A Regimental Affair

‘Major Ormonde from the Blues will ride with you, too,’ added the colonel. ‘You are to explain your intentions to him before any manoeuvre, and if he disapproves you are then to follow his express instructions. Is that quite clear?’

‘Quite clear, Colonel.’

‘Good. Then let us now to the detail.’

Hervey had assembled his officers and NCOs in the old tap-house by Chobham Rise. He had left his troop in the hands of Serjeant Armstrong (managing to contrive some plausible reason for not leaving them with the serjeant-major), who would bring them to the rendezvous as soon as their marching order and supply was ready. When Hervey had taken command of the troop he had asked to see the field standing orders, and had been surprised to learn that there were none. So he had dug up an old copy of those that Joseph Edmonds had written before they left Cork for Waterloo, and issued them to his squadron for his own scheme. He hoped that these would gain him a march, for without regimental standing orders there were bound to be discrepancies between troops, entailing last-minute alterations as the commanding officer noticed the lack of uniformity. And Hervey knew that he would need that time, for his orders were for the troop to throw out a vidette line across the whole of the regiment’s frontage.

‘And so, gentlemen,’ he emphasized, coming to the end of his own orders, ‘my intention, repeated, is simply this: the first half-troop, as the contact troop, will observe the advance of the regiment from the Great Park at Windsor, and will fall back along the lines I have indicated.’ He pointed to the excellent new map from the Ordnance Survey, from which the NCOs had made their own sketches. ‘On the flanks, and a full three furlongs behind the contact line, are to be videttes guarding against flanking marches. In the event of the enemy’s attempting such a manoeuvre, the videttes are to give battle briskly and to make out as best they can until relief comes. I do not wish any of the remainder of the contact troop to exchange fire with the enemy unless it is absolutely unavoidable.’ He looked at each man to emphasize the instruction. ‘Let me remind you that in an action such as this, the great object is to see. Fighting is merely a means to this end. There are other means superior and less hazardous, as we demonstrated on our scheme. Barrels clean then, gentlemen, and swords in their scabbards unless it is impossible to move within sight of the enemy.’ It was as well that he laid emphasis on this now, for the true instinct of a light dragoon, he knew all too well, was to draw his sabre and make straight for his man. Outpost work was never so exciting when they were denied a skirmish.

‘Now,’ Hervey continued, ‘the communicating troop shall be formed of the second division. You will establish your relays in the places marked. I shall remain — so far as is possible — on this centre line.’ He pointed to the old Windsor road running north — south across the common. ‘From here I shall send orderlies with reports to the controlling staff at Chobham. With me shall be a corporal and dozen men which you shall nominate.’ He looked directly at Cornet St Oswald, who nodded in acknowledgement. ‘And these shall be held ready, at a moment’s notice, as my reserve. So, having now repeated my intention, do any of you have a question?’

For some time no one spoke. That much was pleasing, thought Hervey. His plan must be straightforward and his explanation clear.

At length Seton Canning looked up from his map. ‘If I can cover the front and have a few men spare, is there any reason why I should not patrol forward of the Bourne, rather than simply awaiting the enemy’s advance?’

‘There is no reason that I am aware of from the staff’s point of view,’ Hervey replied, glancing at the directing officers, Majors Ormonde and Jago. ‘And in ordinary I should urge you to do so, but by my calculation you will scarcely have a man to spare, let alone a patrol. See what comes, though. You know which is the priority. If you can do more, then so much the better. Are there any more questions, gentlemen?’

There were none.

‘Well, let’s go to it. And remember, the general’s orders are that we face the enemy, not friends. Good luck!’

It was the better part of two hours before Lieutenant Seton Canning was able to report that his line of videttes was secure. Just after two, he galloped back to the old coach road where Hervey had planted his flag, and there with Cornet St Oswald they made the necessary adjustments and arrangements for the relay points. It had been many years since the Sixth had carried guidons in the field, but Hervey’s trumpeter carried a lance with a yellow pennant and the letter A in blue, so that his troop leader’s position should be known at once. By night a lantern, with red and yellow glass, would indicate the same, for Hervey had many a recollection of delay and confusion searching out a headquarters in some Spanish village in the pitch dark.

‘Do you have any men to spare to patrol forward of the Bourne?’ he asked his lieutenant, more hopeful than expectant.

‘No, sir. In truth I could do with twenty more for the vidette line, for the country is so trappy on the left flank I’m concerned the enemy might slip through.’

Hervey looked at Cornet St Oswald.

‘I could spare half a dozen, though private men only.’

‘Good man! Send them to first division at once, then.’ He was gratified by St Oswald’s willingness to cede that number. The cornet’s priorities were right enough.

As the assembly broke up, Hervey looked at his watch: almost half-past three, a full hour ahead of the time they had been given to have the line set. He commended his two officers. ‘Yes, gentlemen, very satisfactory indeed! I shall ride forward and check some of the videttes and pickets, and then I shall take post back here by the appointed hour. We are in for a long hard night. I trust there are fires burning now for a warm dinner?’

Seton Canning and St Oswald smiled. Of that he could be certain, they said.

* * *

Hervey set off up the old coach road with his new covering-corporal (Troughton had indeed shown well in the past fortnight, and had sewn on his chevron only the day before), along with ‘Susan’ his trumpeter and Private Johnson. He found the picket well sited at the bottom of a shallow hill where the regiment’s advance guards would most likely have to commit themselves to one of two routes through the woodland. The NCO in command told him that Lieutenant Seton Canning had ordered both lanes to be blocked, so that the action of the advance guards, in attempting to clear the blockage, would reveal the intended route of the main body. The dragoons had been busy, therefore. They had felled four trees across the sandy lanes, closing them very effectively, and had put up chevaux de frise, which would cover the picket’s withdrawal nicely if the enemy’s scouts pressed them too hard.

Corporal Sykes had always been a steady man, thought Hervey — his own groom, indeed, when he had first joined for duty. It was good to see him wearing his second stripe to such effect now. ‘Where is the vidette?’ he asked cheerily.

‘A furlong to the front, by the spinney, sir.’

Hervey could see the spinney clearly enough, on the crest of the rising ground, but not the vidette. ‘I see no dragoon. Has he taken post yet?’

‘There’s a couple of men, sir. I’ve put a youngster with Broadhurst — a very promising lad he is too. They won’t show themselves except to signal.’

‘Well done, Corporal Sykes. I’ll ride up there to see what they can see.’

‘Shall I come with you, sir?’

‘No, that’s not necessary. I’ll ride straight there and straight back.’ He turned to his escort. ‘Stay here for the present. There’s no call for kicking up more dust than necessary.’

Lance-Corporal Troughton looked alarmed. It was mock battle, but a covering man had his duty all the same. ‘I shouldn’t by rights let you off by yourself, sir, even to a vidette.’

Hervey had once taken a spontoon in his leg because he had got too far ahead of his coverman. Corporal Collins would have said the same as Troughton, and he was pleased he’d picked a man who could think for himself and was not afraid to speak up. ‘No, you’re right. Johnson, Medwell and Corporal Sykes to remain here then. Corporal Troughton comes with me.’

Hervey put his gelding into a canter towards the vidette. He had still not got used to the idea that Jessye was no longer his charger. Besides anything, Harkaway was so green. There again, he had rather abandoned Harkaway. The splint had put the horse off the road for the best part of a year, it was true, but Hervey felt he had not seen to his schooling properly since then. Indeed, Harkaway had done scarcely a thing for two years but gorge