Read Ebook: With the British Legion: A Story of the Carlist Wars by Henty G A George Alfred Paget Walter Illustrator

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CHAP.

ARTHUR MAKES HIS WAY THROUGH THE CARLIST LINES

"A SAIL WAS HOISTED AND THEY RAN OUT MERRILY"

"HE BEGAN TO DRAG HIMSELF ALONG"

"ARTHUR FLUNG HIM BACK ACROSS THE TABLE"

"QUEEN CHRISTINA HELD OUT HER HAND"

"AH!" HE SAID, "SO I HAVE LAID HANDS ON YOU AT LAST"

"LITTLE BY LITTLE ARTHUR'S ADVANCE ACCELERATED"

"A TALL MAN WITH A HARSH, ASCETIC FACE ENTERED"

"THE TWO WEAPONS FLASHED AT THE SAME MOMENT"

"Well, sir, I shall be glad to know what you intend to do next?"

There was no answer to the question, which, after a pause, was repeated in the same cold tone. "Don't know, uncle," came at last from the lips of the boy standing before him.

The speaker, Mr. Hallett, was a solicitor in Liverpool with a large practice, which so occupied him that he was too busy to attend to other matters. At bottom he was not an unkindly man, but he had but little time to give to home or family. He had regarded it as a nuisance when his elder brother died and left him sole trustee and guardian of his son, then a boy of ten years old. Arthur's father had been an invalid for some years before he died, and the boy had been allowed to run almost wild, and spent the greater part of his time in the open air. Under the tuition of the grooms he had learned to ride well, and was often away for hours on his pony; he had a daily swim in the river that ran through the estate, and was absolutely fearless. He had had narrow escapes of being killed, from falling from trees and walls, and had fought more than one battle with village boys of his own age.

His father, a weak invalid, scarcely attempted to control him in any way, although well aware that such training was eminently bad for him; but he knew that his own life was drawing to a close, and he could not bear the thought of sending him to school, as his brother had more than once advised him to do. He did, however, shortly before his death, take the latter's advice, and drew up a will which he hoped would benefit the boy, by rendering it impossible for him to come into the property until he was of an age to steady down.

"I foresee, Robert," the lawyer said, "that my post as guardian will be no sinecure, and, busy as I am, I feel that I shall not have much time to look after him personally; still, for your sake, I will do all that I can for him. It is, of course, impossible for me to keep him in my house. After the life he has led, it would be equally disagreeable to him and to my wife, so he must go to a boarding-school."

And so at his brother's death the solicitor made enquiries, and sent the boy to school at Chester, where he had heard that the discipline was good. Four months later Arthur turned up, having run away, and almost at the moment of his arrival there came a letter from the principal, saying that he declined to receive him back again.

"It is not that there is anything radically wrong about him, but his disobedience to all the rules of the school is beyond bearing. Flogging appears to have no effect upon him, and he is altogether incorrigible. He has high spirits and is perfectly truthful; he is bright and intelligent. I had intended to tell you at the end of the half-year that I should be glad if you would take him away, for although I do not hesitate to use the cane when necessary, I am not a believer in breaking a boy's spirit; and when I find that even severe discipline is ineffectual, I prefer to let other hands try what they can do. I consider that his faults are the result of bad training, or rather, so far as I can see, of no training at all until he came to me."

At his next school the boy stayed two years. The report was similar to that from Chester. The boy was not a bad boy, but he was always getting into mischief and leading others into it. Complaints were continually being made, by farmers and others, of the breaking down of hedges, the robbing of orchards, and other delinquencies, in all of which deeds he appeared to be the leader; and as punishment seemed to have no good effect the head-master requested Mr. Hallett to remove him.

The next experiment lasted eighteen months, and he was then expelled for leading a "barring-out" as a protest against an unpopular usher. He had then been sent to Shrewsbury, from which he had just returned.

"The lad," the head-master wrote, "has a good disposition. He is intelligent, quick at his books, excellent in all athletic exercises, honourable and manly; but he is a perpetual source of trouble. He is always in mischief; he is continually being met out of bounds; he is constantly in fights--most of them, I am bound to say, incurred on behalf of smaller boys. His last offence is that he got out of his room last night, broke the window of one of the masters, who had, he considered, treated him unfairly, and threw a large number of crackers into his room. He was detected climbing up to his own window again by the house master, who, having been awakened by the explosions, had hastily gone round to the boys' rooms. After this I felt that I could keep him no longer; discipline must be sustained. At the same time I am sorry at being compelled to say that he must leave. He is a favourite in the school, and has very many good qualities; and his faults are the faults of exuberant spirits and not of a bad disposition."

"Now, to return to my question," continued Mr. Hallett, "what do you mean to do? You are too old to send to another school, even if one would take you, which no decent institution would do now that you have been expelled from four schools in succession, winding up with Shrewsbury. I have spoken to you so often that I shall certainly not attempt so thankless a task again. As to your living at my house, it is out of the question. I am away the whole day; and your aunt tells me that at the end of your last holidays you were making your two cousins tomboys, and that although she liked you very much she really did not feel equal to having you about the house for six weeks at a time. You cannot complain that I have not been frank with you. I told you, when you came home from your first school, the provisions of your father's will, and how matters stood. I suppose you have thought, on your way from Shrewsbury, as to your future? You were well aware that I was not the sort of man to go back from what I said. I warned you solemnly, when you went to Shrewsbury, that it was the last chance I should give you, and that if you came back again to this place I should wash my hands of you, except that I should see the terms of the will strictly carried out.

"Of course, your father little dreamt of such a situation as has arisen, or he would have made some provision for it; and I shall therefore strain a point, and make you an allowance equal to the sum your schooling has cost. According to the wording of the will I am certainly not empowered to do so, but I do not think that even a judge in the Court of Chancery would raise any objection. I have ordered your boxes to be taken to the Falcon Hotel. You will find there a letter from me addressed to you, enclosing four five-pound notes. The same sum will be sent to you every two months to any address that you may send to me. You will, I hope, communicate with me each time you receive your remittance, acquainting me with what you are doing. I may tell you that I have determined on this course with some hopes that when you are your own master you will gain a sufficient sense of responsibility to steady you. At the end of two years, if you desire to go to the university you will receive the allowance there which would be suitable for you. I have thought this matter over very carefully and painfully, Arthur. I talked it over with your aunt last night. She is deeply grieved, but she agrees with me that it is as good a plan as can be devised for you. You cannot go to school again; we cannot have you at home on our hands for two years."

"Thank you!" the lad said; "I know I have been a frightful trouble to you, and I am not surprised that I have worn out your patience."

"I wish you to understand, Arthur, that the course has been made easier to your aunt and myself, because we are convinced that with all your boyish folly you can be trusted not to do anything to disgrace your father's name, and that these two years of what I may call probation will teach you to think for yourself; and at its termination you will be ready to go to the university to prepare yourself for the life of a country gentleman which lies before you. If you will let me advise you at all, I should say that as a beginning you might do worse than put a knapsack on your back and go for a walking tour of some months through England, Scotland, and Ireland, after which you might go on to the Continent for a bit. I don't like to influence your decision, but I know that you will never be content to stay quiet, and this would be a way of working off your superfluous energy. Now, lad, we will shake hands. I am convinced that your experience during the next two years will be of great value to you, and I ask you to believe that in what we have decided upon we have had your own good even more than our comfort at heart."

"I will think it over, uncle," the lad said, his face clearing up somewhat, "and will write to tell you and my aunt what I am going to do. I suppose you have no objection to my saying good-bye to my aunt and my cousins before I go?"

"No objection at all. You have done nothing dishonourable; you have let your spirits carry you away, and have shown a lamentable contempt for discipline. These are fault that will cure themselves in time. Come, by all means, to see your aunt before you go."

Arthur Hallett left his uncle's office in somewhat low spirits. He was conscious that his uncle's indignation was natural, and that he thoroughly deserved it. He had had a jolly time, and he was sorry that it was over; but he was ashamed of the trouble he had given his uncle and aunt, and quite expected that they would not again receive him. His only fear had been that his uncle would at once place him with some clergyman who made a speciality of coaching troublesome boys; and he had determined that after the liberty and pleasant life at Shrewsbury he could never put up with that. But upon the way by coach to Liverpool he had read a placard which had decided him. It ran as follows:--

"Smart young men required for the British Legion now being formed. A bounty of two pounds and free kit will be given to each applicant accepted. For all particulars apply at the Recruiting Office, 34 the Quay, Liverpool."

"That is just the thing for me," he said to himself. "Till I saw that, I had intended to enlist; but there is no chance of a war, and I expect I should get into all sorts of mischief in no time. This legion, I know, is going out to fight in Spain. I read all about it some time ago. There will be excitement there, and I dare say hard work, and possibly short rations. However, that will make no odds to me. It will be something quite new, I should think, and just the life to suit me. At any rate I will walk down to the quay and hear what they say about it."

Going to the hotel to which his luggage had been sent, he ordered a meal at once, and then, having eaten it, for he was hungry after his long journey, he strolled down to the wharf. He was shown into a room where the recruiting officer was sitting.

"I am thinking of enlisting, sir."

The officer looked at him sharply. "Have you thought what you are doing?" he said.

"Yes."

"You are not the style of recruit that comes to us. I suppose you have run away from school?"

"I have been sent away," Arthur said, "because I shoved some fireworks into one of the masters' rooms. It happened once or twice before, and my friends are tired of me. I have always been getting into rows, and they will be glad to be rid of me."

"You look more cut out for an officer than a private. How old are you?"

"I am past sixteen."

"It's young, but we are not particular as to age if a fellow is strong and active. The pay is rather better than the line here."

"It is not the pay, but the life that I want to see," the lad said. "My guardian has washed his hands of me for the present. I have neither father nor mother. I have never had a day's illness, and I fancy that I am as strong as the majority of your recruits will be. I shall come into some money when I am of age; and I don't know any way of passing the time till then that will suit me better than enlisting when there is some chance of fighting."

"There will be every chance of that," the officer said grimly. "We have got nearly our number on board a hulk anchored in the river, and shall sail in two days. I myself go out in command of the party. You give me your word of honour that you have neither father nor mother who would raise objections?"

"Yes, sir. I lost my mother when I was two years old, and my father when I was ten."

"Well, lad, I don't see any reason why I should not take you. We have a miscellaneous body: a few old soldiers, some broken-down tradesmen, a few clerks, a dozen or so runaway apprentices, a couple of dozen young agricultural labourers, and a few young men who have come to grief in some sort of way. They are a rough lot, but they will soon be licked into shape. Our colonel started three days ago from Leith, and we shall join the rest of the regiment somewhere on the Spanish coast. Even I do not know where it will be until I open my letter of instructions. I may tell you that if you behave well there is every chance that you will get a commission in a couple of years. However, I will not swear you in now. I will give you the night to think over it."

"Very well, sir; but I don't think that I am likely to change my mind."

Leaving the recruiting officer, Arthur spent the afternoon in strolling about the docks and watching the shipping, always a favourite amusement of his during the holidays. He had done a good deal of rowing at Shrewsbury when there was water enough in the river, and had learnt to sail in the holidays; and until he saw the advertisement for men for the British Legion he had hesitated whether to enlist or to ship before the mast. On his way back to the hotel he bought a pamphlet explaining the causes of the war in Spain, and, sitting down in a corner of the coffee-room, he read this attentively. It told him but little more than he already knew, for the war going on in Spain excited considerable attention and interest.

The little girl Isabella had been recently left fatherless, and was but a cipher. The affairs of state were in the capable hands of the regent, her mother Christina. Don Carlos had on his side the northern provinces of Spain, especially the Basques. These provinces always enjoyed peculiar privileges, and Don Carlos had secured their allegiance by swearing to uphold these rights. He had the support also of a large body of the clergy. The provinces of Aragon and Valencia were pretty equally divided, and fighting between the two factions was constantly going on. Madrid and the centre of Spain was for Isabella. The royal forces were superior in number to those of the Carlists, but the inequality was corrected by the fact that the Carlist generals were superior to those of the crown. The Basques were sturdy fighters and active men, capable of long marches, carrying no baggage with them, and effecting many surprises when they were believed to be a hundred miles away. In England and France the Carlists had many sympathizers, but the bulk of the people in both countries were in favour of the little queen; and although the British government took no open part in the struggle, they had permitted the legion, ten thousand strong, under Colonel de Lacy Evans, to be raised openly and without hindrance for the service of the Spanish sovereign.

Arthur Hallett went to bed and dreamed many improbable dreams, in which he greatly distinguished himself; and in the morning went down to the recruiting office and signed away his liberty for two years.

"Do you want any part of your bounty now?" the officer asked.

"No, sir; I suppose we shall get it before landing?"

"Certainly."

"Do we go in the clothes we stand in?"

"Yes; the uniforms and arms will be supplied to you on landing."

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