[Illustration: THROUGH RUSSIAN SNOWS
G·A·HENTY]
[Illustration: SERGEANT JULIAN WYATT RECEIVES THE CROSS OF THE LEGION OF
HONOUR.]
THROUGH RUSSIAN SNOWS
A STORY OF
NAPOLEON'S RETREAT FROM MOSCOW
BY
G.A. HENTY
Author of "Beric the Briton," "One of the 28th,"
"Condemned as a Nihilist," "For Name and Fame,"
"In the Heart of the Rockies," etc.
_WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS BY W.H. OVEREND AND THREE MAPS_
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1902
COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
THE CAXTON PRESS
NEW YORK.
PREFACE
There are few campaigns that, either in point of the immense scale upon
which it was undertaken, the completeness of its failure, or the
enormous loss of life entailed, appeal to the imagination in so great a
degree as that of Napoleon against Russia. Fortunately, we have in the
narratives of Sir Robert Wilson, British commissioner with the Russian
army, and of Count Segur, who was upon Napoleon's staff, minute
descriptions of the events as seen by eye-witnesses, and besides these
the campaign has been treated fully by various military writers. I have
as usual avoided going into details of horrors and of acts of cruelty
and ferocity on both sides, surpassing anything in modern warfare, and
have given a mere outline of the operations, with a full account of the
stern fight at Smolensk and the terrible struggle at Borodino. I would
warn those of my readers who may turn to any of the military works for a
further history of the campaign, that the spelling of Russian places and
names varies so greatly in the accounts of different writers, that
sometimes it is difficult to believe that the same person or town is
meant, and even in the narratives by Sir Robert Wilson, and by Lord
Cathcart, our ambassador at St. Petersburg, who was in constant
communication with him, scarcely a name will be found similarly spelt. I
mention this, as otherwise much confusion might be caused by those who
may compare my story with some of these recognized authorities, or
follow the incidents of the campaign upon maps of Russia.
Yours sincerely,
G.A. HENTY.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. TWO BROTHERS, 11
II. BEFORE THE JUSTICES, 30
III. IN A FRESH SCRAPE, 48
IV. THE SMUGGLER'S CAVE, 67
V. FOLLOWING A TRAIL, 84
VI. A COMMISSION, 103
VII. A FRENCH PRISON, 122
VIII. PISTOL PRACTICE, 140
IX. A DUEL, 158
X. SMOLENSK, 177
XI. WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY, 195
XII. BORODINO, 213
XIII. WITH THE REAR-GUARD, 242
XIV. NEY'S RETREAT, 263
XV. IN COMFORTABLE QUARTERS, 292
XVI. AN UNEXPECTED MEETING, 309
ILLUSTRATIONS
SERGEANT JULIAN WYATT RECEIVES THE CROSS OF THE LEGION
OF HONOUR, _Frontispiece_, 253
"MARK MY WORDS, YOU YOUNG SCOUNDREL, I WILL BE EVEN
WITH YOU YET," 57
JULIAN FINDS HIMSELF A PRISONER AMONG THE SMUGGLERS, 64
"CAPTAIN MARSHALL'S PISTOL FELL TO THE GROUND, AND HE
STAGGERED BACK A PACE," 162
"ON THE MARCH LITTLE STEPHANIE OFTEN CHOSE TO BE CARRIED
ON JULIAN'S SHOULDER," 260
"I AM THE COUNTESS STEPHANIE WORONSKI. I AM GLAD TO
SEE YOU," 278
THE LAST OF A VETERAN OF NAPOLEON'S _GRANDE ARMÉE_, 310
JULIAN INTRODUCES STEPHANIE TO HIS BROTHER FRANK, 321
Map showing the Route of Napoleon's March to Moscow, 180
Plan of the Battle of Smolensk, 186
Plan of the Battle of Borodino, 214
[Illustration]
THROUGH RUSSIAN SNOWS
CHAPTER I
TWO BROTHERS
When Colonel Wyatt died, all Weymouth agreed that it was a most
unfortunate thing for his sons Julian and Frank. The loss of a father is
always a misfortune to lads, but it was more than usually so in this
case. They had lost their mother years before, and Colonel Wyatt's
sister had since kept house for him. As a housekeeper she was an
efficient substitute, as a mother to the boys she was a complete
failure. How she ever came to be Colonel Wyatt's sister was a puzzle to
all their acquaintances. The Colonel was quick and alert, sharp and
decisive in speech, strong in his opinions, peremptory in his manner,
kindly at heart, but irascible in temper. Mrs. Troutbeck was gentle and
almost timid in manner; report said that she had had a hard time of it
in her married life, and that Troutbeck had frightened out of her any
vestige of spirit that she had ever possessed. Mrs. Troutbeck never
argued, and was always in perfect agreement with any opinion expressed,
a habit that was constantly exciting the wrath and indignation of her
brother.
The idea of controlling the boys never once entered her mind. So long
as the Colonel was alive there was no occasion for such control, and in
this respect she did not attempt after his death to fill his place. It
seemed, indeed, that she simply transferred her allegiance from the
Colonel to them. Whatever they did was right in her eyes, and they were
allowed to do practically whatever they pleased. There was a difference
in age of three years and a half between the brothers; Julian at the
time of his father's death being sixteen, while Frank was still a few
months short of thirteen. Casual acquaintances often remarked that there
was a great likeness between them; and, indeed, both were
pleasant-looking lads with somewhat fair complexions, their brown hair
having a tendency to stand up in a tuft on the forehead, while both had
grey eyes, and square foreheads. Mrs. Troutbeck was always ready to
assent to the remark as to their likeness, but would gently qualify it
by saying that it did not strike her so much as it did other people.
"Their dispositions are quite different," she said, "and knowing them as
I do, I see the same differences in their faces."
Any close observer would, indeed, have recognized it at once. Both faces
were pleasant, but while Julian's wore an expression of easy good
temper, and a willingness to please and to be pleased, there was a lack
of power and will in the lower part of the face; there was neither
firmness in the mouth nor determination in the chin. Upon the other
hand, except when smiling or talking, Frank's lips were closely pressed
together, and his square chin and jaw clearly indicated firmness of will
and tenacity of purpose. Julian was his aunt's favourite, and was one of
the most popular boys at his school. He liked being popular, and as long
as it did not put him to any great personal trouble was always ready to
fall in with any proposal, to take part in every prank, to lend or give
money if he had it in his pocket, to sympathize with any one in
trouble.
"He has the most generous disposition of any boy I ever saw!" his aunt
would frequently declare. "He's always ready to oblige. No matter what
he is doing, he will throw it aside in a moment if I want anything done,
or ask him to go on an errand into the town. Frank is very nice, he is
very kind and all that sort of thing, but he goes his own way more, and
I don't find him quite so willing to oblige as Julian; but then, of
course, he is much younger, and one can't expect a boy of twelve to be
as thoughtful to an old woman as a young fellow of nearly seventeen."
As time went on the difference in their characters became still more
marked. Julian had left school a year after his father's death, and had
since been doing nothing in particular. He had talked vaguely of going
into the army, and his father's long services would have given him a
claim for a commission had he decided upon writing to ask for one, but
Julian could never bring himself to decide upon anything. Had there been
an old friend of his father's at hand ready to settle the matter for him
he would have made no opposition whatever, but his aunt was altogether
opposed to the idea, and so far from urging him to move in the matter
she was always ready to say, whenever it happened to be mentioned,
"There is no hurry, my dear Julian. We hear terrible stories of the
hardships that the soldiers suffer in Spain; and although, if you decide
upon going, of course I can't say no, still there can be no hurry about
it."
This was quite Julian's own opinion. He was very comfortable where he
was. He was his own master, and could do as he liked. He was amply
supplied with pocket-money by his aunt; he was fond of sailing, fishing,
and shooting; and as he was a general favourite among the boatmen and
fishermen he was able to indulge in his fondness for the sea to as large
an extent as he pleased, though it was but seldom that he had a chance
of a day's shooting. Julian had other tastes of a less healthy
character; he was fond of billiards and of society, he had a fine voice
and a taste for music, and the society he chose was not that most
calculated to do him good. He spent less and less of his time at home,
and rarely returned of an evening until the other members of the
household were in bed. Whatever his aunt thought of the matter she never
remonstrated with him, and was always ready to make the excuse to
herself, "I can't expect a fine young fellow like that to be tied to an
old woman's apron-strings. Young men will be young men, and it is only
natural that he should find it dull at home."
When Julian arrived at the age of nineteen it was tacitly understood
that the idea of his going into the army had been altogether dropped,
and that when a commission was asked for, it would be for Frank.
Although Julian was still her favourite, Mrs. Troutbeck was more
favourably disposed towards Frank than of old. She knew from her friends
that he was quite as popular among his schoolmates as his brother had
been, although in a different way. He was a hard and steady worker, but
he played as hard as he worked, and was a leader in every game. He,
however, could say "no" with a decision that was at once recognized as
being final, and was never to be persuaded into joining in any forbidden
amusement or to take share in any mischievous adventure. When his own
work was done he was always willing to give a quarter of an hour to
assist any younger lad who found his lessons too hard for him, and
though he was the last boy to whom any one would think of applying for a
loan of money, he would give to the extent of his power in any case
where a subscription was raised for a really meritorious purpose.
Thus when the school contributed a handsome sum towards a fund that was
being raised for the relief of the families of the fishermen who had
been lost, when four of their boats were wrecked in a storm, no one
except the boys who got up the collection knew that nearly half the
amount for which the school gained credit came from the pocket of Frank
Wyatt.
The brothers, though differing so widely in disposition, were very fond
of each other. In his younger years Frank had looked up to his big
brother as a sort of hero, and Julian's good-nature and easy-going
temper led him to be always kind to his young brother, and to give him
what he valued most--assistance at his lessons and a patient attention
to all his difficulties. As the years went on, Frank came to perceive
clearly enough the weak points in his brother's character, and with his
usual outspokenness sometimes remonstrated with him strongly.
"It is horrible to see a fellow like you wasting your life as you do,
Julian. If you don't care for the army, why don't you do something else?
I should not care what it was, so that it but gave you something to
occupy yourself, and if it took you out of here, all the better. You
know that you are not doing yourself any good."
"I am not doing myself any harm, you young beggar," Julian replied good
temperedly.
"I don't know, Julian," the boy said sturdily; "you are not looking half
as well as you used to do. I am sure late hours don't suit you, and
there is no good to be got out of billiards. I know the sort of fellows
you meet there are not the kind to do you any good, or that father would
have liked to see you associate with if he had been alive. Just ask
yourself honestly if you think he would. If you can say 'yes,' I will
shut up and say no more about it; but can you say 'yes'?"
Julian was silent. "I don't know that I can," he said after a pause.
"There is no harm in any of them that I know of, but I suppose that in
the way you put it, they are not the set father would have fancied, with
his strict notions. I have thought of giving it up a good many times,
but it is an awkward thing, when you are mixed up with a lot of
fellows, to drop them without any reason."
"You have only got to say that you find late hours don't agree with you,
and that you have made up your mind to cut it altogether."
"That is all very well for you, Frank, and I will do you justice to say
that if you determined to do a thing, you would do it without minding
what any one said."
"Without minding what any one I did not care for, said," Frank
interrupted. "Certainly; why should I heed a bit what people I do not
care for say, so long as I feel that I am doing what is right."
"I wish I were as strong-willed as you are, Frank," Julian said rather
ruefully, "then I should not have to put up with being bullied by a
young brother."
"You are too good tempered, Julian," Frank said, almost angrily. "Here
are you, six feet high and as strong as a horse, and with plenty of
brain for anything, just wasting your life. Look at the position father
held here, and ask yourself how many of his old friends do you know.
Why, rather than go on as you are doing, I would enlist and go out to
the Peninsula and fight the French. That would put an end to all this
sort of thing, and you could come back again and start afresh. You will
have money enough for anything you like. You come into half father's
£16,000 when you come of age, and I have no doubt that you will have
Aunt's money."
"Why should I?" Julian asked in a more aggrieved tone than he had
hitherto used.
"Because you are her favourite, Julian, and quite right that you should
be. You have always been awfully good to her, and that is one reason why
I hate you to be out of an evening; for although she never says a word
against you, and certainly would not hear any one else do so, I tell you
it gives me the blues to see her face as she sits there listening for
your footsteps."
"It is a beastly shame, and I will give it up, Frank; honour bright, I
will."
"That is right, old fellow; I knew you would if you could only once peep
in through the window of an evening and see her face."
"As for her money," Julian went on, "if she does not divide it equally
between us, I shall, you may be sure."
"I sha'n't want it," Frank said decidedly. "You know I mean to go into
the army, and with the interest of my own money I shall have as much as
I shall possibly want, and if I had more it would only bother me, and do
me harm in my profession. With you it is just the other way. You are the
head of the family, and as Father's son ought to take a good place. You
could buy an estate and settle down on it, and what with its management,
and with horses and hunting and shooting, you would be just in your
element."
"Well, we will see about it when the time comes. I am sure I hope the
old lady will be with us for a long time yet. She is as kind-hearted a
soul as ever lived, though it would have been better for me, no doubt,
if she held the reins a little tighter. Well, anyhow, Frank, I will cut
the billiards altogether."
They exchanged a silent grip of the hand on the promise, and Julian,
looking more serious than usual, put on his hat and went out. There was
a curious reversal of the usual relations between the brothers. Julian,
although he always laughed at his young brother's assumption of the part
of mentor, really leant upon his stronger will, and as often as not,
even if unconsciously, yielded to his influence, while Frank's
admiration for his brother was heightened by the unfailing good temper
with which the latter received his remonstrances and advice. "He is an
awfully good fellow," he said to himself when Julian left the room.
"Anyone else would have got into a rage at my interference; but he has
only one fault; he can't say no, and that is at the root of everything.
I can't understand myself why a fellow finds it more difficult to say no
than to say yes. If it is right to do a thing one does it, if it is not
right one leaves it alone, and the worst one has to stand, if you don't
do what other fellows want, is a certain amount of chaff, and that hurts
no one."
Frank, indeed, was just as good tempered as Julian, although in an
entirely different way. He had never been known to be in a passion, but
put remonstrance and chaff aside quietly, and went his own way without
being in the slightest degree affected by them.
Julian kept his promise, and was seen no more in the billiard saloon.
Fortunately for him the young fellows with whom he was in the habit of
playing were all townsmen, clerks, the sons of the richer tradesmen, or
of men who owned fishing-boats or trading vessels, and others of that
class--not, indeed, as Frank had said, the sort of men whom Colonel
Wyatt would have cared for his son to have associated with--but harmless
young fellows who frequented the billiard-rooms as a source of amusement
and not of profit, and who therefore had no motive for urging Julian to
play. To Mrs. Troutbeck's delight he now spent four or five evenings at
home, only going out for an hour to smoke a pipe and to have a chat with
the fishermen. Once or twice a week he would be absent all night, going
out, as he told his aunt, for a night's fishing, and generally returning
in the morning with half a dozen mackerel or other fish as his share of
the night's work.
Sometimes he would ask Frank to accompany him, and the latter, when he
had no particular work on hand, would do so, and thoroughly enjoyed the
sport.
Smuggling was at the time carried on extensively, and nowhere more
actively than between Weymouth and Exmouth on the one hand, and Swanage
on the other. Consequently, in spite of the vigilance of the revenue
men, cargoes were frequently run. The long projection of Chesil Beach
and Portland afforded a great advantage to the smugglers; and Lieutenant
Downes, who commanded the revenue cutter _Boxer_, had been heard to
declare that he would gladly subscribe a year's pay if a channel could
be cut through the beach. Even when he obtained information that a cargo
was likely to be run to the west, unless the winds and tides were alike
propitious, it took so long a time to get round Portland Bill that he
was certain to arrive too late to interfere with the landing, while, at
times, an adverse wind and the terrors of the "race" with its tremendous
current and angry waves would keep the _Boxer_ lying for days to the
west of the Island, returning to Weymouth only to hear that during her
absence a lugger had landed her cargo somewhere to the east.
"Job himself would have lost his temper if he had been a revenue officer
at Weymouth," Lieutenant Downes would exclaim angrily. "Why, sir, I
would rather lie for three months off the mouth of an African river
looking for slavers, than be stationed at Weymouth in search of
smuggling craft, for a month; it is enough to wear a man to a
thread-paper. Half the coast population seem to me to be in alliance
with these rascals, and I am so accustomed to false information now,
that as a rule when one of my men gets a hint that a cargo is going to
be run near Swanage I start at once for the west, knowing well enough
that wherever the affair is to come off it certainly will not be within
ten miles of the point named. Even in Weymouth itself the sympathy of
the population lies rather with the smugglers than the revenue men."
The long war with France had rendered brandy, French wines, lace, and
silks fabulously dear, and the heavy duties charged reduced to a
minimum the legitimate traffic that might otherwise have been carried
on; therefore, even well-to-do people favoured the men who brought these
luxuries to their doors, at a mere fraction of the price that they would
otherwise have had to pay for them. Then, too, there was an element of
romance in the career of a smuggler who risked his life every day, and
whose adventures, escapes, and fights with the revenue men were told
round every fireside. The revenue officer was not far wrong when he said
that the greater portion of the population round the coast, including
all classes, were friendly to, if not in actual alliance with, the
smugglers. Julian was well aware that many of the fishermen with whom he
went out often lent a hand to the smugglers in landing their goods and
taking them inland, or in hiding them in caves in the cliffs known only
to the smugglers and themselves. He had heard many stories from them of
adventures in which they had been engaged, and the manner in which, by
showing signal lights from the sea, they had induced the revenue men to
hurry to the spot at which they had seen a flash, and so to leave the
coast clear for the landing of the goods.
"It must be great fun," he said one day. "I must say I should like to
take part in running a cargo, for once."
"Well, Master Julian, there would not be much difficulty about that, if
so be you really mean it. We can put you up to it easy enough, but you
know, sir, it isn't all fun. Sometimes the revenue men come down upon us
in spite of all the pains we take to throw them off the scent. Captain
Downes is getting that artful that one is never sure whether he has been
got safely away or not. A fortnight ago he pretty nigh came down on a
lugger that was landing a cargo in Lulworth Cove. We thought that it had
all been managed well. Word had gone round that the cargo was to be run
there, and the morning before, a woman went on to the cliffs and got in
talk with one of the revenue men. She let out, as how her husband had
been beating her, and she had made up her mind to pay him out. There was
going, she said, to be a cargo run that night at a point half way
between Weymouth and Lyme Regis.
"I know she did the part well, as she acted it on three or four of us
afterwards, and the way she pretended to be in a passion and as spiteful
as a cat, would have taken any fellow in. In course the revenue chap
asked her what her name was and where she lived, and I expect they did
not find her when they looked for her afterwards in the place she told
him. He wanted her to go with him to the officer of the station, but she
said that she would never do that, for if it got to be known that she
had peached about it, it would be as much as her life was worth. Well, a
boy who was watching saw the revenue chap go off, as soon as she was out
of sight, straight to the coast-guard station, and ten minutes later the
officer in charge there set off for Weymouth.
"The boy followed and he saw him go on board the _Boxer_. Directly
afterwards Captain Downes came ashore with him and had a long talk with
the chief of the coast-guard there; then he went on board again, and we
all chuckled when we saw the _Boxer_ get up her anchor, set all sail,
make out to Portland, and go round the end of the rock. Two hours later
a look-out on the hills saw her bearing out to sea to the southwest,
meaning, in course, to run into the bay after it was dark. On shore the
officer at Weymouth got a horse and rode along the cliffs to the
eastward. He stopped at each coast-guard station, right on past
Lulworth, and soon afterwards three parts of the men at each of them
turned out and marched away west.
"We thought that we had fooled them nicely, and that evening half a
dozen of our boats sailed into Lulworth harbour and anchored there
quiet. One of them rowed ashore and landed two hands to look round. They
brought back news as there were only two or three revenue men left at
the station, and it would be easy enough to seize them and tie them up
till it was all over. In course, everything worked for a bit just as we
thought it would. The lugger we were expecting showed her light in the
offing and was signalled that the coast was clear. It was a dark night,
and the two revenue men on duty in the cove were seized and tied up by
some of the shore band without a blow being struck. Two or three chaps
were placed at the door of the station, so that if the two men left
there turned out they would be gagged at once. Everything was ready, and
a big lot of carts came down to the water's edge. The lugger anchored
outside the cove; we got up our kedges and rowed out to her, and a dozen
shoreboats did the same. As soon as we got alongside they began to
bundle the kegs in, when not three hundred yards away came a hail, 'What
craft is that?'
"It struck us all into a heap, and you could have heard a pin drop. Then
came the hail again, 'If you don't answer I will sink you,' whereupon
the skipper of the lugger shouted out, 'the _Jennie_ of Portsmouth.'
'Lend a hand, lads, with the sails,' he whispered to us; 'slip the
cable, Tom.' We ran up the sails in a jiffy, you may be sure, and all
the sharper that, as they were half-way up, four guns flashed out. One
hulled the lugger, the others flew overhead. Close as they were they
could not have seen us, for we could scarce see them and we were under
the shadow of the cliffs, but I suppose they fired at the voices. 'Sink
the tubs, lads,' the skipper said as the lugger glided away from us.
There was a nice little air blowing off shore, and she shot away into
the darkness in no time. We all rowed into the mouth of the cove for
shelter, and were only just in time, for a shower of grape splashed the
water up a few yards behind us.
"We talked it over for a minute or two, and settled that the _Boxer_
would be off after the lugger and would not pay any more attention to
us. Some of them were in favour of taking the kegs that we had got
ashore, but the most of us were agin that, and the captain himself had
told us to sink them, so we rowed out of the cove again and tied sinkers
to the kegs and lowered them down three or four hundred yards west of
the mouth of the cove. We went on board our boats and the other chaps
went on shore, and you may guess we were not long in getting up our
sails and creeping out of the cove. It was half an hour after the first
shots were fired before we heard the _Boxer_ at it again. I reckon that
in the darkness they could not make out whether the lugger had kept
along east or west under the cliffs, and I expect they went the wrong
way at first, and only found her at last with their night-glasses when
she was running out to sea.
"Well, next morning we heard that the shore men had not landed five
minutes when there was a rush of forty or fifty revenue men into the
village. There ain't no doubt they had only gone west to throw us off
our guard, and, as soon as it was dark, turned and went eastward. They
could not have known that the job was to come off at Lulworth, but were
on the look-out all along, and I reckon that it was the same with the
_Boxer_. She must have beaten back as soon as it was dark enough for her
not to be seen from the hills, and had been crawling along on the
look-out close to the shore, when she may have caught sight of the
lugger's signal. Indeed, we heard afterwards that it called back the
coast-guard men, for they had passed Lulworth and were watching at a
spot between that and St. Alban's Head, where a cargo had been run a
month or two before, when they caught sight of the signal off Lulworth.
Well, you may guess they did not get much for their pains. The carts had
all made off as soon as they heard the _Boxer's_ guns, and knew that the
game was up, for the night anyhow, and they found every light out in
Lulworth, and everyone, as it seemed, fast asleep. I believe, from what
I have heard, that there was a great row afterwards between Captain
Downes and the revenue officer ashore. The chap ashore would have it
that it was all the captain's fault for being in such a hurry, and that
if he had waited an hour they would have got all the carts with the
cargo, even if he had not caught the lugger.
"Well, that was true enough; but I don't see that Downes was to blame,
for until he came along he could not be sure where the lugger was, and
indeed she was so close in under the cliff that it is like enough he
would have missed her altogether and have gone on another two or three
miles, if it had not been that they caught the noise of the boats
alongside her taking in the kegs. The lugger got away all right; she is
a fast craft, and though the _Boxer_ can walk along in a strong wind, in
a light breeze the lugger had the legs of her altogether. That shows
you, Mr. Julian, that Captain Downes has cut his eye-teeth, and that it
is mighty hard to fool him. He was never nearer making a good capture
than he was that night. The lugger ran her cargo two nights afterwards
at the very spot where the woman had told the revenue man that she was
going to do it. There was a little bit of a fight, but the coast-guard
were not strong enough to do any good, and had to make off, and before
they could bring up anything like a strong force, every bale and keg had
been carried inland, and before morning there was scarce a farmhouse
within ten miles that had not got some of it stowed away in their snug
hiding-places. Downes will be more vicious than ever after that job, and
you see, master, you are like to run a goodish risk of getting your head
broke and of being hauled off to jail. Still, if you would like to join
some night in a run we can put you in the way."
"Yes, I should like it very much," Julian said. "There can't be much
risk, for there has not been anything like a regular fight anywhere
along this part of the coast for the last two years, and from what I
have heard, there must have been twenty cargoes run in that time."
"All that, sir, all that; nigher thirty, I should say. There is three
luggers at it reg'lar."
"Are they French or English?"
"Two of them is French and one English, but the crews are all mixed.
They carry strong crews all of them, and a longish gun in their sterns,
so that in case they are chased they may have a chance of knocking away
a spar out of anything after them. They would not fight if a cutter came
up alongside them--that might make a hanging matter of it, while if none
of the revenue chaps are killed it is only a case of long imprisonment,
though the English part of the crew generally have the offer of entering
on a king's ship instead, and most of them take it. Life on board a
man-of-war may not be a pleasant one, but after all it is better than
being boxed up in a prison for years. Anyhow, that is the light in which
I should look at it myself."
"I should think so," Julian agreed. "However, you see there is no great
risk in landing the kegs, for it is very seldom you get so nearly caught
as you did at Lulworth. Let me know when the next affair is coming off,
Bill, and if it is anywhere within a moderate distance of Weymouth I
will go with you if you will take me. Anyhow, whether I go or not, you
may be quite sure that I shall keep the matter to myself."
"The most active chap about here," Bill said after he had hauled his
nets, and the boat was making her way back to Weymouth, "is that
Faulkner. He is a bitter bad one, he is. Most of the magistrates about
here don't trouble their heads about smuggling, and if they find a keg
of first class brandy quite accidental any morning on their doorstep,
they don't ask where it comes from, but just put it down into their
cellars. Sometimes information gets sworn before them, and they has to
let the revenue people know, but somehow or other, I can't say how it
is," and the fisherman gave a portentous wink, "our fellows generally
get some sort of an idea that things ain't right, and the landing don't
come off as expected; queer, ain't it? But that fellow Faulkner, he
ain't like that. He worries hisself about the smugglers just about as
much as Captain Downes does. He is just as hard on smugglers as he is on
poachers, and he is wonderful down on them, he is. Do you know him,
sir?"
"I know him by sight. He is a big, pompous man; his place is about two
miles up the valley, and there are some large woods round it."
"That is so, sir; and they say as they are chock-full of pheasants. He
has a lot of keepers, and four years ago there was a desperate fight
there. Two keepers and three poachers got shot, and two others were
caught; they were tried at the 'sizes for murder and hanged. He is a
regular bully, he is, but he ain't no coward. If he was he would never
stir out after sunset, but instead of that he is out night after night
on the cliffs, when there is any talk of a cargo being run. He is known
to carry pistols about with him, and so though his life has been
threatened many times, nothing has ever come of it. One thing is, he has
got a big black horse, about the best horse there is in this part of the
country, and he always rides mighty fast down into the town or up on to
the cliffs, where he gets among the revenue men, and in course he is
safe enough. He was down with that lot at Lulworth that night, and they
say he cussed and swore loud enough to be heard all over the village,
when they found that they had got there too late. He is a bitter bad
weed, is Faulkner."
"I know he is very unpopular even in the town," Julian said. "He is the
hardest magistrate on the bench, and if it were not for the others not a
man brought before him would ever get off. I have heard that he is very
much disliked by the other magistrates, and that some time ago, when he
wanted to join the club, they would not have him at any price. I can't
make out why a fellow should go out of his way to make himself disliked.
I can understand his being down on poachers; no one likes to be robbed,
but the smuggling cannot make any difference to him one way or the
other."
"No; that is what we says. It don't concern him, 'cept that magistrates
are bound in a sort of way to see that the law is not broken. But why
shouldn't he do like the others and go on his way quiet, unless he gets
an information laid before him, or a warning from the revenue people as
he is wanted. You mark my words, Master Julian, some night that chap
will get a bullet or a charge of shot in his body."
After this Julian went on more than one occasion with Bill and other
fishermen to look on at the landing of contraband cargoes. If the
distance was within a walk they would start from Weymouth straight
inland, and come down by the road along which the carts were to fetch
the goods up, for it was only occasionally that the fishermen would take
their boats. At Lulworth, of course, there had been no risk in their
doing so, as boats, when fishing to the east, would often make their way
into the cove and drop anchor there for a few hours. But when the run
was to be made at lonely spots, the sight of fishing boats making in to
anchor would have excited the suspicions of the coast-guard on the
cliffs. The number of fishermen who took part in the smugglers'
proceedings was but small. All of these had either brothers or other
relations on board the luggers, or were connected with some of the
smugglers' confederates on shore. They received a handsome sum for their
night's work, which was at times very hard, as the kegs had often to be
carried up steep and dangerous paths to the top of the cliffs, and then
a considerable distance across the downs to the nearest points the carts
could come to.
It was the excitement of the adventure, however, rather than the pay,
and the satisfaction derived from outwitting the revenue men, that was
the main attraction to the fishermen. Julian took no share in the work.
He went dressed in the rough clothes he wore on the fishing excursions
at night, and heartily enjoyed the animated bustle of the scene, as
scores of men carrying kegs or bales on their backs, made their way up
some narrow ravine, silently laid down their loads beside the carts and
pack-horses, and then started back again for another trip. He
occasionally lent a hand to lash the kegs on either side of the horses,
or to lift a bale into the cart. No one ever asked any question; it was
assumed that he was there with one of the carts, and he recognized the
wisdom of Bill's advice the first time he went out.
"It is best not to speak till you are spoken to, Master Julian; there is
more chaps there besides yourself, as are thought to be sound asleep in
their beds at Weymouth, and it is just as well to keep yourself to
yourself. There is never no knowing when things may go wrong, and then
it is as likely as not that some one may peach, and the fewer names as
comes out the better. Now you mind, sir, if there is an alarm, and the
revenue chaps come down on us, you just make a bolt at once. It ain't no
business of yours, one way or the other. You ain't there to make money
or to get hold of cheap brandy; you just go to look on and amuse
yourself, and all you have got to do is to make off as hard as you can
go directly there is an alarm. Everyone else does the same as gets a
chance, I can tell you. The country people never fight; though the
smugglers, if they are cornered, and can't get back to the lugger
without it, will use their weapons if they see a chance; but you have
got nothing to do with that. Don't you wait a minute for me and my
mates, for we shall bolt too. If we were on the shore when they came on
us we should embark with the crew and get on board the lugger. In
course, if just a few of the revenue men were fools enough to come on
us, they would be tumbled over in double quick time, and tied up till
the goods were all taken inland, and be left till some of their mates
found them in the morning.
"That is how it is, you know, that we get most of our cargoes run. One
of the chaps on the cliff may make us out, but you see it takes a long
time to send along the line and get enough of them together to interfere
with us. Unless they have got a pretty good strong force together, they
ain't such fools as to risk their lives by meddling with a hundred men
or more, with a lot of valuable goods to land, and the knowledge that if
they are caught it is a long term in jail. The men know well enough that
if there is anything on, there will be a watch kept over them, and that
if they were to fire a pistol as a signal, there would be news of it
sent to the smugglers in no time. Sometimes, too, the coast-guards
nearest the point where the landing is to be, are pounced on suddenly
and tied up. I reckon, too, that a good many of them keep an eye shut as
long as they can, and then go off pretty leisurely to pass the word
along that they have heard oars or have seen signals, especially if they
have got a hot-headed boatswain in charge of their station, a sort of
chap who would want to go down to meddle with a hundred men, with only
five or six at his back. A man with a wife and some children, perhaps,
don't relish the thought of going into a bad scrimmage like that if he
can keep out of it; why should he? He gets a bit of money if they make a
good seizure, but he knows well enough that he ain't going to make a
seizure unless he has got a pretty strong party; and you take my word
for it, four times out of five when we make a clear run, it is because
the coast-guard keep an eye closed as long as they dare. They know well
enough that it ain't such an uncommon thing for a man to be found at the
bottom of the cliff, without anything to show how he got there, and the
coroner's jury finds as it was a dark night and he tumbled over, and
they brings in a verdict according. But it ain't every man as cares
about taking the risk of accidents of that kind, and, somehow or other,
they happens to just the chaps as is wonderful sharp and active. They
have all been sailors, you know, and are ready enough for a fight when
they are strong enough to have a chance, but that is a very different
thing from walking backwards and forwards on a dark night close to the
edge of a cliff, three or four hundred feet high, without a comrade
within a quarter of a mile, and the idea that an accident of this kind
might occur any time."