Part 18 (1/2)
He found on reaching the regiment that the men were already drinking their wine and eating their bread.
”I am afraid I shall never keep them, O'Grady,” the colonel said, mournfully. ”It is scarcely in human nature to see men straggling about as full as they can hold, and know that there is liquor to be had for taking it and not to go for it.”
”It is all right, Colonel. I know that we can never keep the men if we turn them into the houses to sleep; but I have found a big building that will hold the whole regiment, and the best of it is that it is a tobacco factory. I expect it is run by the authorities of the place, and as we are doing what we can for them, they need not grudge us what we take; and faith, the boys will be quiet and contented enough, so that they do but get enough to keep their pipes going, and know that they will march in the morning with a bit in their knapsacks.”
”The very thing, O'Grady! Pa.s.s the word for the regiment to fall in the instant they have finished their meal.”
It was not long before they were ready, and in a few minutes, guided by O'Grady, the head of the regiment reached the building.
”Who is the owner of this place?” the colonel asked the old man, who, with a lantern in his hand, was still standing at the door.
”The Central Junta of the Province has of late taken it, your Excellency.”
”Good! Then we will be the guests of the Central Junta of the Province for the night.” Then he raised his voice, ”Boys, here is a warm lodging for you for the night, and tobacco galore for your pipes; and, for those who haven't got them, cigars. Just wait until I have got some lights, and then file inside in good order.”
There was no difficulty about this, for the factory was in winter worked long after dark set in. In a very few minutes the place was lighted up from end to end. The troops were then marched in and divided amongst the various rooms.
”Now, boys, tell the men to smoke a couple of pipes, and then to lie down to sleep. In the morning each man can put as much tobacco into his knapsack and pockets as they will hold, and when we halt they can give some of it away to regiments that have not been as lucky as themselves.”
The men sat down in the highest state of satisfaction. Boxes of cigars were broken open, and in a couple of minutes almost every man and officer in the regiment had one alight in his mouth. There were few, however, who got beyond one cigar; the warmth of the place after their long march in the snow speedily had its effect, and in half an hour silence reigned in the factory, save for a murmur of voices in one of the lower rooms where the officers were located.
”O'Grady, you are a broth of a boy,” the colonel said. ”The men have scarce had a smoke for the last week, and it will do them a world of good. We have got them all under one roof, and there is no fear that anyone will want to get out, and they will fall in in the morning as fresh as paint. Half an hour before bugle-call three or four of you had best turn out with a dozen men, and roll up enough barrels from the vaults to give them the drink promised to them, before starting. Who will volunteer?”
Half a dozen officers at once offered to go, and a captain and three lieutenants were told off for the work.
”They know how to make cigars, if they don't know anything else,” Captain O'Driscol said; ”this is a first-rate weed.”
”So it ought to be by the brand,” another officer said. ”I took the two boxes from a cupboard that was locked up. There are a dozen more like them, and I thought it was as well to take them out; they are at present under the table. I have no doubt that they are real Havannas, and have probably been got for some grandee or other.”
”He will have to do without them,” O'Grady said, calmly, as he lighted his second cigar; ”they are too good for any Spaniard under the sun. And, moreover, if we did not take them you may be sure that the French would have them to-morrow, and I should say that the Central Junta of the Province will be mighty pleased to know that the tobacco was smoked by their allies instead of by the French.”
”I don't suppose that they will care much about it one way or another,” O'Driscol remarked; ”their pockets are so full of English gold that the loss of a few tons of tobacco won't affect them much. I enjoy my cigar immensely, and have the satisfaction of knowing that for once I have got something out of a Spaniard--it is the first thing since I landed.”
”Well, boys, we had better be off to sleep,” the colonel said. ”I am so sleepy that I can hardly keep my eyes open, and you ought to be worse, for you have tramped well-nigh forty miles to-day. See that the sentry at the door keeps awake, Captain Humphrey; you are officer of the day; upon my word I am sorry for you. Tell him he can light up if he likes, but if he sees an officer coming round he must get rid of it. Mind the sentries are changed regularly, for I expect that we shall sleep so soundly that if all the bugles in the place were sounding an alarm we should not hear them.”
”All right, Colonel! I have got Sergeant Jackson in charge of the reliefs in the pa.s.sage outside, and I think that I can depend upon him, but I will tell him to wake me up whenever he changes the sentries. I don't say I shall turn out myself, but as long as he calls me I shall know that he is awake, and that it is all right. I had better tell him to call you half an hour before bugle-call, Sullivan, so that you can wake the others and get the wine here; he mustn't be a minute after the half-hour. Thank goodness, we don't have to furnish the outposts to-night.”
In ten minutes all were asleep on the floor, wrapped in their greatcoats, the officer of the day taking his place next the door so that he could be roused easily. Every hour one or other of the two non- commissioned officers in charge of the guard in the pa.s.sage opened the door a few inches and said softly, ”I am relieving the sentries, sir;” and each time the officer murmured a.s.sent.
Sullivan was called at the appointed time, got up, and stretched himself, grumbling:
”I don't believe that I have been asleep ten minutes.”
On going out into the pa.s.sage, however, where a light was burning, his watch told him that it was indeed time to be moving. He woke the others, and with the men went down to the cellars. Here the scene of confusion was great; drunken men lay thickly about the floor, others sat, cup in hand, talking, or singing s.n.a.t.c.hes of song, Spanish or English. Hastily picking out enough unbroken casks for the purpose, he set the men to carry them up to the street, and they were then rolled along to the factory. Just as they reached the door the bugle-call sounded; the men were soon on their feet, refreshed by a good night's sleep. The casks were broached, and the wine served out.
”It is awful, Colonel,” Sullivan said. ”There will be hundreds of men left behind. There must have been over that number in the cellar I went into, and there are a dozen others in the town. I never saw such a disgusting scene.”
Scarcely had they finished when the a.s.semble sounded, and the regiment at once fell-in outside the factory, every man with knapsack and haversack bulging out with tobacco. They then joined the rest of the troops in the main street. General Moore had made a vain attempt to rouse the besotted men. A few of those least overcome joined the rear-guard, but the greater number were too drunk to listen to orders, or even to the warning that the French would be into the town as soon as the troops marched out.