Our Soldier Boy, by George Manville Fenn.
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Well, this certainly is a departure from the usual Fenn style. Suspense
as always there certainly is, but the intended audience is much younger
than his usual teenager one.
The date is the Peninsular War, in Portugal.
A British family of merchants in Portugal are unaware of the intensity
of the nearby fighting in the vicinity. They are at their country home,
and go out for a few minutes, leaving their eight-year old son with the
servants. The French attack, slay the servants, and leave the child
with a severe injury to the head.
Later the 200th Fusiliers come by, and the corporal sees the villa, and
goes up there to see if he can get anything useful for his men to eat.
He sees the slain servants, and comes across the little boy, whom he
carries back to his wife, to see if she can bring him round.
The boy does recover, becomes the mascot of the regiment, and eventually
after a battle with the French, heroically rescues the Colonel himself.
The boy comes to believe that the corporal and his wife are his real
parents.
Months go by, while the boy, who does not have the faintest memory of
his real father and mother, becomes more and more the favourite of the
Regiment. The Portuguese give a great party to celebrate the British
victory, and at the Ball there are present the Trevors, the real father
and mother of the boy. There are touching scenes as recognition dawns.
So there is quite a lot of action for a short book.
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