A Call To Arms (22 page)

The little girl stared, turned to seek assurance from her mother, who slept soundly the while, and then looked back at Serjeant Collins without a word.

‘Is Jobie Wainwright your brother?’

Collins’s tenderness was unpractised, but effective. The little girl nodded.

‘Do you know where he is?’

The little girl wanted to help – her expression said it – but she shook her head.

‘Will he come back soon, do you think?’

She nodded.

Collins stepped past her carefully to take a better look at the room. Hervey stepped forward gingerly and looked in too. The walls had no plaster, there was not a stick of furniture, and in the corner was a pile of ragged and filthy linsey, evidently the entire wardrobe of the brood – family seemed so inapt a name. ‘This is a job and a half, sir,’ said Collins as he came out. ‘She’s soused in gin by the look of it, and them babes is probably too sick to stir.’

‘My sister said it was a wretched household. They’re one step from the workhouse, I’d say. Did you see any food?’

‘No.’

‘Nor I.’

The little girl suddenly pointed and called out happily. ‘Jobie!’ Hervey and Collins turned to see a boy of seventeen or eighteen
approaching with a small sack under his arm. His step did not falter as he approached the cottage. ‘Good mornin’,’ he said as he came to the door.

‘Jobie! Jobie!’

Jobie’s face was clean, unlike the little girl’s – or, indeed, any they had seen since arriving at the Common. And shaven, too. He had bright blue eyes and hair the colour of horse chestnuts, and a ready smile for his half-sister. He gave her the sack and she ran inside with it. ‘Only bread,’ he explained to the visitors. ‘I go for it evr’y mornin’.’ He showed no apprehensiveness on account of seeing strangers in uniform.

‘I am Serjeant Collins of His Majesty’s Sixth Light Dragoons, and am authorized to enlist young men of the best character.’

Collins had not wanted to introduce confusion in the lad’s mind by speaking of his officer, but Jobie Wainwright glanced at Hervey and then back at the serjeant. Even to an uninformed eye the difference in quality of uniform was apparent.

Hervey smiled. ‘I am Captain Hervey of the same corps.’

‘I reckoned as much, sir. I saw the posters in the town. And it’s your sister as comes here.’

‘Steady on, young ’un,’ said Collins, checking his instinct to bark that he would speak to an officer only when given permission.

But Hervey saw an opportunity. ‘It was my sister who told me you might care for a soldier’s life.’

Jobie did not hesitate. ‘That I would, sir, if only for a regular wage.’

Serjeant Collins now sensed further opportunity. ‘Are there others who think the same, Jobie?’

‘Two or three, Serjeant.’

‘Well, if you bring them and they enlist, you are entitled to a bringer’s bounty. Will you do that?’

‘Ay, Serjeant, I’ll bring them. But I wouldn’t want the money for it. They must have that for themselves.’

‘You shall have the money, Jobie, and you may give it away as you please. For that is the procedure. Come to the chapel within the hour. We cannot be here all day.’

‘Ay, Serjeant, I shall do that.’

Hervey and Collins walked back to the chapel pleased with their easy success, and after so unpromising a beginning. ‘As decent a
lad as ever I saw,’ declared Hervey. ‘Clean, well-made, he reads, and he has an honest stamp. Or at least, he would not try to profit from his friends.’

‘Ay, sir. A very satisfactory sort.’

‘You sound unsure.’

‘Oh no, sir. I’m sure right enough. That little lass’s face told you he was a good’n. I was just thinking how contrary it all is. Here’s the filthiest place you’ll see outside a London rookery, and out of it comes a lad like that. Gives a lie to poverty being the breeding bed of sin, don’t it, sir?’

‘Don’t let’s begin on that, Sar’nt Collins. I had ample of it last night at home. You would not imagine so many opinions there might be in one family.’

‘Well, sir, there’ll be plenty more in the days to come, no doubt, after that business in Manchester.’

‘Oh yes, indeed,’ sighed Hervey. ‘You may be sure of it.’

Three-quarters of an hour later, Jobie Wainwright and three others of his age came to the chapel and asked if they might know the bounty and pay if they enlisted.

‘Five pounds and four shillings,’ replied Serjeant Collins. ‘And pay is one and twopence a day. For the infantry a shilling only. And there is one penny a day beer-money too.’

The potential recruits looked encouraged. Hervey, sitting in a corner, lowered his copy of
The Times
.

‘And all our keep is found, Serjeant?’ asked Jobie Wainwright on their behalf.

Here was the rub, thought Hervey. And here was when an unscrupulous bringer would dissemble or even lie. Better that he himself speak to it than leave Collins to have to apologize for the subsistence and off-reckonings which would take away so much of their pay. ‘Three-quarters of a pound of beef and one pound of bread every day. That or its equivalent,’ he said, reassuringly.

The four looked even more encouraged.

‘And for this you pay no more than sixpence a day.’

They looked disappointed.

‘And you must, of course, buy that part of your uniform and necessaries which would be a man’s everyday working dress whatever. Serjeant Collins has a list of these. He will show it to you.’

Only Jobie Wainwright made to look at it. To the others it would have been no more helpful than a page of Greek.

‘Sir, it comes to more than the bounty,’ said Jobie anxiously.

‘The usual way is that a recruit is given twenty-one shillings at once, and the remainder is kept back for these necessaries. The difference is advanced to the man, and from his basic pay instalments are made until the advance is paid back.’ Hervey did not say
that it was the troop captain who lent the man the cash, and on very disadvantageous terms to himself.

Jobie looked a little relieved.

Serjeant Collins judged the catch was ready to land. ‘You will receive a free issue of overalls, a stable jacket and a dress coat annually, and an allowance of six shillings for boots and three for gloves.’

They seemed encouraged again.

‘There are other clearings,’ said Hervey, ‘but you shall receive not less than three shillings each week. And in India you may live much higher than ever at home.’

‘India, sir?’ said Jobie, his voice suggesting neither favour nor otherwise.

‘Yes. The regiment is for India soon. I have been there. It is the place for adventure.’

The four looked at each other. Jobie spoke for them. ‘If we enlist, sir, can we stay together?’

‘You will all serve in my troop,’ Hervey reassured them.

Serjeant Collins sealed the affair. ‘Bring the measuring stick, Prax. Let’s see if these likely-looking lads stand sixteen hands and a half.’

They all did, though Hervey could not suppose there was more than a leather’s thickness to spare with any of them. Not to worry; regular meat and riding school would do its work.

‘Here is a shilling each for you, then,’ declared Collins gravely. ‘The King’s shilling, that is. His token of trust in you. Come to The Bell at nine o’clock prompt tomorrow morning, and the magistrate will swear you in once the doctor has certified you fit for service.’

‘Jobie, Jobie!’ called the little girl from the other side of the street. ‘Mam says didn’t you get her gin?’

Jobie looked uncomfortable. ‘Can I go now, Serjeant?’

‘Ay, lad. Be there at nine sharp, though.’

‘Jobie, are you going for a soldier?’ asked the little girl as he took her hand.

Collins turned to Hervey. ‘Christ, sir. What do you do?’

‘I know, Serjeant Collins; I know. Try not to think about it, I suppose.’

*

The following day, a special edition of the
Warminster Miscellany
carried a further report of the disturbances in Manchester. The Herveys’ manservant brought it just before midday to the dining room at Horningsham, where Hervey and his father were sitting with the remains of a pot of coffee and a salted mutton ham.

‘PETERLOO’ CASUALTIES

We are informed by the
Manchester Observer
that the affair of the 16th Instant, dubbed ‘Peterloo’, has accounted for the deaths of sixteen persons, including a special constable, and Four Hundred injured, with no fewer than One Hundred and Fifty suffering from sabre cuts. It is further understood from the Officer Commanding all of the Troops that day, one Colonel L’Estrange, that Sixtyseven of his own men received slight wounds, while twenty cavalry horses have been hurt either by striking or by being stabbed.

His Royal Highness The Prince Regent has sent a letter of strong approval to the Magistrates for the firm way in which they dealt with the lawbreaking.

The archdeacon read the report again carefully. ‘I should say that, notwithstanding the title, the paper is indifferent in its tone. While the stabbing of the horses cannot be compared with the sabre cuts to the people, the two being juxtaposed in the report serves to ameliorate the shock that is felt. For it suggests a predisposition on behalf of some in the crowd to do mischief. I suppose the Prince Regent had to commend the poor magistrates, but I cannot help but feel it would have been the better to hold silence until the facts were established.’

‘I wish it made some distinction between the regulars and the yeomanry,’ said Hervey.

‘I am afraid that if you are at the receiving end of a sabre stroke it matters little whether it be regular or otherwise, though I agree it is dispiriting for those who are proficient in the business of soldiering.’

‘It’s the very devil of a business keeping a troop in hand in the face of a crowd. The horses sense their riders’ unease, I’m sure of it. I still hold a picture of poor Wymondham being thrown to his death in the street in London. Is there any more, Father?’

The archdeacon nodded. ‘There is. And it troubles me, I confess.’

SIX MEASURES TO BE ENACTED

We have it on the most reliable authority that Lord Sidmouth will announce in Parliament six measures to be enacted which shall permit of the most summary dealing with the Radical agitation which now disturbs the greater part of the Country. Assemblies of over fifty persons shall be prohibited. Magistrates are to have powers to search private dwelling houses for arms. Drilling and military training by civilians, except the Yeomanry and the Militia shall be strictly prohibited. The Laws against Blasphemous and Seditious Libel shall be strengthened. There shall be a limitation on the right of an accused to adjournment of trial to prepare his defence, and there shall be an increase in Stamp Duty on newspapers and pamphlets to Four Pence.