Bernard Cornwell - The Bloody Ground

Not now, Starbuck had told himself, not now. This was not the time to put Case right, and so he had merely put the musket in its box, meekly handed Case the key, and walked away.

Now, at the supper table, Starbuck was again the butt of bullies only this time it was Thomas Dennison and his cronies who had their sport with a man they believed was a weakling. Captain Lippincott rolled a peach to Starbuck. “Reckon you’d prefer a brandy, Potter,” Lippincott said.

“Reckon I would,” Starbuck said.

“Sir,” Dennison said immediately.

“Reckon I would, sir,” Starbuck said humbly. He had to play the fool so long as he decided against revealing his identity, but it went hard on him. He told himself to stay calm and to play the failure for a short while yet.

Lippincott edged his brandy glass toward Starbuck, daring him to take it, but Starbuck did not move. “Of course there’s one thing to be said for being a drunk,” Lippincott said, taking the glass back, “it means you’ll probably sleep away the days here. Better than sitting around doing nothing. Ain’t that right, Potter?”

“Right,” Starbuck agreed.

“Sir,” Dennison said, then hiccuped.

“Sir,” Starbuck said.

“I ain’t saying I’m not grateful for being here,” Lippincott went on gloomily, “but, hell, they could give us some entertainment.”

“Plenty in Richmond,” Dennison said airily.

“If you’ve got the money,” Lippincott acknowledged, “which I ain’t.”

Dennison stretched back in his chair. “You’d rather be in a fighting regiment?” he asked Lippincott. “They could always transfer you. If that’s what you want, Dan, I’ll tell Holborrow you’re eager to go.” Lippincott, a sallow man with a fringe of beard, said nothing. Most of the Yellowlegs officers had been transferred, either to garrison duty or to the provosts, but a few had been posted to fighting battalions, a fate that plainly worried these remaining captains, though not Dennison, whose skin disease was sufficient to keep him out of harm’s way. He gingerly touched one of the horrid sores on his face. “If the doctors could just cure this,” he said in a tone that suggested he was confident that the disease was incurable, “I’d volunteer for a transfer.”

“You are taking the medicine, Tom?” Lippincott asked.

“Of course I am,” Dennison snapped. “Can’t you smell it?”

Starbuck could indeed smell something medicinal, and the smell was oddly familiar; a thin rank odor that disturbed him, but which he could not quite place. “What medicine is it, sir?” he asked.

Dennison paused while he considered whether the question constituted impudence, then he shrugged. “Kerosene,” he answered after a while.

Starbuck frowned. “Is it ringworm?” he asked, then added, “sir.”

Dennison sneered. “One year at medical college and you know it all, is that it? You mind your own damn business, Potter, and I’ll mind the advice of a proper doctor.”

Lippincott looked back at the glistening sores and shuddered. “It’s all right for you, Tom,” he said resentfully, “but what if this Starbuck wants us to fight? Holborrow can’t keep us here forever.”

“Holborrow’s a colonel,” Dennison said, hiccuping again, “and Starbuck’s a major, so Holborrow will get what he wants and Starbuck can go piss himself. And hell,” he went on resentfully, “none of us should be serving under Starbuck. He’s a goddamn Northerner and I ain’t taking orders from any goddamn Northerner.”

Cartwright, a plumpish man with a petulant face and fair curly hair, nodded agreement. “You should have taken over from Maitland, Tom,” he told Dennison.

“I know that, you know that, Holborrow knows that,” Dennison agreed then clumsily extracted a cigar from his pocket and lit it at the nearest candle. “And Mister Starbuck will have to learn it,” he finished when the cigar was lit.

Peel, a thin young man who seemed the best of this unprepossessing bunch, wiped peach juice from his clean-shaven chin then shook his head. “Why did they send us Starbuck?” he asked no one in particular. “They must be wanting us to fight. Otherwise why send him to us?”

“Because he’s an unwanted son of a bitch,” Dennison snapped, “and they want to be rid of him.”

“He’s got a reputation,” Starbuck said, enjoying himself, “sir.”

Dennison’s dark eyes inspected Starbuck through the flickering light of the guttering candles. “It don’t take much of a reputation to impress a drunkard,” he said dismissively, “and I don’t recall anyone here inviting you to speak, Lieutenant.”

“Sorry, sir,” Starbuck said.

Dennison went on inspecting Starbuck and finally prodded his cigar toward him. “I will say one thing for you, Potter, you’ve got a pretty wife.”

“Reckon I have, sir,” Starbuck agreed.

“Pretty, pretty, pretty,” Dennison said. “Pretty enough to turn a head or two. Too pretty for a lunkhead like you, don’t you agree?”

“She’s sure pretty,” Starbuck said, “sir.”

“And you’re a drunk,” Dennison observed, “and drunks ain’t no good where it counts with a lady. Know what I mean, Potter? Drunks ain’t up to it, are they?” Dennison, half drunk himself, laughed at his own wit. Starbuck held the Captain’s eyes, but said nothing and Dennison mistook his silence for fear. “You know where your pretty wife is tonight, Potter?”

“With her cousin Alice, sir,” Starbuck said.

“Or maybe she’s dining with Colonel Holborrow?” Dennison suggested. “The Colonel sure had his hopes up. Put on his best uniform coat, shined his boots, and oiled his hair. I reckon he thought your Emily might appreciate a little entertainment. Maybe a cockfight?” The other captains laughed at this jest while Dennison sucked on his cigar. “And maybe,” he went on, “your Emily’s so desperate after being married to you that she’d even say yes to Holborrow. You reckon she’s playing the mattress to Holborrow’s quilt, Potter?” Starbuck said nothing and Dennison shook his head scornfully. “You’re a weak passel of shit, Potter, you truly are. God knows what that girl sees in you, but I guess she needs her pretty little eyes fixing.” He drew on his cigar again as he stared at Starbuck. “Reckon I just might call on the little lady myself. Would you object, Lieutenant Potter, if I paid my respects to your lady wife? My skin might just benefit from a lady’s healing touch.”

Peel looked embarrassed, but the other two captains smiled. Both were weak men and were enjoying this chance to see an apparently weaker man being mercilessly bullied. Starbuck leaned back in his chair, making it creak. “What do you reckon your chances are with her, sir?” he asked Dennison.

Dennison seemed surprised that the question had been asked, but he pretended to consider it anyway. “A good-looking girl like that? And a handsome fellow like me? Oh, pretty fair chances, I’d say, Lieutenant.”

“Out of five,” Starbuck insisted, “what do you reckon, sir? Two chances out of five? One chance? Three?”

Dennison frowned, not entirely sure whether the conversation was going entirely to his liking. “Pretty fair, I’d say,” he repeated.

Starbuck shook his head ruefully. “Hell, sir, I know Emily, and Emily never did take overmuch to poxed sons of bitches like yourself, sir, begging your pardon, sir, and I can’t reckon you’ve got more than one chance in five. Pretty good odds, though, seeing as how pretty she is, but how lucky are you? That’s the question, sir, ain’t it?” He smiled at Dennison who was not smiling back. None of the captains was smiling; instead they were watching Starbuck, who had drawn out his Adams revolver while he was talking and had used a fingernail to lever four of the five percussion caps off the gun’s cones. He tipped the caps onto an empty plate then looked up at Dennison through the candle flames. “How lucky are you, sir?” Starbuck asked and leveled the revolver’s blued barrel at Dennison’s scared eyes as he thumbed the hammer to half cock so that the cylinder was free to turn. He spun the cylinder and not one of the captains moved as the gun sounded a series of tiny clicks that only stopped when the cylinder came to rest. Starbuck eased the cock all the way back. “One chance in five, Captain, sir,” he said, “so let’s see how good those odds are.” He pulled the trigger and Dennison gave a tiny jump of alarm as the hammer fell onto an empty cone. “You didn’t make it that time,” Starbuck said, “sir.”