were carried out, and forty soldiers were at
work on the deck of the Sea-horse, slinging up tents from below, and
lowering them into the boats alongside. The approach of the frigate was
anxiously watched from the decks of the prizes. The upper sails of the
_Sea-horse_ had been furled, and the privateers, under the smallest
possible canvas, kept abreast of her at a distance of a couple of lengths.
The hull of the French frigate was now visible. "She is very fast," the
mate said to the major, "and she is safe to catch one of us if the breeze
she has got holds."
As she came nearer the feeling of anxiety heightened.
"They ought to make out our colours now, sir."
Almost immediately afterwards the frigate was seen to change her course.
Her head was turned more to the east. A suppressed cheer broke from the
troops.
"It is all right now, sir," the mate said; "she is making for Brest. We
have fooled her nicely."
The boats passed and repassed between the _Sea-horse_ and the prizes, and
the frigate crossed a little more than a mile ahead.
"Five-and-twenty guns a-side," the major said. "By Jove! she would have
made short work of us."
As it was not advisable to make any change in the position until the
frigate was far on her way, the boats continued to pass to and fro,
carrying back to the _Sea-horse_ the stores that had just been removed,
until the Frenchman was five or six miles away.
"Don't you think that we might make sail again, Captain?" the major then
hailed.
"I think that we had better give him another hour, sir. Were she to see us
making sail with the prize to the south it would excite suspicion at once,
and the captain might take it into his head to come back again to inquire
into it."
"Half an hour will surely be sufficient," the major said. "She is
travelling at eight or nine knots an hour, and she is evidently bound for
port. It would be unlikely in the extreme that her commander would beat
back ten miles on what, after all, might be a fool's errand."
"That is true enough, sir. Then in half an hour we shall be ready to sail
again."
The major was rowed to the _Sea-horse_. "We may as well transfer the men
at once," he said. "We have had a very narrow escape of it, Captain, and
there is no doubt that we owe our safety entirely to the sharpness of that
young ensign. We should have been sunk or taken if he had not suggested
our manning the lugger in the first place, and of pretending that the ship
had been captured by French privateers in the second."
"You are right, Major. Another half-hour and the craft would have
foundered under us; and the frigate would certainly have captured the
_Sea-horse_ and one of the prizes if the Frenchman had not, as he
thought, seen two privateers at work emptying our hold. He is a sharp
young fellow, that."
"That he is," the major agreed. "He has been brought up with the regiment,
and has always been up to pranks of all kinds; but he has used his wits to
good purpose this time, and I have no doubt will turn out an excellent
officer."
Before sail was made the major summoned the officers on board the
_Sea-horse_. The troops from the lugger and brig were drawn up on deck,
and the major, standing on the poop, said in a voice that could be heard
from end to end of the ship:
"Officers and men, we have had a narrow escape from a French prison, and
as it is possible that before we arrive at our destination we may fall in
with an enemy again and not be so lucky, I think it right to take this
occasion at once of thanking Mr. O' Connor, before you all, in my own
name, and in yours, for to his intelligence and quickness of wit it is
entirely due that we escaped being captured when the brig was pounding us
with its shot, without our being able to make any return, and it was
certain that in a short time we should have had to haul down our flag or
be sunk. It was he who suggested that we should take possession of the
lugger, and with her guns drive off the brig. As the result of that
suggestion this craft was saved from being sunk, and the brig was also
captured.
"In the second place, when that French frigate was bearing down upon us
and our capture seemed certain, it was he who suggested to me, that by
hoisting the French flag and appearing to be engaged in transferring the
cargo of the ship to the privateers, we might throw dust into the eyes of
the Frenchmen. As you saw, the ruse succeeded perfectly. I therefore, Mr.
O'Connor, thank you most heartily in my own name, and in that of your
fellow-officers, also in the name of the four hundred men of the regiment,
and of the ship's company, for the manner in which you have, by your
quickness and good sense, saved us all from a French prison, and saved his
Majesty from the loss of the wing of a fine regiment."
As he concluded the men broke into loud cheering, and the officers
gathered around Terence and thanked and congratulated him most heartily on
the service that he had rendered them.
"You are a broth of a boy, Terence," Captain O'Grady said. "I knew that it
was in you all along. I would not give a brass farthing for a lad who had
not a spice of divil-ment in him. It shows that he has got his wits about
him, and that when he steddys down he will be hard to bate."
Terence was so much overpowered at the praise he had received that, beyond
protesting that it was quite undeserved, he had no reply to make to the
congratulations that he received from the captain. O'Driscol, seeing that
he was on the verge of breaking down, at once called upon him to take his
place in the boat, and rowed with him to the lugger.
A few minutes later all sail was set on the _Sea-horse_, and with her
yards braced tautly aft she laid her course south, close-hauled; a fresh
breeze was now blowing, and she ploughed her way through the water at a
rate that almost justified O'Grady's panegyrics upon her. In another three
days she entered the port of Vigo, where the convoy was to rendezvous, and
all were glad to find that the whole fleet were still there. On anchoring,
the major went on board the _Dauphin_, which had brought the
headquarters, and the other wing of the regiment. He was heartily greeted
by the colonel.
"We were getting very uneasy about you, Harrison," he said. "The last ship
of the convoy came in three days ago, and we began to fear that you must
have been either dismasted or sunk in the gale. I saw the senior naval
officer this morning, and he said that if you did not come in during the
day he would send a frigate out in search of you; but I could see by his
manner that he thought it most likely that you had gone down. So you may
imagine how pleased we were when we made out your number, though we could
not for the life of us make out what those two craft flying the English
colours over the French, that came in after you, were. But of course they
had nothing to do with you. I suppose they were two privateers that had
been captured by one of our frigates, and sent in here with prize crews to
refit before going home. They have both of them been knocked about a bit."
"I will tell you about them directly, Colonel; it is rather a long story.
We have had a narrow squeak of it. We got through the storm pretty well,
but we had a bad time of it afterwards, and we owe it entirely to young
O'Connor that we are not, all of us, in a prison at Brest at present."
"You don't say so! Wait a moment, I will call his father here; he will be
glad to hear that the young scamp has behaved well. I may as well call
them all up; they will like to hear the story."
Turning to the group of officers who were standing on the quarter-deck a
short distance away, waiting to hear the news when the major had given his
report, he said: "You may as well come now and hear Major Harrison's
story; it will save his telling it twice. You will be glad to hear,
O'Connor, that Terence has been distinguishing himself in some way, though
I know not yet in what; the major says that if it had not been for him the
whole wing of the regiment would have now been in a French prison."
"Terence was always good at getting out of scrapes, Colonel, though I
don't say he was not equally good in getting into them; but I am glad to
hear that this time he has done something useful."
The major then gave a full account of their adventure with the privateers,
and of the subsequent escape from the French frigate.
"Faith, O'Connor," the colonel said, warmly, holding out his hand to him,
"I congratulate you most heartily, which is more than I ever thought to do
on Terence's account. I had some misgivings when I recommended him for a
commission, but I may congratulate myself as well as you that I did so. I
was sure the lad had plenty in him, but I was afraid that it was more
likely to come out the wrong way than the right; and now it turns out that
he has saved half the regiment, for there is no doubt from what Harrison
says that he has done so."
"Thank you, Colonel; I am glad indeed that the boy has done credit to your
kindness. It was a mighty bad scrape this time, and he got out of it
well."
"Of course, Major, you will give a full report in writing of this, and
will send it in to Sir Arthur; he arrived this morning. I will go on board
the flag-ship at once and report as to the prizes. Who they belong to I
have not the least idea. I never heard of a transport capturing a couple
of privateers before; but, I suppose, as she is taken up for the king's
service and the prizes were captured by his Majesty's troops, they will
rank as if taken by the navy, that is, a certain amount of their value
will go to the admiral. Anyhow, the bulk of it will go, I should think, to
the troops--the crew and officers of the ship, of course, sharing."
"It won't come to much a head, Colonel, anyhow. You see, they were both
empty, and there is simply the value of the ships themselves, which I
don't suppose would fetch above five or six hundred apiece."
"Still, the thing must be done in a regular way, and I must leave it in
the admiral's hands. I will take your boat, Major, and go to him at once.
You will find pen and ink in my cabin, and I should be glad if you would
write your report by the time that I return; then I will go off at once to
Sir Arthur."
"I have it already written, Colonel," the major said, producing the
document.
"That looks to me rather long, Harrison, and busy as Sir Arthur must be,
he might not take the trouble to read it. I wish you would write out
another, as concise as you can make it, of the actual affair, saying at
the end that you beg to report especially the conduct of Ensign O'Connor,
to whose suggestions the escape of the ship both from the privateers and
French frigate were due. I will hand that in as the official report, and
with it the other, saying that it gives further details of the affair. Of
course, with them I must give in an official letter from myself, inclosing
your two reports. But first I will go and see the admiral."
In a little over half an hour he returned. "The admiral knows no more than
I do whether the navy have anything to do with the prizes or not. Being so
small in value he does not want to trouble himself about it. He says that
the matter would entail no end of correspondence and bother, and that the
crafts might rot at their anchors before the matter was decided. He thinks
the best thing that I can do will be to sell the two vessels for what they
will fetch, and divide the money according to prize rules, and say nothing
about it. In that way there is not likely ever to be any question about
it, while if the Admiralty and Horse Guards once get into a correspondence
over the matter, there is no saying what bother I might have; and that he
should advise me, if I do not adopt that plan, to simply scuttle them
both, and report that they have sunk. Now I will just write my official
letter and take it to head-quarters."
In two hours he was back again.
"I have not seen the chief," he said, "but I gave the reports to his
adjutant-general. General Fane was with him; he is an old friend of mine,
and I told him the story of your voyage, and the adjutant-general joined
in the conversation. Fane was waiting to go in to Sir Arthur, who was
dictating some despatches to England, and he said that if he had a chance
he would mention the affair to Sir Arthur; and, at any rate, the other
officer said that he would lay the reports before him, with such mention
that Sir Arthur would doubtless look through them both. I find that there
is a bit of insurrection going on in Portugal, but that no one thinks much
will come of it, as bands of unarmed peasants can have no chance with the
French. Nothing is determined as yet about our landing. Lisbon and the
Tagus are completely in the hands of the French.
"Sir Arthur is going down to Oporto to-morrow, where it is likely that he
will learn more about the situation than he did at Corunna. Fane says that
he hopes we shall soon be ashore, as the general is not the man to let the
grass grow under his feet."
After holding counsel with his officers the colonel determined to adopt
the advice he had received, and to sell the two craft for what they would
fetch, the officers all agreeing to refund their shares if any questions
were ever asked on the subject. The captain of the _Sea-horse_ agreed to
accept the share of a captain in the line, and his mates those of first
and second lieutenant. The colonel put himself in communication with some
merchants on shore, and the two craft were sold for twelve hundred pounds.
"This gave something over a pound a head to the 400 soldiers and the crew,
twice that amount to the non-commissioned officers, and sums varying from
ten pounds apiece to the ensigns to fifty pounds to the major. The admiral
was asked to approve of the transaction, and said, 'I have no right
formally to sanction it, since, so far as I know, it is not a strictly
naval matter; but I will give you a letter, Colonel, saying that you have
informed me of the course that you have adopted, and that I consider that
under the peculiar circumstances of the capture, and the fact that there
are no men available for sending the prizes to England, the course was the
best and most convenient that could possibly be adopted, though, had the
craft been of any great value, it would, of course, have been necessary to
refer the matter home.'"
A week passed without movement. The expedition had left England on the
12th of July, 1808, and Sir Arthur rejoined it towards the end of the
month. He had learned at Oporto from Colonel Brown, our agent there, that,
contrary to what he had been told at Corunna, there were no Spanish troops
in the north of Portugal, but that a body of some 8,000 Portuguese
irregulars and militia, half-armed and but slightly disciplined, were
assembled on the river Mondego. After a consultation with Admiral Sir
Charles Cotton, Sir Arthur had concluded that an attack at the mouth of
the Tagus was impracticable, owing to the strength of the French there,
the position of the forts that commanded the entrance of the river, and
the heavy surf that broke in all the undefended creeks and bays near.
There was then the choice of landing far enough north of Lisbon to ensure
a disembarkation undisputed by the French, or else to sail south, join
Spencer, and act against the French army under Dupont.
Sir Arthur finally determined that the Mondego River was the most
practicable for the enterprise. The fort of Figueira at its mouth was
already occupied by British marines, and the Portuguese force was at least
sufficient to deter any small body of troops approaching the
neighbourhood. Therefore, to the great joy of the troops, the order was
given that the fleet should sail on the following morning; two days later
they anchored off the mouth of the Mondego. Just before starting a vessel
arrived with despatches from Spencer, saying that he was at St. Mary's and
was free to act with Sir Arthur, and a fast vessel was despatched with
orders to him to sail to the Mondego.
On arriving there Sir Arthur received the mortifying intelligence that Sir
Hew Dalrymple had been appointed over his head, nevertheless he continued
to push on his own plans with vigour, pending the arrival of that general.
With this bad news came the information that the French general, Dupont,
had been defeated. This set free a small force under General Anstruther,
and some fast-sailing craft were at once despatched to find his command,
and order it to sail at once to the Mondego. Without further delay,
however, the landing of the troops began on the 1st of August, and the
9,000 men, their guns and stores, were ashore by the 5th.
On that day Spencer fortunately arrived with 3,300 men. He had not
received Sir Arthur's orders, but the moment that Dupont surrendered he
had sailed for the Tagus, and had learned from Sir C. Cotton, who
commanded the fleet at the entrance to the river, where Sir Arthur was,
and at once sailed to join him. While the troops were disembarking Sir
Arthur had gone over to the Portuguese head-quarters, two miles distant,
to confer with Bernardin Friere, the Portuguese commander-in-chief. The
visit was a disappointing one. He found that the Portuguese troops were
almost unarmed, and that their commander was full of inflated ideas. He
proposed that the forces should unite, that they should relinquish the
coast, and march into the interior and commence an offensive campaign, and
was lavish in his promises to provide ample stores of provisions. The
English general saw, however, that no effectual assistance could be hoped
for from the Portuguese troops, and as little from the promises of their
commander. He gave Friere 5,000 muskets for his troops, but absolutely
declined to adopt the proposed plan, his own intention being to keep near
the coast, where he could receive his supplies from the ships and be
joined by reinforcements.
As soon as they had landed the Mayo regiment was marched to a village two
miles inland, and, with two others of the same brigade, encamped near it.
All idea of keeping up a regimental officers' mess had been abandoned, and
as soon as the tents were pitched and the troops had settled down in them,
O'Grady said to Terence:
"We will go into the village and see if we can find a suitable place for
taking our meals. It may be that in time our fellows will learn how to
cook for us, but, by jabers! we will live dacent as long as we can. My
servant, Tim Hoolan, has gone on ahead to look for such a place, and he is
the boy to find one if there is one anyhow to be got. As our companies are
number 1 and 2, it is reasonable that we should stick together, and though
O'Driscol's a quare stick, with all sorts of ridiculous notions, he is a
good fellow at heart, and I will put up with him for the sake of having
you with me."
As they entered the village the servant came up. "I have managed it,
Captain; we have got hold of the best quarters in the village; it is a
room over the only shebeen here. The ould scoundrel of a landlord wanted
to keep it as a general room, but I brought the Church to bear on him, and
I managed it finally."
"How did you work it, Tim?"
"Sure, your honour, I went to the praste, and by good luck his house is in
front of the church. I went into the church, and I crossed myself before
the altar and said a prayer or two. As I did so who should come out of the
vestry but the father himself. He waited until I had done and then came up
to me, and to my surprise said in good Irish:
"'So it's a Catholic you are, my man?'
"'That am I, your riverence,' said I, 'and most all of the rigiment are;
sure, we were raised in the ould country, and belong, most of us, to
County Mayo, and glad we were to come out here to fight for those of the
true religion against these Frenchmen, who they say have no religion at
all, at all. And how is it you spake the language, your riverence, if I
may be so bold as to ask?'"
"Then he told me that he had been at college at Lisbon, where the sons of
many Catholic Irish gentlemen were sent to be educated, and that he had
learned it from them.
"'And how is it that you are not with your regiment, my man?'
"'I am here to hire rooms for the officers, your riverence, just a place
where they can ate a dacent meal in peace and quietness. I have been to
the inn, but I cannot for the life of me make the landlord understand. He
has got a room that would be just suitable, so I thought I would come to
your riverence to explain to you that the rigiment are not heretics, but
true sons of the Church. I thought that, being a learned man, I might make
shift to make you understand, and that you would maybe go wid me and
explain the matter to him.'
"'That will I,' says he; and he wint and jabbered away with the innkeeper,
and at last turned to me and said: 'He will let you have a room, seeing
that it is for the service of good Catholics and not heretics.'"
"But, you rascal, you know that we are not Catholics."
"Sure, your honour, didn't I say that most all the rigiment were
Catholics; I did not say all of them."
"I must go and explain the matter to him, Hoolan. If he calls upon us, as
like he may do, he would find out at once that you have desaved him."
"Sure, your honour, if you think that it is necessary, of course it must
be done; but would it not be as well to go to the shebeen first and to
take possession of the room, and to get comfortably settled down in it
before ye gives me away?"
"I think it might be worth while, Tim," O'Grady said, gravely. "What do
you say, Terence?"
"I think the matter will keep for a few hours," Terence said, laughing,
"and when we are once settled there it will be very hard to turn us out."
The room was found to be larger than they had expected, and O'Grady
proposed that they should admit the whole officers of their wing to share
it with them, to which Terence at once agreed heartily. "I think that with
a little squeezing the place would hold the officers of the five
companies, and the major and O'Flaherty. The more of us there are, the
merrier, and the less fear of our being turned out."
"That is so. We had better put the names up on the door. You go down and
try and make that black-browed landlord understand that you want some
paper and pen and ink."
With some difficulty and much gesticulation Terence succeeded. The names
of the officers were written down on a paper and it was then fastened on
the door.
"Now, Terence, I will go and fetch the boys; you and Hoolan make the
landlord understand that we want food and wine for fifteen or sixteen
officers. Of course they won't all be able to get away at once. We must
contint ourselves with anything we can get now; afterwards we will send up
our rations, and with plenty of good wine and a ham (there are lots of
them hanging from the ceiling down below), we shall do pretty well, with
what you can forage outside."
Terence left this part of the work to Hoolan, who, by bringing up a number
of plates and ranging them on the table, getting down a ham and cutting it
into slices, and by pointing to the wine-skins, managed to acquaint the
landlord with what was required. In this he was a good deal aided by the
man's two nieces, who acted as his assistants, and who were much quicker
in catching his meaning than was the landlord himself. Very soon the room
below was crowded with officers from other regiments, and Hoolan went up
to Terence:
"I think, Mr. O'Connor, that it would be a good job if you were to go down
and buy a dozen of them hams. A lot of them have been sold already, and it
won't be long before the last has gone, though I reckon that there are
three or four dozen of them still there."
"That is a very good idea, Tim. You come down with me and bring them
straight up here, and we will drive some nails into those rafters. I
expect before nightfall the place will be cleared out of everything that
is eatable."
The bargain was speedily concluded. The landlord was now in a better
temper. At first he had been very doubtful of the intentions of the
new-comers. Now that he saw that they were ready to pay for everything,
and that at prices much higher than he could before have obtained, his
face shone with good-humour. He and the two girls were already busy
drawing wine and selling it to the customers.
"I will get some wood, your honour, and light a fire here, or it is mighty
little dinner that you will be getting. The soldiers will soon be dropping
in, that is, if they don't keep this place for officers only, for there
are two other places where they sell wine in the village. When I came up
two officers had a slice of ham each on the points of their swords over
the fire."
"That will be a very good plan, Tim; you had better set to work about it
at once, and at the same time I will try and get some bread."
By the time that O'Grady returned with seven or eight other officers the
fire was blazing. Terence had managed to get a sufficient number of knives
and forks; there was, however, no table-cloth in the house. He and Terence
were cooking slices of ham on a gridiron over the fire.
"This is first-rate, O'Grady," Major Harrison said; "the place is crowded
down below, and we should have fared very badly if you had not managed to
get hold of this room."
"If some of the boys will see to the cooking, Major, I will go down with
Hoolan and get a barrel of wine and bring it up here; then we shall do
first-rate."
"How about the rations, Major?" Terence asked.
"They have just been served out. I sent my man down to draw the rations
for the whole wing at once, and told him to bring them up here."
"And I have told mine," Captain O'Driscol said, "to go round the village
and buy up two or three dozen chickens, if he can find them, and as many
eggs as he can collect. I think that we had better tell off two of the men
as cooks. I don't think it is likely that they will be able to get much
done that way below. Hoolan and another will do."
"I should think it best to keep Hoolan as forager; he is rather a genius
in that capacity. I think he has got round those two girls, whether by his
red hair or his insinuating manners I cannot say, but they seem ready to
do anything for him, and we shall want lots of things in the way of pots
and pans and so on."
"Very well, Terence, then we will leave him free and put two others on."