Allan Mallinson - The Sabre_s Edge

That evening

F

lowerdew poured two glasses of Madeira. He offered the silver tray first to Hervey and then to his captain before Peto dismissed him with his customary nod. 'Well, a damned sorry start to a campaign!' said the commodore when his steward had gone. 'Half the men ashore drunk and incapable of standing to their posts, and all the signs of a country as hostile as any other that's invaded.' 'Hardly half the men, Peto!' 'I grant you the native troops may be in good order, but I've a thousand hands and marines ashore doing others' duty. There'll be no relief for those in the guard boats tonight.'

'It's certainly dark enough for the Burmans to get alongside,' agreed Hervey. 'It's not the war boats that trouble me but fire boats. The tide's still running out. They could run them down all too easily, and it'll be the best part of tomorrow before we have the boom finished.' Hervey grimaced. There was no doubting the havoc that fire boats would wreak, for a topman could very nearly climb from ship to ship. cThe general's sent pickets for a mile upstream. They ought to be able to raise the alarm, at least.'

Peto took another sip of his Madeira. 'We must believe it. But I am already uneasy about what Campbell intends next. I assume the native provision will remain elusive but that he will march on Ava nevertheless. In which case how does he expect me to supply him, with both banks of the river in hostile hands? How may I risk a merchantman up or down without escorts? And I have not the ships.'

Hervey thought Peto uncommonly downcast. After all, here was the man who, but six or seven years ago, had sailed the frigate Nisus up the Godavari until there was nothing beneath her keel, and had then dismounted her guns and sent them in boats to the aid of his friend. 'You have the ships to force the river to Ava, though, have you not?'

'Four hundred miles, Hervey; four hundred! And I have but one steamer. Just imagine it.'

Hervey could. Memories of the Peninsula had not faded with the years. 'I don't suppose it would be any easier to stretch a line of communication here than the French found in Spain. And there, at least to begin with, the people supported them.'

Peto nodded. 'There should have been warning enough in what was learned these twenty years past in Holland. Folly to embark on an expedition in the hope of a country turning its coat.' cBut now we are come, I don't see that the general has any choice but to go to Ava.'

Peto refilled their glasses and shook his head. 'Nor I. But as soon as the Burmans learn what we're about, they're bound to bring back every last man from Arakan and Assam. There'd be the very devil of a job fighting through them all. Campbell's only course is to make lightning work of the advance. Do you see any prospect of that?'

Hervey frowned. 'It has been an inauspicious beginning, let us say. But in fairness, these are early days.'

'We wasted enough of them at Andaman looking for beef and water. I've never heard of an army that marched without provisions before.'

'You know,' began Hervey, measuring what he had to say as if not completely certain of it himself, 'Eyre Somervile told me the commander-in-chief and the Governor-General had disagreed very profoundly over the campaign.'

'I had not heard, but then why should I? I've met with Paget only once, and that was to present my compliments. The Governor-General I have never set eyes on.'

Hervey looked surprised. This was their first opportunity for intimacy since the expedition had got under way, and he had imagined Peto might have had at least some say in events. 'It seems the reason for our expecting the populace to rise is that Lord Amherst had intelligence from Ava to the effect that King Bagyidaw would at once lose heart if we took Rangoon. It would appear that Bagyidaw knows all too well that his officials so oppress the people they would see us as come to lift their yoke, so to speak.'

'Perhaps they believe their yoke is easy compared with what a foreigner might bring on them. What was Paget's opinion?'

'General Paget was convinced that operations should be directed principally towards securing Chittagong. He believed the Burmans were best punished then by striking from the sea.'

'It doesn't seem to amount to any great difference as far as we are concerned at this moment.' There was a distinct note of disdain in Peto's voice. 'I do despair of our great men at times. They show so little propensity to think a matter through. They seem always to think it somehow sufficient for the navy to put ashore redcoats, and that by that very act there will be fearful trembling at the heart of the enemy's enterprise. I blame Pitt – he was forever breaking windows with guineas.'

Hervey merely raised his eyebrows (Peto knew his mind in these matters without need of words). 'I should say that it is, too, Somervile's opinion. And he, I think, sees the whole very well.'

Peto shook his head despairingly. 'So it seems we have embarked on a strategy which may already be turning turtle.' He rose to fetch a chart from the table, then sat down again and began peering at it. 'We descend upon Ava from the sea, so to speak, because we cannot do so from land. And we bring no provisions or transport with us because, consequent on the taking of Rangoon, the populace will not only desist from interfering with our progress upstream but supply us with all our material needs as my ships take the army to gain its object.'

Hervey raised his eyebrows again. The course of Peto's logic was evident.

'Rangoon is burned and the populace driven off, and the Irawadi will need clearing with the bayonet to enable my ships to reach Ava. I count that a major reverse in design.' Hervey could only nod.

'And of course, to give us every facility in the venture, the expedition is timed so that the rains which begin any day will swell the Irawadi to enable my ships to make easy progress.' Peto laid down the map, shaking his head and looking as sad as he was angry. 'You and I know those same rains will fix the army here in Rangoon. The country'll be turned to swamp. I'll warrant even Amherst would want to rethink his stratagem if he were to think through these little matters.' He smiled, but wryly. 'I concede, however, that these are early days still!'

Hervey found himself in an unusual position: he was a mere observer of events. However, all his instincts demanded still that he took his commander's view. And that required that he forgo too much criticism and look for advantage instead. 'Let us see what the day brings. Rain will at least make the country equally impassable to the Burmans.'

'You must hope so' said Peto. He sipped his Madeira in a way that spoke to Hervey of the chalk-and-cheese difference in their fighting milieus. 'But I shall want the general to take the offensive upstream tomorrow, for we have to have all the Burman boats burned within a league. I cannot sit here beyond another day. You may take that message ashore with you, if you will.'

'It might be best if you were to impress it upon Campbell in person.'

Peto shook his head again. 'No. I'll not go ashore when there's the threat of fire boats. I'll see him early in the morning and we can agree on what support I can lend him. I take it he'll want the rest of the divisions landed?' 'I'm sure of it.' Hervey made to rise.

Peto rose with him and clapped a hand on his arm. 'I'm sorry you will not stay longer. It is very good to see you, though I could wish for better circumstances.'

Hervey smiled. 'Ours are not professions that would prosper in better circumstances!'

'Indeed, no. And I had at one time thought I should never get a command again once Bonaparte was put in his box.'

'Should we not still be saying "God rest his soul" then?'