other drummers were joining the escapade. As he listened to them trading memoirs about previous visits to brothels, Hillier felt even more unready for the challenge. The time eventually came for them to set out. The camp was in darkness. Dobbs took the lead because he'd already reconnoitred the position of the picquets. They followed him in single file with Hillier at the rear. Dodging between the bushes, they reached the stream and paddled across it. Hillier caught up with his friend.
'My breeches are soaked, Hugh,' he complained.
'They'll have plenty of time to dry when you take them off,' said Dobbs. 'Now stay close and keep your voice down.'
Only when they were well clear of the camp could the four of them relax and talk freely. Hillier still worried about the consequences of leaving camp without permission but the others were obsessed with what lay ahead. Their language became cruder, their expectations more colourful. Hillier was made to feel like a callow outsider. Dobbs poked him with a friendly elbow.
'Don't worry, Tom,' he said. 'If you lived on a farm, you probably fucked a sheep or two in your time,' he added jokingly.
'We kept dairy cows.'
'Then you must have seen them mounted by a bull. What they did was only natural. It's the same with a woman. You're the lusty young bull mounting a warm, welcoming cow with lovely udders to play with and suck. I'll wager that you love every second.'
Hillier did not share his confidence. When the town was at last conjured out of the gloom, his mouth went dry and sweat broke out on his face. Dobbs clearly had an excellent memory. He picked his way through the streets as if he'd been raised there. Candles flickered in some windows but most houses were dark. Dobbs stopped outside one where a finger of light could be seen between the shutters.
'This is it,' he announced, rubbing his hands.
Hillier looked up at it with apprehension. The house was large. Built of local stone, it had a thatched roof with prominent eaves. From inside they could hear the sound of muffled voices. As if in proof of its credentials as a brothel, the door suddenly opened and two soldiers tumbled out, laughing happily as they did up their uniforms. They rolled off down the street on their way back to camp.
'There you are,' said Dobbs, 'I told you they always give you what you want. Knock the door, Tom.'
Hillier quailed. 'Me?'
'You must be first.'
'I'd rather wait, Hugh.'
'Stop arguing and knock the door.'
'Yes,' said one of the others, 'we want our money's worth.'
Hillier stepped forward and tapped on the door, scared of what he might find on the other side of it. The door was opened by a woman holding a candle. He could see that she was fat, middle- aged and raddled. She wore a silk dress with a low decolletage and bared her snaggly teeth in a welcoming grin.
'Don't just stand there, Tom,' said Dobbs, pushing him over the threshold. 'Manhood awaits you.'
For the second time in a row, Daniel chose to spend the night sleeping upright in the coach. It stood beside the stables in which their horses had been stalled. The inn was fairly remote but he took no chances. Two loaded pistols were at hand in case of nocturnal intruders. The brush with the highwaymen had been unpleasant but it had yielded rewards. They now had three horses at their disposal and had found a substantial amount of money in the saddlebags. Daniel was sitting on top of it.
He came awake periodically to check that all was well then returned to his slumbers. It was when he opened his eyes for the third time that he thought he glimpsed movement in the darkness. He reached for one of the pistols and stared through a window. Nothing was there yet he was convinced he'd seen something. Deciding that it must have been a dog or even a fox, he put the pistol aside. Almost immediately he snatched it up again as he heard footsteps.
'Daniel,' called a voice softly. 'Are you there?'
It was Amalia, wrapped up in a cloak. When she reached the coach, she smiled in through the window. He opened the door and helped her in.
'What are you doing here at this time of night?' he said.
'I wanted to speak to you.'
'There are more convenient moments to do that, Amalia.'
'We're never really alone during the day.'
'Sit down,' he invited, moving over so that she could perch beside him. 'Beatrix will raise the whole inn when she realises that you're not there in the bed.'
'She's a heavy sleeper,' said Amalia. 'You'd have to fire a pistol to wake her up once she dozes off.'
'What did you want to say to me?'
'I owe you an apology, Daniel.'
'That's not true at all.'
'It is,' she insisted. 'After all you'd done for us, I didn't trust you. When you told that man where we'd hidden our valuables, I thought you were only trying to save your own skin. Instead, you merely wanted to distract him.' She gave a shrug. 'I'm ashamed that I thought so badly of you at the time.'
'Not at all,' he said, stroking her arm. 'Your father and the others must have felt exactly the same. Kees had managed to undo the rope around my wrists. I needed Gustave's attention elsewhere so that I could untie my feet. You know the rest.'
'That's the other apology I must make.'
'What is?'
'I was shocked at what you did to that man. There was a moment when I actually felt sorry for him even though he was so repulsive. I'd never seen anything like that before.'
'I hope you never have to do so again, Amalia.'
'It's been in my mind ever since,' she said. 'I was lying in bed thinking about it. Looking back, it was so unjust of me. It was almost as if I was blaming you for what happened whereas you had to do what you did. That man deserved it. We both know what he had in mind for me and Beatrix. The horror was unimaginable.'
'No apology is necessary,' he told her.
'I believe that it is. I thought ill of you.'
'To save lives, you often have to take one, Amalia. It's a rule of military life. I wasn't going to let that oaf molest you. He'll get no sympathy from me.'
'Nor from me,' she said.
'Are the others still sickened by what I did?'
'Beatrix will never get over it. She talked of nothing else until she fell asleep. She began to wonder what you did to that man who was watching our house in Paris.'
'It's just as well she wasn't there at the time.'
'Father was upset,' Amalia went on, 'but more for my sake than his own. He was hurt that I should've been forced to watch but I'm not as delicate as he seems to think. What happened to us in Paris has made me a lot stronger.'
'Adversity can often bring out the best in people.'
'As for Kees, I fancy that he was as revolted as the rest of us.'
'I hope they'll all forgive me in time.'
'They admire you, Daniel, but you did upset them.'
'Everyone likes pork on their plate but nobody wants to see the pig being killed.' She recoiled in surprise. 'I'm sorry,' he said, 'that was a rather vulgar way of putting it.'
'Nevertheless, it was probably accurate.'
'You must go back to bed, Amalia.'
'Are we still friends?' she asked, quietly.
'We're very good friends,' he told her. 'Nothing will change that. Do you feel any better for speaking to me?'
'Yes, I do.'
