Jack Archer: A Tale of the Crimea Page 11

  CHAPTER XI.

  TAKEN PRISONERS

  "That arm of yours always seems to be getting itself damaged, Jack,"Hawtry said next morning, as he came into the hut. "You put it in theway of a bullet last time, and now you've got it smashed up. How doyou feel altogether?"

  "I am awfully bruised, Dick, black and blue all over, and so stiff Ican hardly move."

  "That's just my case," Dick said, "though, as you see, I can move. Thedoctor's been feeling me all over this morning, and he said it waslucky I was a boy and my bones were soft, for if I had been a man, Ishould have been smashed up all over. As to my elbows and my knees,and all the projecting parts of me, I haven't got a bit of skin onthem, and my uniform is cut absolutely to ribbons. However, old boy,we did a good night's work. We saved sixteen lives, we got no end ofcredit, and the chief says he shall send a report in to the Admiral;so we shall be mentioned in despatches, and it will help us forpromotion when we have passed. The bay is a wonderful sight. Theshores are strewn with floating timber, bales of stores, compressedhay, and all sorts of things. Fellows who have been down to the towntold me that lots of the houses have been damaged, roofs blown away,and those gingerbread-looking balconies smashed off. As for the camps,even with a glass there is not a single tent to be seen standing onthe plateau. The gale has made a clean sweep of them. What a night thesoldiers must have had! I am put on the sick list for a few days so Ishall be able to be with you. That's good news, isn't it?"

  "Wonderfully good," Jack laughed, "as if I haven't enough of your jawat other times. And how long do you suppose I shall be before I amout?"

  "Not for some little time, Jack. The doctor says you've got four ribsbroken as well as your arm."

  "Have I?" Jack said, surprised. "I know he hurt me preciously while hewas feeling me about this morning; but he didn't say anything aboutbroken ribs."

  A broken rib is a much less serious business than a broken arm, and inten days Jack was up and about again, feeling generally stiff andsore, and with his arm in a sling. The surgeon had talked of sendinghim on board ship, but Jack begged so hard for leave to remain withthe party ashore, that his request was granted.

  Winter had now set in in earnest. The weather was cold and wet;sometimes it cleared up overhead, and the country was covered withsnow. A month after the accident, Jack was fit for duty again. Seeingwhat chums the lads were, the officer in command had placed them inthe same watch, for here on land the same routine was observed as onboard ship. The duties were not severe. The guns were kept bright andpolished, the arms and accoutrements were as clean as if at sea. Eachday the tars went through a certain amount of drill, and fatigueparties went daily down to the harbor to bring up stores, but beyondthis there was little to do. One of the occupations of the men waschopping wood for fuel. The sides of the ravine immediately below thebattery had long since been cleared of their brushwood, and each daythe parties in search of fuel had to go farther away. Upon the dayafter Jack returned to duty, he and Hawtry were told off with a partyof seamen to go down to cut firewood. Each man carried his rifle inaddition to his chopper, for, although they had never been disturbedat this occupation, the Russians were known not to be far away. Thesailors were soon at work hacking down the undergrowth and lopping offbranches of trees. Some were making them up into faggots as fast asthe others cut them, and all were laughing and jesting at their work.

  Suddenly there was a shout, and looking up, they saw that a party ofRussians had made their way noiselessly over the snowclad ground, andwere actually between them and the heights. At the same moment avolley of musketry was poured in from the other side, and three orfour men fell.

  "Form up, form up," Hawtry shouted. "Well together, lads. We must makea rush at those beggars ahead. Don't fire till I tell you, then givethem a volley and go at them with the butt-end of your muskets, thenlet every one who gets through make a bolt for it."

  The sailors, some twenty strong, threw themselves together, and,headed by the midshipmen, made a rush at the Russians. These openedfire upon them, and several dropped, but the remainder went on at thedouble until within twenty yards of the enemy, when pouring in avolley and clubbing their muskets, they rushed upon them.

  For a moment there was a sharp _melee_; several of the sailors wereshot or bayoneted, but the rest, using the butt-ends of their musketswith tremendous execution, fought their way through their opponents.Jack had shot down two men with his revolver, and having got through,was taking his place at the rear of the men--the proper place for anofficer in retreat?--when he saw Hawtry fall. A Russian ran up tobayonet him as he lay, when Jack, running back, shot him through thehead. In a moment he was surrounded, and while in the act of shootingdown an assailant in front, he was struck on the back of the head withthe butt of a musket, and fell stunned across the body of his friend.When he recovered consciousness, he found that he was being carriedalong by four Russians. He could hear the boom of cannon and therattle of musketry, and knew that the defenders on the heights wereangrily firing at the retreating party, who had so successfullysurprised them. As soon as his bearers perceived that Jack had openedhis eyes, they let him drop, hauled him to his feet, and then holdinghim by his collar, made him run along with them.

  When they had mounted the other side of the slope, and were out offire of the guns, the party halted, and Jack, hearing his own namecalled, looked round, and saw Hawtry in the snow, where his captorshad dropped him.

  "Hullo, Dick! old fellow," Jack shouted joyfully; "so there you are. Iwas afraid they had killed you."

  "I'm worth a lot of dead men yet, Jack. I've been hit in the leg, andwent down, worse luck, and that rascally Russian would have skeweredme if you hadn't shot him. You saved my life, old fellow, and made agood fight for me and I shall never forget it; but it has cost youyour liberty."

  "That's no great odds," Jack said. "It can't be much worse stopping afew months in a Russian prison, than spending the winter upon theheights. Besides, with two of us together, we shall be as right aspossible, and maybe, when your leg gets all right again, we'll manageto give them the slip."

  The Russian officer in command of the party, which was about 200strong, now made signs to the boys that they were to proceed.

  Dick pointed to his leg, and the officer examined the wound. It was aslight one, the ball having passed through the calf, missing the bone.

  He was, however, unable to walk. A litter was formed of two musketswith a great-coat laid between them, and Dick, being seated on this,was taken up by four men, and Jack taking his place beside him, theprocession started. They halted some four miles off at a village in avalley beyond the Tchernaya.

  The next day the boys were placed on ponies, and, under the escort ofan officer and six troopers, conducted to Sebastopol. Here they weretaken before a Russian general who, by means of an interpreter,closely examined them as to the force, condition, and position of thearmy.

  The lads, however, evaded all questions by stating that they belongedto the fleet, and were only on duty on the heights above Balaklava,and were in entire ignorance of the force of the army and theintentions of its general. As to the fleet, they could tell nothingwhich the Russians did not already know.

  The examination over, they were conducted to one of the casemates ofFort St. Nicholas. Here for a fortnight they remained, seeing no oneexcept the soldier who brought them their food. The casemate was somethirty feet long by eighteen wide, and a sixty-eight-pounder stoodlooking out seaward. There the boys could occasionally see the shipsof war of the allies as they cruised to and fro.

  It was very cold, for the opening was of course unglazed. They hadeach a heap of straw and two blankets, and these in the daytime theyused as shawls, for they had no fire, and it was freezing sharply.

  Dick's leg had been examined and dressed by a surgeon upon his firstarrival; but as the wound was not serious, and the surgeons wereworked night and day with the enormous number of wounded at Inkerman,and in the various sorties, with which the town was crowded, he didnot agai
n come near his patient. The wound, however, healed rapidly.

  As Jack remarked, the scanty rations of black bread and toughmeat--the latter the produce of some of the innumerable bullocks whicharrived at Sebastopol with convoys, too exhausted and broken down forfurther service--were not calculated to cause any feverish excitementto the blood, nor, had it been so, would the temperature havepermitted the fever to rise to any undue height.

  Their guards were kind to them so far as was in their power, and upontheir using the word "tobacco," and making signs that they wanted tosmoke, furnished them with pipes and with tobacco, which, althoughmuch lighter and very different in quality from that supplied on boardship, was yet very smokable, and much mitigated the dulness from whichthe boys suffered. A few days after their captivity the boys heard thechurch bells of Sebastopol ringing merrily.

  "I wonder what all this is about?" Dick said; "not for a victory, I'llbe bound."

  "Why, bless me," Jack exclaimed, "if it isn't Christmas day, and wehad forgotten all about it! Now, that is hard, monstrously hard. Thefellows on the heights will just be enjoying themselves to-day. I knowthey were talking about getting some currants and raisins from onboard ship, and there will be plum-duff and all sorts of things. Iwonder how they're all getting on at home? They're sure to be thinkingoften enough of us, but it will never enter their minds that here weare cooped up in this beastly hole."

  The day, however, did not pass unnoticed, for a Russian officer whospoke English called upon them, and said that he came at the requestof the governor himself to express to them his regret that theirquarters were so uncomfortable and their fare so bad. "But," he said,"we cannot help ourselves. Every barrack in the town is crowded; everyhospital, every private house even, filled with wounded. We have fiftyor sixty thousand troops, and near twenty thousand sick and wounded.Your people are very good not to fire at the town, for if they did, Ido not know what the poor fellows would do. For to-day the governorhas sent you down a dinner from his own table, together with a fewbottles of wine and spirits--and what you will not prize less, for Isee you smoke, a box of cigars. It is very cold here. I will see thatyou have some more blankets."

  Two soldiers came in with baskets, the one with tin-covered dishes,the other with wines. These were set out on the ground, and the boys,after sending a message expressing their cordial thanks to the generalfor his thoughtfulness, sat down, when alone, in the highest spiritsto their unexpected feast.

  "This is a glorious spread, Jack. I wonder what all these dishes are?I don't recognize any of them. However, this is soup, there is nodoubt about that, so let's fall to on that to begin with. But first ofall, get out the cork of one of those champagne bottles. Now fill upyour tin, Jack, and let's drink 'God bless all at home, and a merryChristmas to them.' We'll have our other toasts after dinner. Icouldn't begin till we drank that. Now set to."

  The dishes were not as cold as might have been expected, for each hadbeen enveloped in flannel before placing it in the basket. The soupwas pronounced excellent, and the unknown meats, prime--better thananything they had tasted since they left England. There were sweets,too, which they made a clean sweep of. Then they called their guard,to whom they gave the remains of their dinner, together with a strongpannikin of water and spirits, to his extreme delight.

  Then, making themselves snug in the straw, wrapping themselves wellin their blankets, fencing in their candle, so that it was shelteredfrom the draughts, they opened a bottle of brandy, drank a variety oftoasts, not forgetting the health of the governor, who they agreedwas a brick, they sang a song or two, then blew out the light, and,thoroughly warm and comfortable, were asleep in a minute or two.

  A few days later, an officer came in, signed to them to make theirblankets into a bundle, and to follow him.

  The boys slipped four bottles of spirits which they had stillremaining, and also the stock of cigars, into the rolls. Then,holding the bundles on their shoulders, they followed him.

  Dick, although still weak on his legs, was now able to walk.

  Presently they came to a large party of men, some of whom had theirarms in slings, some were bandaged on the head, some lay in stretcherson the ground.

  "It is a convoy of wounded," Jack said. "I suppose we're going to betaken into the interior."

  An officer, evidently in charge, saluted the boys as they came up, andsaid something in Russian.

  They returned the salute. He was a pleasant-looking fellow withlight-blue eyes, and yellowish moustache and beard. He looked at them,and then gave orders to a soldier, who entered the building, andreturned with two peasants' cloaks lined with sheep-skin, similar tothe one he himself wore.

  These were handed to them, and the midshipmen expressed their warmestgratitude to him; their meaning, if not their words, being clearlyintelligible.

  "These are splendid," Jack said. "They've got hoods too, to go overthe head. This is something like comfort. I wish our poor fellows upabove there had each got one. It must be awful up on the plateau now.Fancy twelve hours in the trenches, and then twelve hours in thetents, with no fires, and nothing but those thin great-coats, andscarcely anything to eat. Now there's a move."

  A strong party of soldiers came down, lifted the stretchers, and in afew minutes the whole convoy were at the water's edge. Other similarparties were already there, and alongside were a number of flatbarges. Upon these the invalids walked, or were carried, and thebarges were then taken in tow by ships' boats, and rowed across theharbor to the north side.

  "I hope to goodness," Jack said, looking up at the heights behindthem, along which the lines of entrenchments were clearly visibleagainst the white snow, "that our fellows won't take it into theirheads to have a shot at us. From our battery we often amused ourselvesby sending a shell from one of the big Lancaster guns down at theships in the harbor. But I never dreamed that I was likely to be acockshy myself."

  The usual duel was going on between the batteries, and the puffs ofwhite smoke rose from the dark line of trenches and drifted upunbroken across the deep blue of the still wintry sky.

  But happily the passage of the flotilla of boats attracted noattention, and they soon arrived at the shore close to the work knownas Battery No. 4.

  Here they were landed. Those who could not walk were lifted intocarts, of which some hundreds stood ranged alongside. The rest fell inon foot, and the procession started. The boys, to their satisfaction,found that the officer who had given them the coats was in charge of aportion of the train, and as they started he stopped to speak a wordor two to them, to which they replied in the most intelligible mannerthey could by offering him a cigar, which a flash of pleasure in hisface at once showed to be a welcome present.

  It took some time to get the long convoy in motion, for it consistedof some 700 or 800 carts and about 5,000 sick and wounded, of whomfully three-fourths were unable to walk. It mounted to the plateaunorth of the harbor, wound along near the great north fort, and thenacross undulating land parallel with the sea. They stopped for thenight on the Katcha, where the allied army had turned off for theirflank march to the southern side.

  The boys during the march were allowed to walk as they liked, but twosoldiers with loaded muskets kept near them. They discussed thechances of trying to make their escape, but agreed that although theymight be able to slip away from the convoy, the probability of theirmaking their way through the Russian troops to their own lines atBalaklava or Sebastopol was so slight that the attempt would be almostmadness. Their figures would be everywhere conspicuous on the snow,their footsteps, could be followed, they had no food, and wereignorant of the language and country. Altogether they determined toabandon any idea of escaping for the present.

  There were but a dozen soldiers with the convoy, the officers beingmedical men in charge of the wounded. A halt was made in a shelteredspot near the river, and close to the village of Mamaschia, which wasentirely deserted by its inhabitants.

  The worst cases of sickness were carried into the houses, and the restprep
ared to make themselves as comfortable as they could in or underthe wagons. Stores of forage were piled by the village for the use ofthe convoys going up and down, and the drivers speedily spread aportion of this before their beasts.

  The guard and such men as were able to get about went off among theorchards that surrounded the village, to cut fuel. The boys' specialguard remained by them. When the doctor whom they regarded as theirfriend came up to them, he brought with him another officer asinterpreter, who said in broken French,--

  "Voulez-vous donner votre parole pas essayez echapper?"

  Jack was as ignorant of French as of Russian, but Dick knew a little.He turned to Jack and translated the question.

  "Tell him we will give our words not to try and escape during themarch, or till we tell him to the contrary." This was almost beyondDick.

  "Nous donnons notre parole pour le present," he said, "pour la marche,vous comprenez. Si nous changons notre--I wonder what mind is," hegrumbled to himself--"intention, nous vous dirons."

  This was intelligible, although not good French, and their friend,having shaken hands with them as if to seal the bargain, told thesoldiers that they need no longer keep a watch on the prisoners, andthen beckoned them to accompany him. The boys had, at starting, placedtheir bundles upon a cart to which they had kept close during themarch. Putting these on their shoulders, they accompanied their friendto a cart which was drawn up three or four feet from the wall of ahouse. They set to work at once, and with the aid of some sticks andblankets, of which there was a good supply in the wagon, made a roofcovering the space between it and the house, hung others at the endand side, and had soon a snug tent erected.

  One of the soldiers brought a large truss of straw, and another abundle of firewood. The blanket at the end of the tent sheltered fromthe wind, was drawn aside, and a great fire speedily blazed up at theentrance. The straw was shaken out to form a soft seat, just insidethe tent. All three produced their pipes and lit them, while thedoctor's servant prepared over the fire a sort of soup with therations. This turned out to be by no means bad, and when after it theboys produced one of their bottles of brandy and three cigars, theRussian doctor patted them on the back, and evidently told them thatthey were first-rate fellows.

  For half-an-hour he smoked his cigar and sipped his tin of brandy andwater, then, explaining by signs that he must go and look after hiswounded, left them.

  The boys chatted for another half-hour, and then stowing their brandycarefully away, they shook up the straw into a big bed, and, wrappingthemselves in their sheepskins, were soon soundly asleep; but it waslong after midnight before the doctor returned from his heavy work ofdressing wounds and administering medicine, and stretched himself onthe straw beside them.