With Wellington in Spain: A Story of the Peninsula
CHAPTER VI
Napoleon the Ambitious
Within the village church in which the French troopers and theirone-time English prisoners had taken refuge under Tom Clifford'sguidance there was a deathly silence while the mob outside shriekedand shouted. Not one of the defenders but knew what fate awaited themif once the enemy beat in the doors, and knowing that they listenedas blow after blow thundered upon the woodwork, shaking the doorstill they threatened to fall down.
"Andrews," shouted Tom, who had been listening acutely like therest, and wondering what action he ought to take, "light up one ofthe torches and take a couple of men with you. We want something toplace behind the doors, for in a little while they will be beaten in.Meanwhile I will try again to pacify the peasants."
It was a forlorn hope, and yet worth trying. Tom, therefore,clambered up the steep flight of stone steps again, while Andrewswent off to do his bidding. Stepping past the three men who hadascended to the ledge above the crowd our hero once more stoodto his full height and shouted to attract the attention of thepeasants. And once more his coming was the signal for an outburst ofshouts, shrieks, groans, and hisses which might well have appalleda brave man. Muskets flashed in the semi-darkness, for night hadnow come, while here and there torches flamed over the heads of thepeople. Bullets spattered and broke against the stonework abouthim, thudding heavily, even splashing him with portions of lead.One enthusiast, in fact, as if driven frantic by the sight of hisperson, made a vain attempt to clamber up the ledge, and, missing hisfooting, fell back upon the crowd, his coming setting rise to oathsand shouts of anger. Then there fell a sudden silence while a brawnygiant, a blacksmith no doubt, stepped from under the archway of thedoor, a huge hammer over his shoulder, showing that it was he who hadbeen delivering those smashing blows on the door.
"People of Portugal," Tom called out loudly, "I have come again tospeak to you. You fight with friends, not with enemies."
The howl that followed would have scared even a veteran.
"Friends! You say friends!" shouted the blacksmith, stepping stillfarther out from the arch, while a couple of torches near himilluminated his person. "Who are you that you should try to fool us?We know our business well enough. For days we have watched this troopof horse, and for days we have vowed to kill every man of them, tokill them slowly if we may. Who are you, speaking our tongue, whodare to say that you are friends?"
Shouts of applause greeted the words. An excited individual near thespeaker levelled a pistol and fired point-blank at Tom, narrowlymissing his head. Then once more there was silence. The crowd, infact, seemed to have realized their own power now, and knew well thatthe church was surrounded. Eager though they were to slaughter thetroopers, they did not grudge a few moments' delay.
"Who are you?" they shouted hoarsely.
"I am English," answered Tom at once, "and so are four others amongstus. We were being carried as prisoners."
"A lie!" came fiercely from someone in the crowd. "If he and the fourbeside were prisoners, why then were they armed? Why did they fightus at the entrance to the village?"
The argument was greeted with roars of applause again, which silencedall Tom's efforts. Then the blacksmith held his hammer aloft tocommand silence, and, having obtained it, seized a torch and held ithigh up toward our hero.
"Listen, friends and brothers," he called in hoarse tones. "There isone above who speaks our tongue and tells us that he and four othersare English and therefore friends. Good! Let us say that this is nolie. There are four, while we are four hundred. Let these four, withthe one who speaks to us, come out from the church. If their taleis true they shall live and we will feed and house them. If theylie----"
The sentence was broken by discordant shouts of glee at theblacksmith's wit, shouts that boded ill for anyone foolhardy enoughto place himself in the hands of such people, so roused by events,and mad for slaughter, that they were incapable of recognizing friendfrom foe.
"Let the five come out to us," shouted the blacksmith, "leaving theothers to be dealt with as we will."
Tom waited for the noise which followed to die down, and then bentover the crowd. "What you ask is impossible," he said firmly. "I andmy English friends will not desert the troopers. But we are readyto hand ourselves over to a body of English troops when you bringthem to us. To you we will not trust ourselves, and I warn you thatefforts on your part will lead to the death of many. Now, be wise;reflect on the consequences and leave us alone."
Had he wished to stir the rage of the peasants Tom could not havedone it more effectually. Screams of rage filled the air, while atorrent of bullets sped toward him. He stepped back from the ledge,clambered down the stairs, and seized a carbine and ammunition.
"My friends," he said in French, "those wolves outside ask for ourlives. We will sell them dearly. Let each man fire the moment theattack begins, remembering to make each shot tell, for ammunition isvery scarce. Ah, is that you, Andrews?"
"Yes, sir," came the answer, while the rifleman drew himself upstiffly in front of our hero, a lighted torch still in one hand."There are pews, which we might break up," he reported; "but they'relight, too light to be of use in a doorway. But one of the horses isdead, sir. If we were to pull him along here he'd make an obstaclethey'd have difficulty in moving."
"A horse!" the novel idea startled Tom. And then, on consideration,it appeared that nothing could be better. At once he sent Andrews offwith four of the men to drag the animal towards the door, while hehimself took the candle, and, striding over to the pews that filledthe floor of the church, closely inspected them. A scheme for savingammunition was growing in his brain; for it was clear that if theenemy persisted in an attack the wherewithal to load the musketswould soon be expended.
"The doors will be broken down in no time," he told himself; "then weshall be separated from the peasants merely by the barrier we happento place in position--a horse on this occasion. What we want issomething long with which to keep them at a distance."
Calling two of the troopers, he urged them to break up half a dozenof pews as swiftly as possible, keeping the long timbers intact.
"Use your sabres," he said, "and when you have the timbersseparated, point them at one end. I want a couple of dozen spearswith which to fend off these peasants. Ah, there goes the hammeragain!"
A terrific blow resounded upon the door, which was followed almostimmediately by a sharp report from the ledge above, and then by ahowl. The blacksmith had not lived to see the triumph that he hadanticipated. One of the French troopers had leaned over and shothim with his carbine. But the shot made little difference. A dozeninfuriated peasants sprang forward to seize the hammer, while shotscame from all directions. Then, amidst the sounds, steps were heardon the narrow staircase leading from the ledge.
"Monsieur," said the man, running up to Tom, "there are men bringingmasses of straw to pile against the door. My comrades have discovereda gallery leading from the ledge, with steps at the far end. There isa large room also, and much building material there. It seems that atone time the church was larger. Will monsieur sanction the tossing ofstones on the heads of the enemy?"
Tom nodded promptly, his features lighting up. By the aid of theflickering torch the trooper was able to see that the young fellowwho had so suddenly taken command of the party was actually smiling.
"_Ma foi!_" he exclaimed _sotto voce_, "but the Englishman caresnothing for this trouble! He is the one to lead."
"I will come up as soon as I am able," said Tom. "Meanwhile, do asbest you can. Toss anything on their heads, but, above all, saveammunition."
The man was gone in a moment, while blows again sounded on the door,one more violent than any which had preceded it shattering the upperhinges. The shouts of triumph which burst from the peasants werefollowed by a couple or more dull thuds, as if heavy bodies hadbeen dropped on the heads of the attackers, and then by a chorusof shrieks denoting hatred and execration. Meanwhile a stir in thechurch told of men struggling at some task, and
presently Andrewsappeared with his helpers, and behind them the carcass of a horse.
"He fell dead in a hollow leading to a doorway," explained Andrews inshort gasps, "and to bring him here we had to drag him up a coupleof high steps. Once on the main floor of the church the carcass slideasily enough; but earlier--my word it was hard work! There! thecarcass fills the lower part of the doorway, and as the legs are inthis direction those brutes will have nothing to take a grip of. Whatorders, sir?"
"Pull the pews out of their places and pile them one on another roundthe doorway," answered Tom, who had been sketching out his plans inthe meanwhile. "You and Howeley and two of the troopers will takepost on them a little to one side, and will fire into the crowdonce the doors give way. The other men will be below you, and I amsupplying them with spears made from the timbers of some of thepews. You and they together should be able to keep the enemy off."
It may be imagined that each man amongst the defenders appointedto some task had laboured at it with all haste, and by now the menTom had instructed to break up pews had almost finished their work.Indeed, within a few minutes, and just before the doors were burstin and fell over the carcass of the horse with a clatter, they hadproduced more than a dozen long pieces of strong timber, each oneroughly hacked to a point at one end; and being some fifteen feet inlength these improvised spears promised to be of great service. In afew seconds, in fact, they were put to a useful if somewhat unkindpurpose; for the fall of the doors was the signal for a mad rush onthe part of the peasants. The three or four hundred or more outside,howling about the entrance to the church, launched themselvespromptly at the black void, where but a few moments before the flamesfrom the torches had shown doors. A hundred struggled to lead theattackers where there was room only for half a dozen, and as a resultthey came surging on in a compact mass, which threatened to pushthe carcass of the horse aside as if it were a mere nothing. Thenwiser counsels prevailed. Elbow room was given to those in advance,and soon shots were whistling through the doorway, while men armedwith sabres, with pitchforks, with scythes and every class of weapondashed up the steps and hurled themselves at the opening. Thud!thud! the stones came from the ledge above, striking the peasantsdown. The muskets wielded by Andrews and his comrades swept away themore dangerous of the enemy--those provided with firearms--whilethe troopers handling the long spears fashioned from pew timbersmade effective use of their weird weapons. They thrust them at theenemy, giving terrible wounds. They beat them over the head till manydropped, and then advancing a pace or two, so that their weaponsprojected through the doorway over the carcass of the horse, theydrove the peasants away from the entrance altogether.
THE PEASANTS BREAK IN THE CHURCH DOORS]
"Stop firing!" shouted Tom, seeing that the peasants were retreating.
"We have taught them a sharp lesson, and that is enough for themoment. We don't want to rouse their anger further, and will try toshow them that all we want is to be left alone, but that if theyattack us we are fully able to give hard knocks in return. Anyonehurt?"
He repeated the words in French, and was relieved to hear that notone of the men had received so much as a scratch.
"Then we are well out of the first attack. Now we'll eat," he said."We shall have to go on short rations without a doubt, and since thatcan't be helped we must make the most of it."
Leaving a man still in the belfry, and one of the troopers on theledge, he posted two others at the rear of the church. Then heand Andrews, with the help of two of the troopers, collected allthe rations contained in the saddle bags, divided them into fourportions, and finally issued a share of one portion to each one ofthe defenders. Thereafter they sat in the darkness eating the food,while, there being no news of the enemy, who seemed to have retiredto the village, some of the men went to sleep, while others lit pipesand smoked contentedly. Tom sat down beside Mr. Riley and Jack, anddevoured his own meal with an avidity which showed that excitementrather increased his appetite than the reverse.
"Splendidly managed, lad!" declared Mr. Riley, when he had finishedthe meal. "Not the eating of your rations, but the defence. Dear,dear, what a loss to the service!"
"Which service, sir?" asked Jack swiftly, for though wounded, andmore or less incapable, the old spirit was still there. There was,in fact, a cheeky grin of enquiry on his somewhat pallid features,a pallor made even more evident by the flickering flame of a torchburning near the trio.
"Eh?" asked Mr. Riley, taken aback. "Which service? _The_ service, Isaid."
"Army?" grinned Jack exasperatingly.
"I'll hammer you, my lad, when once you're fit," laughed the navalofficer. "As if anyone could misunderstand me! I say that _the_service has lost a budding Nelson--a Nelson, Jack; as good a man asever trod a deck. Tom's a loss to the service, now isn't he?"
"Army; yes, sir," grinned Jack, rolling his eyes at the naval officer.
"Joking apart, though," said Mr. Riley, ignoring the fun of theensign, "Tom'll be a loss in an office. Just imagine our friendperched on a high stool battling with facts and figures, whenhe's shown he's capable of battling with people. Tom, I call ita downright sin. If you were my brother I'd say 'Go hang' to theoffice."
"Hear, hear!" cried Jack. "If Tom'd just give it up for a time andcome along with us, why, I'd----"
"You?" interrupted Mr. Riley, with a smile of incredulity; for thoughJack was undoubtedly dashing and gallant enough, he lacked thestamina and serious thought of one who leads.
"I," repeated the incorrigible ensign, "_I_--with a capital to it,please--I'd make the dear boy a general before he knew what washappening."
There was a roar of laughter at that, a roar which brought thetroopers to a sitting posture, their fingers on their carbines. Andthen a smile was exchanged amongst them.
"_Parbleu!_ but these English are proper fellows," said one to hiscomrade. "They come to us as prisoners, and we see at once that theyare good comrades. They fall into the same trap with us too, and,having received arms, act as if they were French and not English.Now, one of them having saved the lives of all here, and havingbrought us to a nest which may be described as that of a hornet,they laugh and joke and make merry. _Ma foi!_ but these English aretoo good to fight with. It is the rascals of Spaniards we shouldengage with."
"Hear 'em!" grunted the rifleman Howeley, stretched near his comradeAndrews. "That 'ere Mr. Jack's a givin' lip to the naval orficer. Tenter one he's sayin' as how the British army's better nor the navy.Equal, I says, all the time, though the army's my choice. Mate, who'sthis Mr. Clifford? What's his corps? He's a smart 'un."
His mouth went agape when the worthy Andrews informed him that Tomwas merely a civilian, a class upon which Howeley had, in his ownparticular lordly way, been rather apt to look down.
"Civilian!" he gasped. "Strike me! But----"
"He's led us grandly. He's dropped into the post of commander asif he had been trained for it, as if it were his by right. I knowall that," declared Andrews. "Tell you, my lad, he'd make a propersoldier."
Meanwhile Tom had faced the naval lieutenant eagerly.
"You think I'd do as an officer, sir?" he asked.
"Indeed I do," came the answer. "A regular could not have done betterthan you have done. You'll be a loss----"
"To the army," burst in the irrepressible Jack, grinning widely.
"To either service," said Mr. Riley seriously.
"Then, sir, I shall ask to join the army," declared our hero. "I seemto have been meant for it. This is the second time that my effortsto reach an office have been foiled. I shall attempt to obtain acommission; then I'll see what can be done to help Jack to captureBoney and turn the French out of the Peninsula."
There was more laughter at that, laughter turned on the young ensign.A little later Mr. Riley dragged a paper from his pocket and slowlyread a few lines to our hero.
"You'll be interested to hear what is happening," he said."Bonaparte, otherwise known as Napoleon, sometimes also as the'Little Corporal', or as the 'Little
Corsican', Emperor of theFrench, now proposes to leave the Peninsula and march from Paris_en route_ for Russia, which kingdom he wishes to conquer and addto his realms. Napoleon is not, in fact, satisfied with the wholeof France, Italy, and other kingdoms. He desires to place the wholeof Europe under one king, that king to be himself; to have but onecapital for all, and that Paris; one code of laws, one currency, onelanguage perhaps. It is Russia that now attracts him. To-morrow--whoknows?--it will be England."
"But----" flashed out Jack, indignant at the very suggestion.
"Quite so," admitted Mr. Riley, stopping him with a smile; "but, asJack was about to announce, there is always the service."
"Eh?" asked the ensign, puzzled for the moment.
"_The_ service stands in his way. Nelson defeated his navy in 1805,and thereby made invasion of England impossible. _The_ service,please, Mr. Jack."
Jack was caught, and had the grace to admit it. "I grant you thatTrafalgar was a tremendous victory, sir," he said. "But there's thearmy to be considered also."
"Right, lad," came the emphatic reply. "And well they have done too.See what wonders Wellington and his men have accomplished in thePeninsula."
"Tell us all about it, Mr. Riley," asked Tom. "I'm like hundreds ofothers. I know that Napoleon desires to conquer all within his reach,and is said to have designs on England. I know, too, that our troopshave been in this Peninsula since 1808, fighting the battles of thePortuguese and Spanish, and with great success. But why should we nothave left them to it? I suppose we're afraid that Boney will becomealtogether too strong unless we interfere. Isn't that it? I haven'tfollowed the various engagements, of which there have been numbers."
"Then here's for a yarn," began the naval lieutenant. "Thosepeasants, poor fools, have left us alone for the time being, andas my wound is too painful to let me sleep, and this Jack seemsto be eager for information, why, I'll tell you the tale, andmighty fine hearing it makes. To begin with, we hark back to the'Little Corsican', the artillery officer--a commoner, you mustunderstand--who, by dint of sheer force of character and militaryand diplomatic genius, became Emperor of the French after thatawful Revolution. Let us understand the position thoroughly. Youhave on the throne of France a man born in a lowly station. Thereis no long list of kingly ancestors behind him. Louis Capet, lateKing of France, was beheaded. The kingdom had become a republic,where equality and fraternity were supposed to flourish, and wherethe people were still shivering after the awful ordeals throughwhich they had passed, scarcely able to believe that the days ofthe guillotine had really gone--those terrible days when no man, orwoman either, knew whether the next day or so would or would not seehimself or herself sent to sudden doom.
"At this moment Napoleon Bonaparte, a distinguished soldier, appearedupon the scene, and we find him in the course of a little timeEmperor of the French, rich, all-powerful, and extremely ambitious.That ambition which might, had he wished it, have turned towardsthe path of peace, has been resolutely bent towards conquest. As Ihave said, Napoleon seeks to subjugate Europe. He dreams of a worldpower, with Paris as the centre and hub of that huge empire, andhimself ruler over millions of downtrodden people. Doubtless Englandwould have shared the same fate as other nations, and would have beenoverrun by French troops and mercenaries, had it not been for ournavy. That is the arm, my lads, which has kept us free of invasion,that still sweeps the seas, and keeps French transports fromventuring across to our tight little island."
"Then, if that is so," ventured Tom, "why not confine our efforts tothe sea? At Trafalgar we beat the French and Spanish fleets combined.Why then should we now take the side of the Spaniards?"
"A fair question, and easily answered," smiled Mr. Riley. "Here isthe plain, unvarnished explanation. You may say, putting sentimentand natural sympathy apart, that it is nothing to us that Napoleonhas thrust his brother on the Spanish throne, displacing the rightfulruler; or if he subjugates Russia, putting a ruler of his own choiceon the throne there also. You may argue that that is no affair ofEngland's. But let us look at the certain results of such successon his part. He conquers a kingdom, and straightway has all theresources of that kingdom at his command. Its men are at his service,its fleets also; his armies and his navy are greatly increased inpower thereby. Thus, first with one addition and then with another tothis world power he seeks, Napoleon arrives at a point where he candestroy England in spite of her navy. There you find a reason for ouractions, and for the presence of our troops here in the Peninsula. Wefight to free the peoples here, thereby reducing Napoleon's power. Weseize this opportunity because the peoples of the Peninsula will havenone of Napoleon's ruling. The countries seethe with indignation,there are riots everywhere. Let us but drive him and his troops outof the Peninsula, and Napoleon himself meet with reverses elsewhere,and all the downtrodden peoples he has already conquered will turnupon him. There will be a great alliance against this despot, andin the course of time, in spite of his gigantic armies and theirundoubtedly fine organization, we shall wrest his power from him,perhaps even his kingdom."
That was exactly what England was striving for in those days. It mayalmost be said that a parallel situation had arisen to that whichbeset the people of England in the days of Good Queen Bess. ThenSpain was a world power; that is to say, she owned amongst otherpossessions those American colonies that brought her so much wealth.The Gulf of Mexico saw many of her ships; her vessels, of enormoustonnage when compared with those of England at that time, sailed fromthe coast of Mexico laden with jewels and gold and wealth wrung fromthe natives, those Astec people who displayed such gentleness ofcharacter, such civilized habits, alongside of a barbarous custom ofhuman sacrifice to which the world has seen no equal, not even in thedays of King Coffee in Ashantee. Wealth can buy power; it purchasesships, and if there be the men to man them, then a wealthy nation canendow itself with a fleet which may be the terror of its neighbours.That was the position between Spain and England in those days. ThatArmada was preparing. It aimed at the subjugation of England, and thestory is well enough known how Drake and his admirals set forth intheir tiny ships, manned by men who may be said to have been bornaboard them, and in spite of the size of the galleons of the Armada,in spite of paucity of numbers and shortness of ammunition, contrivedto break up the huge fleet when almost within sight of our shores.That was nearly a parallel situation. Now, instead of Spain, Franceaimed at our invasion, its Emperor Napoleon being ambitious to addEngland to the other nations he was bringing beneath his sway. Whoknows what might have happened had there been no sea to contend withand no fleet? But we may fairly surmise that this country would havegiven a good account of herself, for already her armies in Portugaland Spain had chastised the French. Whatever the result under suchcircumstances, there was that sea to contend with, and Nelson and hisadmirals had so carefully watched it, and had fought so strenuously,that the fleet of France had been annihilated at Trafalgar. Thusthe fear of invasion was gone for the moment. We had the future toconsider, and, thoughtful of our own security and of the dangerwhich would surely arise again so soon as Napoleon had broughtEurope beneath his sway, we sent our troops to the Peninsula, thereto oppose the man whose restless ambition kept the west in a stateof turmoil, whose decree held thousands and thousands of men underarms when they might have been engaged in some peaceful occupation,and whose constant succession of skirmishes and battles filled thehospitals of Europe, sent thousands of maimed wretches back to theirhomes, and crowded the cemeteries. That was the direct result ofNapoleon's ambitious policy, of his aggression, and let those whohold him up as a hero think of the unhappy wretches who sufferedpain, and whose cries of anguish are now forgotten. Let them rememberthe huge number of young men in the first blush of life who found agrave on the many battlefields of Europe.
But that was the position before Napoleon set his eyes on thePeninsula, determining to place his brother on the throne of Spainand so bring the entire nation under his power. It was this latterperiod which was of greatest interest to our hero, and he
listenedeagerly while Mr. Riley told of the landing of our troops inPortugal, of their hardships, and of the strenuous fighting they hadexperienced.