Bernard Cornwell - Sharpe’s Siege - The Winter Campaign, 1814

‘The captain feels,’ Ford had carefully placed himself in a position that made it impossible for Sharpe to walk towards Bampfylde, ‘that we can safely look after the matter ourselves.’ He smiled, as though he had brought splendid news.

Sharpe stared at the young, nervous lieutenant. ‘The matter?’

‘The capture of the Teste de Buch,’ Ford still smiled as if he could infect Sharpe with his good tidings.

Sharpe stared at Ford. ‘You’re standing in my path, Lieutenant.’

‘Oh! My apologies, sir!’ Ford stepped aside.

Bampfylde was greeting the Comte de Maquerre with evident familiarity, but, seeing Sharpe approach, he gestured for the Frenchman to wait, then stepped briskly towards the Rifleman, ‘’Morning Sharpe! Quite a clever one, what?’

‘Clever, sir?’

‘The weather! God smiles on sailormen.’ A gust of wind picked up particles of sand and rattled them against Sharpe’s tall boots.

‘Lieutenant Ford, sir, tells me you do not require my services.’

‘Not at the Teste de Buch, certainly. One of our brigs quizzed a fisherman yesterday, Sharpe. Seems the Frogs have abandoned the fort! How about that, eh? There’s a few fencibles left there, but I can’t see you need to bother yourself with that sort of scum! I think the prudent thing, Major, is for you to march inland.’

‘Inland, sir?’

‘Weren’t you planning to ambush the high road? But I want you back here, with your report, by the forenoon on Thursday. Is that clear?’

Sharpe looked past the plump, confident Bampfylde to see the Marines being paraded on the sand. They were in light order, having left their packs and greatcoats on the Vengeance . They also seemed to be in fine fettle and the sight angered Sharpe. ‘Your men made a miraculous recovery, Captain?’

‘Did they not, Major?’ Bampfylde, in the heartiest of moods, smiled. ‘A ruse de guerre , Major. You understand?’

Sharpe contained his fury. ‘A ruse, sir?’

‘We didn’t want enemy agents in St Jean de Luz to suspect our plans. They’ll have reported sick Marines and a tiny force of soldiery; scarce sufficient to round up a herd of sheep, let alone march on Bordeaux, eh?’ Bampfylde saw Sharpe’s disbelief and smiled at it. ‘I’ve got more Marines afloat, Sharpe, if they’re needed.’

‘To capture Bordeaux?’ Sharpe’s voice was mocking.

‘If Maquereau says it can be done, then we shall. He’s riding direct to Bordeaux, Sharpe. A brave fellow, what? Your advice will be invaluable, of course, but Maquereau will be the judge of failure or success.’ Bampfylde, on the brink of his triumph, was trying hard to be affable.

‘Maquereau, sir?’

‘Ah, the Comte de Maquerre. You mustn’t use his nickname, Sharpe, it’s not polite.’ Bampfylde laughed. ‘But you’re on the verge of great events, Major. You’ll be grateful for this opportunity.’

Sharpe’s gratitude was lost in anger. Bampfylde had lied consistently. He had wanted Sharpe and the Riflemen for his dreams of glory, and now, on a cold French beach, Sharpe was exposed to the madness against which Elphinstone had warned him. ‘I thought, sir, that the decision about Bordeaux was my responsibility.’

‘And we’ve spared you that decision, Major. You can’t deny that de Maquerre will be a more cogent witness?’ Bampfylde paused, sensing Sharpe’s anger. ‘Naturally I shall take your advice, Major.’ Bampfylde opened the lid of his watch as if to demonstrate that Sharpe was delaying his advance. ‘Be back by Thursday, Major! That’s when Maquereau should bring us the good news from Bordeaux. Remember now! Speed and surprise, Major! Speed and surprise!’

Bampfylde turned away, but Sharpe called him back. ‘Sir! You believe the fisherman?’

Bampfylde bridled. ‘Is it your business, Sharpe?’

‘You’ll send picquets ahead, sir?’

Bampfylde snapped his watch-lid shut. ‘If I wish for lessons in the operations of military forces, Major, then I shall seek them from my superiors, not my inferiors. My boats will fetch your men now, Major Sharpe, and I will bid you good day.’

Bampfylde walked away. He did not need Sharpe to capture the fort, so he would not dilute his victory by having Sharpe’s name mentioned in the despatch he would send to the Admiralty. That despatch was already taking shape in Bampfylde’s head, a despatch that would be printed in the Naval Gazette and tell, with a modesty that would be as impressive as it was transparent, of a fortress carried, of a bay cleared, and of a victory gained. But that small victory would be but a whisper compared to the trumpeted glory when Bordeaux fell. Thus Bampfylde walked through the cloying, crunching sand and his head was filled with dreams of triumph and the sweeter dreams of victory’s rewards that were fame and wealth beyond measure.

Cornelius Killick spat coffee grounds into the fire that had been lit beneath the pine trees. The wind was chill, but at least it was not raining, though Killick suspected the lull in the foul weather would not last.

Some of his men slept, some clenched muskets, others played cribbage or dice. They were nervous, but they took comfort from their captain’s blithe confidence.

Killick’s confidence was a pretence. He was as nervous as any of his men, and regretting his impulsive offer to defend the fort’s landward approaches. It was not that the American was afraid of a fight, but it was one thing to fight at sea, where he knew the meaning of every catspaw on the water and where he could use his skill at the Thuella ’s helm to run confusion about his enemies, and quite another to contemplate a fight on dry land. It was, as his Irish lieutenant would say, a horse of a different colour, and Cornelius Killick was not sure he liked the colour.

He hated the fact that the land was such a clogging, cloying platform for a fight. A ship moved guns much faster than wheels, and there was nowhere to hide at sea. There, in the clean wind, a fight was open and undisguised, while here any bush could hide an enemy. Killick was keenly aware that he had never trained as a soldier, nor even experienced a battle on land, yet he had made the offer to Commandant Lassan, and so, in this chill wind, he was preparing to offer battle if the British Marines came.

Yet if Cornelius Killick had doubts to plague his confidence, he also had compensating encouragements. With him were the six twelve-pounder guns that had been swung out of the Thuella ’s hold and mounted on their carriages. Their solidity gave Killick an odd comfort. The guns, so beautifully designed and yet so functional in their appearance, offered an implicit promise of victory. The enemy would come with muskets and be faced with these weapons that Napoleon called his ‘beautiful daughters’. They were Gribeauval twelve-pounders, brute killers of the battlefield, massive.

To serve those guns Killick had sixty men; all of them trained in the use of cannon. The American knew well what fate the British might give to a captured privateer’s crew, so Killick had not ordered his men to give battle, but had instead invited their help. Such was their faith in him, and such their liking for him, that only two dozen men had declined this chance. Thus Killick would be served this day by volunteers, fighters all. How could impressed troops, led by arrogant, dandified officers, Killick asked himself, defeat such men as these?

A wind stirred the pines and drifted the fire’s smoke towards the village. No one was visible on the far ramparts of the fort, nor did any flag show.