Several divisions of foot, composed of musketeers and pikemen in equal proportions, and each led by a mounted officer, and with their appointed number of captains, lieutenants, and sergeants, followed each other in succession; but there was a great difference in their equipment and bearing.
The three leading divisions, amounting to nearly nine hundred effective men, were a fine sample of the very best infantry which had as yet been formed under the orders of the Parliament. Their clothing was of a coarse red cloth: the belts and bandaliers of those who were armed with muskets were of buff leather; and a girdle of double buff, eight inches broad, was worn under the skirts of the doublet. The musketeers also wore black steeple-crowned hats, with small but strong bars of iron fastened under the felt. In addition to their muskets and rests, they were all provided with a good stiff tuck, not very long, so fixed in the belt as not to swing or incommode them.
The pikemen were furnished with good pikes, eighteen feet in length, with small steel heads, and good stiff tucks like those of the musketeers. They had also for defensive armour iron head pieces, with back and breast pieces of the same quality, pistol-proof, and each man was provided with a good long buff glove for the left hand; they also wore the broad buff girdle; the musketeers had bands about their hats of a considerable width, finished in front with a rose of orange cloth, but they had no feathers or plumes; and there was a steadiness and severity in their whole aspect which commanded admiration. It was one of the first regiments embodied, composed principally of a better order of volunteers, and commanded by a very strict and experienced officer. From these men Cuthbert had nothing to suffer: they were silent in their ranks; and merely glanced at him as they passed with looks of gloomy or proud indifference; but the regiment that followed was a raw levy of militiamen just raised: they had arms, indeed, and were divided already into musketeers and pikemen, like those who preceded them; but their clothing and equipment was very incomplete, and few of the pikemen had either back or breast pieces. Of these, numbers had been drawn, reluctantly, from the neighbouring villages, to supply the quota of men required by the militia act, and were enrolled with the mockery of an oath, by which they were sworn in, to fight “for the King against the King,”—a distinction which of course the greater part of them could not understand. They only wanted to be left alone, and suffered to follow their ploughs in peace. Most of them had some excuse to offer in the Shire Hall, and some story to tell why they should not go for soldiers. This man had aged parents to support; another had a family of children; and that man had just married a wife. Others, who were not provided with such good excuses, feigned deafness, bad eyes, lame shoulders, weak ankle bones, fits, rheumatic pains, or some other disqualification, to escape the irksome duties of praying and fighting under Puritan commanders. Many kissed their own thumbs instead of the Bible when they took their oaths of service, meaning to desert the first opportunity that offered; still there were numbers of idle rustics who came when they were called out, and did as they were bid, without further question; and these, in spite of their officers and sergeants, and Puritan comrades, contrived their own amusements, and laughed at the grave preachments which forbade them.
As a file of these young swains passed Cuthbert, one struck the end of a lighted match under his pony’s tail; and to the astonishment of Cuthbert, and the disturbance of the whole division following, the poor animal, hitherto as lazy and patient as a laden donkey, began kicking with such sudden activity and vigour, that the rider had some difficulty in keeping his seat. However, though inwardly vexed, Cuthbert stuck close to the saddle, and putting a good face on the vexatious incident disarmed the laughter which was at first generally excited by joining in it himself, till a humane sergeant plucked away the burning cause of the animal’s pain and terror,—and the frightened beast stood still, trembling and in a bath of sweat. Until this moment Cuthbert was at a loss to know what had so alarmed his pony; but he now alighted and made a complaint about what had been done to an officer that was passing.
The grave personage whom he addressed said, with a sly smile,—“Verily, friend, thy little garron was in the way, and I counsel thee to patience in this matter:—there is no harm done, and verily thou didst stick to thy saddle like a sergeant-major of cavalry.”
Without waiting for any rejoinder, the officer marched on; and no sooner had the infantry defiled, than the shrill tones of a few trumpets announced the advance of four troops of horse. As these fine men walked their powerful animals along the street, they cast down looks of contempt upon poor Cuthbert and his little hack; and he could not but feel that he had never as yet rightly conceived what were the naked realities of soldiership. There were far more unpleasant and painful experiences to come than the petty mortifications of this his first contact with troops. However, he had a wise, generous, and noble friend to instruct and arm his mind in the path on which he had entered; and his spirit was now in its first moment of weakness and need sustained and comforted by his appearance.
Immediately in the rear of this body of horse rode an officer admirably mounted and equipped, and beneath his polished helmet Cuthbert instantly recognised Francis Heywood. By this old campaigner his position was seen and understood at a glance. He stopped, shook hands with him heartily, and desiring him to find out his quarter at the house of a brewer in the next street, bade him give his baggage pony in charge to his batman, and occupy his apartment till the exercise should be over.
This was so great a lift and recovery to the sinking spirits of Cuthbert that he had no sooner put up his pony than he turned back and followed the troops to the plain where they were drawn out.
It was a fine sight to the unaccustomed eye to watch the evolutions of the musketeers and the pikemen, as the former advanced to skirmish and cover the movements of the more solid body, and again as they rapidly retired, and, kneeling down in front of the close array of pikemen, awaited under the protection of their long pikes to receive the charge of cavalry, and repulse it with a close and steady fire.