AT MOTHER CHARCOAL'S.
With the return of spring brighter days dawned for the British troops in the East. The worst troubles were ended; supplies of all kinds were now flowing in in great profusion; the means of transport to the front were enormously increased and improved, not only by the opportune arrival of great drafts of baggage-animals, through the exertions of men like McKay, but by the construction of a railway for goods traffic.
The chief difficulty, however, still remained unsolved: the siege still slowly dragged itself along. Sebastopol refused to fall, and, with its gallant garrison under the indomitable Todleben, still obstinately kept the Allies at bay.
The besiegers' lines were, however, slowly but surely tightening round the place. Many miles of trenches were now open and innumerable batteries had been built and armed. The struggle daily became closer and more strenuously maintained. The opposing forces—besiegers and besieged—were in constant collision. Sharpshooters interchanged shots all day long, and guns answered guns. The Russians made frequent sorties by night; and every day there were hand-to-hand conflicts for the possession of rifle-pits and the more advanced posts.
It was a dreary, disappointing season. This siege seemed interminable. No one saw the end of it. All alike—from generals to common men—were despondent and dispirited with the weariness of hope long deferred.
Why did we not attack the place? This was the burden of every song. The attack—always imminent, always postponed—was the one topic of conversation wherever soldiers met and talked together.
It was debated and discussed seriously, and from every point of view, in the council-chamber, where Lord Raglan met his colleagues and the great officers of the staff. It was the gossip round the camp-fire, where men beguiled the weary hours of trench-duty. It was tossed from mouth to mouth by thoughtless subalterns as they galloped on their Tartar ponies for a day's outing to Kamiesch, when released from sterner toil.
The attack! To-morrow—next day—some day—never! So it went on, with a wearisome, monotonous sameness that was perfectly exasperating.
"I give you Good-day, my friend. Well, you see the summer is now close at hand, and still we are on the wrong side of the wall."
The speaker was M. Anatole Belhomme, Hyde's French friend. They had met outside a drinking-booth in the hut-town of Kadikoi. Hyde was riding a pony; the other was on foot.
"Ah! my gallant Gaul, is it you?" replied Hyde. "Let's go in and jingle glasses together, hey?"
"A little tear of cognac would not be amiss," replied the Frenchman, whose excessive fondness for the fermented liquor of his country was the chief cause of his finding himself a sergeant in the Voltigeurs instead of chief cook to a Parisian restaurant or an English duke.
Hyde hitched up his pony at the door, and they entered the booth, seating themselves at one of the tables, if the two inverted wine-boxes used for the purpose deserved the name. There were other soldiers about, mostly British: a couple of sergeants of the Guards, an assistant of the provost-marshal, some of the new Land Transport Corps, and one or two Sardinians, in their picturesque green tunics and cocked hats with great plumes of black feathers.
The demand for drink was incessant and kept the attendants busy. There were only two of them: the proprietress, a dark-skinned lady, familiarly termed Mother Charcoal, and a mite of a boy whom the English customers called the "imp" and the French polisson (rogue).
Mother Charcoal was a stout but comely negress, hailing originally from Jamaica, who had come to Constantinople as stewardess in one of the transport-ships. Being of an enterprising nature, she had hastened to the seat of war and sunk all her ready-money in opening a canteen. She was soon very popular with the allied troops of every nationality and did a roaring trade.
"Some brandy—your best, my black Venus!" shouted Hyde.
"Who you call names? Me no Venus."
"Well, Mrs. Charcoal, then; that name suits your colour."
"What colour? You call me coloured? I no common nigger, let me tell you, sah; I a Georgetown lady. Me wash for officers' wives and give dignity-balls in my own home. Black Venus! Charcoal! You call me my right name. Sophimisby Cleopatra Plantagenet Sprotts: that my right name."
"Well, Mrs. S.C.P.S., I can't get my tongue round them all; fetch the brandy or send it. We will talk about your pedigree and Christian names some other time."
This chaffing colloquy had raised a general laugh and put Hyde on good terms with the company.
"What news from the front, sergeant?" asked one of the Land Transport Corps, a new comer.
"Nothing much on our side, except that they say there will be a new bombardment in a few days. But the French, were pretty busy last night, to judge from the firing."
"What was it?"
"Perhaps our friend here can tell you" and he turned to Anatole, asking the question in French.
"A glorious affair, truly!" replied the Frenchman, delighted to have an opportunity of launching out.
"I was there—I, who speak to you."
"Tell us about it," said Hyde; "I will interpret it to these gentlemen."
"The Russians, you must understand, have been forming ambuscades in front of our bastion Du Mât, which have given us infinite trouble. Last night we attacked them in three columns, 10,000 strong, and drove them out."
"Well done!"
"It was splendidly done!" went on Anatole, bombastically. "Three times the enemy tried to retake their ambuscades; three times we beat them back at the point of the bayonet, so!"
And the excitable Frenchman jumped from his seat and went through the pantomime of charging with the bayonet.
"You lost many men?"
"Thousands. What matter? we have many more to come. The Imperial Guard has landed, and the reserve, are at Constantinople."
"Yes, and there are the 'Sardines,'" said another pointing to the new uniform.
"Plenty of new arrivals. M. Soyer, the great cook, landed yesterday."
"What on earth brings him?"
"He is going to teach the troops to make omelettes and biscuit-soup."
"We were ahead of him in that, I think," said Hyde, winking at Anatole.
"He is with Miss Nightingale, you know, who has come out as head nurse."
"Heaven bless her!"
"Well, for all the new arrivals, we don't get on very fast with the siege."
"Why don't they go into the place, without all this shilly-shallying?" cried an impetuous Briton. "We'd take the place—we, the rank and file—if the generals only would let us do the work alone."
"They are a poor lot, the generals, I say."
"Halt, there! not a word against Lord Raglan," cried Hyde.
"He is so slow."
"Yes, but he is uncommon sure. Have you ever seen him in action? I have. He knows how to command: so quiet and self-possessed. Such a different man from the French generals, who always shout and swear and make such a confounded row. What do you think of your generals, Anatole?"
"Canrobert is an imbecile; he never knows his own mind."
"Well, we shan't be troubled with him much longer," said a fresh arrival. "Canrobert has just resigned the chief command."
"Impossible!" said Anatole, when the news was interpreted to him.
"It is perfectly true, I assure you," replied the last speaker. "I have just come from the English headquarters, and saw the new French commander-in-chief there. Palliser, I think they call him."
"Pélissier," said the French sergeant, correcting him. "That is good news. A rare old dog of war that. We shan't wait long to attack if he has the ordering."
"They say the Russian generals have changed lately. Gortschakoff has succeeded Mentschikoff."
"Confound those koffs! They are worse than a cold in the head."
"And just as difficult to get rid of. I'd like to wring their necks, and every Russian's at Sebastopol."
"Mentschikoff could not have been a bad fellow, anyway."
"How do you know that?"
"Why, one of our officers who was taken prisoner at Inkerman has just come back to camp. I heard him say that while he was in Sebastopol he got a letter from his young woman at home. She said she hoped he would take Mentschikoff prisoner, and send her home a button off his coat."
"Well?"
"The letter was read by the Russian authorities before they gave it him, and some one told the general what the English girl had said."
"He got mad, I suppose?"
"Not at all. He sent on the letter to its destination, with a note of his own, presenting his compliments, and regrets that he could not allow himself to be taken prisoner, but saying that he had much pleasure in inclosing the button, for transmission to England."
"A regular old brick, and no mistake! We'll drink his health."
It was drunk with full honours, after which Hyde, finding the party inclined to be rather too noisy, got up to go.
"Here!" he cried out, "some of you. What have I got to pay? Hurry up, my dusky duchess; I want to be off. Come, don't keep me waiting all day," and he struck the table impatiently with his riding-whip.
Mother Charcoal's assistant, "the imp," ran up.
"How much?"
"One dollar: four shilling," said the lad, in broken English.
"There's your money!" cried Hyde, throwing it down, "and a 'bob' for yourself. Stop!" he added. "Who and what are you? I have seen you before."
The lad, a mere boy, frail-looking and slightly built, but with a handsome, rather effeminate-looking face, tried to slink away.
"What's your name?" went on Hyde.
"Pongo," replied the boy.
"That's no real name. Smacks of the West Coast of Africa. Who gave it you?"
"Mother Charcoal."
"What's your country? What language do you talk?"
"English."
"Monstrous little of that, my boy. What's your native lingo, I mean? Greek, Turkish, Italian, Coptic—what?"
"Spanish," the boy confessed, in a low voice.
Hyde looked at him very intently for a few seconds; then, without further remark, walked out with his French friend.
But he did not do more than say good-bye outside the shanty; and, leaving his horse still hitched up near the door, he presently re-entered the canteen.
The place had emptied considerably, and he was able to take his seat again in a corner without attracting much attention. For half-an-half or more he watched this boy, who seemed to interest him so much.
"There's not a doubt of it. I must know what it means," and he beckoned the "imp" towards him.
"How did you get to the Crimea?" he asked, abruptly, speaking in excellent Spanish, when the lad, shyly and most reluctantly, came up to him. "What brings you here? I must and will know. It is very wrong. This is no place for you."
"I came to save him; he is in pressing danger," said the boy, whose large eyes were now filled with tears.
"Does he know you are in the Crimea?"
"I have been unable to find him. I lost all my money; it was stolen from me directly I landed, and, if I had not found this place with the black woman, I should have starved."
"Poor child! Alone and unprotected in this terrible place. It was sheer madness your coming."
"But I could tell him in no other way."
"Tell him what?"
"He has two bitter and implacable enemies, who are sworn to take his life."
Hyde shook his head gravely.
"It is true, as Heaven is my witness—perfectly true. But read this if you doubt me," and the boy, who was no other than Mariquita in disguise, produced the scrap of paper she had picked up in the shop in Bombardier Lane.
"I did not doubt your words. I was thinking of those enemies—one of them, at least—and wondering why she is permitted to live."
He took the letter, and read it slowly.
"Her handwriting! I was sure of it. To whom was this addressed?"
"Benito Villegas. Perhaps you know him—he is a native of the Rock."
"I remember him years ago. And has he carried out these instructions? Is he here?"
"I cannot make out. I have looked for him, but have been unable to find him."
"Not at the address stated here? You have been to it?"
"Several times, but have never seen him."
"He is probably in some disguise; that would suit his purpose best. We will hunt him up, never fear. But Stanislas must first be warned."
"You will go to him—at once?"
"This very day. And you—won't you come too?"
"No, no! I cannot." Mariquita blushed crimson. "He would chide me. It is wrong, I know; I have no right to be here, but he was in such danger. I risked everything: his displeasure, my life, my good name."
"Yes," said Hyde, thoughtfully; "this is no place for you; it is a pity you came to it. Still, we should not have known but for you; as it is, you had better stay here."
"With Mother Charcoal?"
"Just so. She is a worthy old soul, and can be trusted. It will be best, I think, to tell her the exact state of the case. Leave that to me."
"You will not delay in warning Stanislas?" said Mariquita, placing her hand on his arm.
"No; I will go directly after I have spoken to our black friend. Be easy in your mind, little woman, or Señor Pongo, or whatever you like to be called, and expect to see me again, and perhaps some one else you know, within a day or two from now."
Fate, however, decreed that Hyde should be unavoidably delayed in his errand of warning.
On leaving Mother Charcoal's shanty the second time, he found that his horse had disappeared. It had been hitched up to a hook near the doorway, in company with several others, and all were now gone.
"Some mistake? Scarcely that. One of those rascally sailor thieves, rather; not a four-footed beast is safe from them. What a nuisance it is! I suppose I must walk back to camp."
What chafed Hyde most was the delay in getting to headquarters. He had already made up his mind to find McKay as soon as he could, and tell him exactly what had occurred.
"He will, of course, think first of Mariquita; but that matter can be easily settled. We will send her on board one of the hospital-ships, where she will be with nurses of her own sex. What is really urgent is that McKay should look to himself. We must manage, through his interest and authority, to make a thorough search for this villain Benito, and get him expelled from the Crimea. That would make McKay safe, if only for a time, although I suppose Cyprienne would soon devise some new and more diabolical scheme. If I could only get on a little faster! It is most annoying about the horse. I will go straight to headquarters on foot, taking the camp of the Naval Brigade on my way."
There was wisdom in this last resolution. The sailors' camp was the Crimean pound. All animals lost or strayed, or, more exactly, stolen, if the truth is to be told, found their way to it. Jack did a large business in horseflesh. Often enough a man, having traced his missing property, was obliged to buy it back for a few shillings, or a glass or two of grog.
It was a general joke in the Crimea that the infantry were better mounted than the cavalry, and that the sailors had the pick of the infantry horses.
"I suppose I must go to the sailors' camp, but it's rather out of my road," said Hyde, as he trudged along under the hot sun.
Many more fortunate comrades, all mounted, overtook and passed him on the way. Each time he heard the sound of hoofs his rage increased against the dishonest rogue who had robbed him of his pony.
"Like a lift, guv'ner?" said a voice behind him. "You shall have this tit chape. Half a sov., money down."
Hyde turned, and saw a blue-jacket astride of the missing pony.
"Buy it, you rascal! why it belongs to me! Where did you get it?"
"I found it, yer honour."
"Stole it, you mean. Get off this instant, or I'll give you up to the provost!" And, so saying, Hyde put out his hand to seize the reins.
"Avast heaving there, commodore," said Jack, digging his heels into the horse, and lifting it cleverly just out of Hyde's reach. "Who finds keeps. Pay up, or you shan't have him. Why, I deserve a pound for looking after the dumb baste."
Hyde looked around for help, but no one was in sight. He was not to be baulked, however, and made a fresh attempt to get alongside the pony. But each time the sailor forged a little ahead, and this tantalising game continued for half-an-hour.
At last, disgusted and despairing, Hyde thought it better to make terms. He was losing valuable time.
"I give in, you rogue! Pull up, and you shall have your money."
"Honour bright, guv'ner?"
"Here it is," said Hyde, taking out the money.
"It's a fair swap. Hand over the money."
"No; you give up the pony first."
"I shan't. That's not my way of doing business."
"You shall!" cried Hyde, who had been edging up towards the sailor, and now suddenly made a grab at his leg.
He caught it, and held it with an iron grip. But Jack was not disposed to yield quietly. With a loud oath, he struck viciously at the pony's side with his disengaged foot.
It was a lively little beast, and went off at once, Hyde still clinging tenaciously to his prey.
But Jack was determined not to be beaten. With one hand he tried to beat off Hyde, and with the other incited the pony to increase its pace.
In the end Hyde was thrown to the ground, and received two nasty kicks—one in the forehead, the other in the breast—from the heels of the excited horse.
The sailor got clear away, and our friend Hyde was picked up senseless half-an-hour later by a passing ambulance-cart, and carried back to camp.