‘Go away!’ said the boy.
‘Listen to him, Jules,’ coaxed the farmer. ‘I believe what he says. He wants to stop these men from killing anyone else.’
‘He’s lying. I don’t trust him.’
‘Hear him out.’
‘No…he’s just as bad as the others.’
Daniel was grateful that the farmer was present. Though he had a good grasp of their Flemish dialect, Daniel found it easier to talk through the farmer than directly to Jules. It spared the boy from the feeling that he was being interrogated by an enemy. Daniel whispered the first question into the farmer’s ear.
‘Tell him what you saw, Jules,’ urged the farmer.
‘I don’t want to speak to him,’ retorted the boy.
‘Do you want those soldiers to get away with what they did?’
‘No…I want to kill them myself!’
‘I can understand why you feel like that,’ said Daniel. ‘But you need us to hunt these fiends down.’
‘Tell him everything,’ said the farmer.
Jules scowled. ‘He already knows what his soldiers did.’
‘He doesn’t. Captain Rawson says that they were not part of a British patrol. He thinks they were renegades.’
‘They wore red uniforms,’ asserted the boy, sullenly.
‘That doesn’t mean they were British,’ said the farmer then he paused to take a prompt from Daniel. ‘Did you hear them speak? Did you recognise their language?’
‘I’m saying nothing.’
‘You must help the captain.’
‘He’s like all the rest of them.’
‘Just tell us, please. This is important, Jules. You want these men hunted down, don’t you?’
‘I want them burnt alive!’ shrieked the boy.
‘Captain Rawson tells me that, if they’re British soldiers, they’ll face execution. Now, what language did they use?’
Jules glowered at Daniel then spat out his reply.
‘English,’ he said. ‘They spoke in English.’
Daniel’s heart sank. He fed another question to the farmer.
‘Did you get a good look at them?’ said the man.
‘No, there was smoke everywhere.’
‘Yet you were able to see their uniforms.’
‘Yes, I was.’
The farmer turned to hear another whisper in his ear.
‘Did you hear any names being called out?’ he asked.
‘No.’
‘Think carefully, Jules. This could be helpful. Someone must have been shouting orders to the others. Did he mention any names when he did so?’
‘All he did was to laugh,’ said Jules with a shudder.
‘Who did?’ pressed Daniel.
‘Their leader.’
‘How do you know he was their leader?’
‘He shouted at the others to ride off.’
‘Then you must have been able to see him properly.’
‘Is that right, Jules?’ added the farmer. ‘You saw their leader?’
‘What did he look like?’ asked Daniel.
‘Describe him for us.’
The boy recalled the mad eyes and the blood-curdling laugh.
‘He was a big, ugly man with a red beard,’ he said, gritting his teeth, ‘and I’m going to tear out his heart one day.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Duke of Marlborough was finally starting to look his age. Now in his late fifties, he had always defied the passage of time and retained his boundless energy and resilience. Years of campaigning, when he sometimes spent twelve hours a day in the saddle, had not weakened him to any degree. His zest for battle remained intact. Now, however, it was different. Looking at Marlborough as he sat hunched over his desk, Adam Cardonnel was worried about him. Their commander was clearly unwell. He’d been afflicted by a series of pounding headaches that were difficult to shake off. He had a fever of some sort and was unable to sleep. Fatigue had painted deep lines on his face. What disturbed his secretary even more was the fact that Marlborough had become so uncharacteristically downhearted. It was almost as if desolation had eaten into his soul.
They were alone in the tent. While Cardonnel had been writing some letters, Marlborough was poring over a map of Flanders. He was so motionless that his secretary began to wonder if he’d dozed off from exhaustion. Cardonnel reached out to touch his shoulder.
‘Are you still awake?’ he asked, softly.
Marlborough stirred. ‘Of course I am, Adam. I can’t but be awake. At a time when I most need it, I seem to have forgotten how to sleep.’ He used a palm to suppress a yawn. ‘If my wife knew how ill I feel, she’d probably rush here with a brace of physicians and a bag full of potions. That’s why I keep the full truth about my condition from her.’
‘You can’t hide it from me, Your Grace.’
‘I know. What you see is what I see in the mirror every day and it’s a dispiriting sight. But for this periwig,’ he went on, toying with the elaborate curls, ‘you’d notice how grey my hair has become. I’m sinking into senility.’
‘Yet you still have more vigour than the rest of us.’
‘I don’t feel that I do, Adam. But enough of my ailments,’ he said, sitting up and trying to marshal his thoughts. ‘Beside the work we have to do, they are an irrelevance. And I’ll wager a king’s ransom that the French army won’t suspend their activities simply because the enemy commander is feeling a trifle unwell.’ He indicated the map. ‘What’s their next move? That’s what I want to know. What are Burgundy and Vendome up to?’
‘They are probably asking the same question of you.’
‘And so they should. We must keep them guessing.’
‘They are probably still wondering how we managed to thwart their planned attack on Antwerp. That was a setback for them.’
‘Thanks to good intelligence, we nipped that plot in the bud and it was vital that we did so, Adam. We can’t let a citadel like Antwerp fall into their hands. It’s so well fortified,’ said Marlborough. ‘It’s the reason I want it to become the capital of the Spanish Netherlands. Brussels is too difficult to defend for any length of time. Antwerp would be a much more secure base.’
‘I agree with you, Your Grace, but the idea did not exactly win favour with the Dutch.’
Marlborough groaned. ‘None of my ideas ever excite them,’ he complained. ‘I know I’ve said it a hundred times before, Adam, but trying to lead a coalition army is like fighting with my hands tied behind my back. I can never do exactly what I want at a precise time of my choosing.’
‘Granted — then it’s all the more credit to you for achieving such remarkable victories in this war. You’ve overcome both the might of the French army and the shortcomings of our Allies.’
‘We may have to do so again, Adam,’ said Marlborough, placing a finger on the map. ‘Latest reports place the French here at Soignies. I’d hoped to divert part of their army by a feint to the Moselle but Prince Eugene’s force is not even fully assembled yet. Do you see what I mean about having my hands tied?’ he went on. ‘We need Eugene here this very minute. Instead, he’s held up in Vienna on government business. Don’t they realise that this war is
