12th June: The noose for the long-eared

"Roper don't bite, not really. Well, not unless you do summat really stupid an' idiotic, or you don't listen when he says summat. I mean, when he says to do summat, do it an' don't go ignorin' what he says, that kind of thing." He shrugged and paused in walking to stretch.

"Aye, I'll help with that an' all - though you oughtn't need my help to talk to Roper. He'm all right - he's the one in charge of our mess, after all. Chosen Man, him." He tapped his right sleeve, where Roper had a red tape sewn around his sleeve, marking his status.

"Chosen man. Well.. how's he and the Palmers?" Friends, or were they as anybody else. Knew each other, slept together, but felt nothing more than that. "Yer sure that Roper don't bite?"

"They'm mates, same's me an' Roper an' Newb'ry." He nodded, grinning. "'Course I'm sure he don't bite. Not if you ain't done anythin' to deserve it." He wasn't about to remind Pye of the results of the Company court-martial that had been held on him before their capture, though he was pretty sure Roper had been friendly enough after it.

"Mates?" Pye seemed to grow a few inches shorter at that. Especially if one of the Palmers, or both, weere as good mates as Cotton and Newbury.

"....I think I'll be... I'll be stayin' outta his way. Safer that way. 'specially if he goods mates with t' Palmers!"

Something in Pye's tone of voice made Cotton stop and turn to look at him. "I don't... Oh. Look, he ain't goin' to not want to talk with you 'cause of the Palmers. Zeb's... Well, it's understandable he'm upset. I would've bin, if it had bin me an' Maggie, I already said that. I'd jus' keep out of his way for a bit, if you can. Though Roper hisself will be all right with you."

"Palmer'll make him see dark at me." Pye was convinced, studying Cotton. "See... he will. He'll tell 'im all them things.. an' Roper won't but have ter lissen ter that and act to it." He frowned.

"An'... I'd have taken t' women if I could... but yer know that. I dunno why he can't see sense in it... I know he loves 'er... and I can't real compare meself to understand as much...how he feels, but as I said, it wasn't a chance ter do it different."

He tilted his head and frowned, walking on. "An.. well Roper's .."

"No, he won't," Cotton said stoutly. "Roper'd rather get to know you himself than have his mind made up for him by someone else. 'Sides, you know a bit about him from after that Comp'ny court martial - he come over an' shook your hand after it, din't he, all fair an' square an' above board, from what I 'member of it all."

He turned, keeping pace with Pye. "He'm what, anyhow?"

"...He did, only..." Well Cotton was, yet again, right. He needed to have some faith in Roper, thinking of the example of him from the court-martial. One he had not looked upon too happily. It did not hurt physically all that much. But it was other things that had left him less at ease.

"...Ye'um right.. though it's still.. people. People are so easily influenced by other's opinion. A man can lead masses jus' by how he convinces them an they don't think he's wrong.. like t' Frogs. See." He shook his head. "But Roper seemed like an a'right man..las' time. An' he had no reason he needed be." He smiled faintly. "I'm jus' nervous. Like a cat goin' around t' hot kettle o' food. I know t' kettle won't bite but.. it's still a chance o' gettin' burnt."

He kept his own pace steady. "I nearly got burnt with t' stupid, daft way I thought I could have us all free.. T' thought was sound, but t' ex...exe... uh t' doing it and t' how was poor!"

Cotton could understand that. "I think... I think you need to think about what you'm doin' afore you do it. Not what you'm actually plannin', I mean, but how it might turn out an' what folks'll think of it afterwards. There ain't no need to be nervous of us, 'cause we ain't goin' to hurt anyone that don't deserve it. But you need to start thinkin' like a Rifleman, not like a redcoat what'll get jumped by his sergeant if'n things ain't jus' so."

He adjusted the hang of his sword-bayonet, thinking. "You had a talk with the Captain afore you joined us, didn't you? An' he asked questions that made you think. You don't have to be scared to think, not here. Jus', mebbe, ask someone afore doin' summat. Ask me, or Roper, or hell. Even ask the Captain if you need to, if it ain't summat silly an' little, or whatever. He don't want folks so twitchy aroun' him that they'm scared to even breathe. So long as you don't forget your place, he'm happy to chat, talk with folks."

"Aye. Thinkin' is not hard on it's own. Only, when I was used ter think... 'fore joining t' army, in a way as...only fer meself. Sometimes as we was told, but when I was on me own, it was on meself and wot' would bring me out on t' winnin' , better fed end. So now, startin' ter think, as Captain Vickery allows, is another manner altogether. I should have tole you about me plan only.. see I did not know that I had a chance. Thought I did not or that you would not agree on it and... Newbury was in a sorry state and he did not want to eat... so I was daft and all."

He smiled though and felt it was so much better now, even when they would return to Cotton's earlier position close to captain Vickery, and he would go about his own business, it would still be better. Because the man talked with him and no longer seemed to feel as if his presence was offending. "It's not always easy ter ask , or tell. Try as you might, it ain't. You don't tell everythin' ter miss Maggie, do ye?"

The question made Cotton pause. No, he didn't tell Maggie everything, there was one thing he'd never be able to tell her, but that was for her own happiness as much as anything. And it wasn't the sort of thing that anyone would have told Pye about, either. Roper and Newbury knew, but they were pretty much the only other people who did.

"She'm a woman," he said eventually. "Of course there are things I don't tell her. Though I do tell her most things, pretty much. An' what I don't say to her is so's not to worry her or anythin'." He shrugged. "It can be real hard to tell people some things, I know." Like when he had had to dictate that letter to the priest to write for him, because he couldn't write it himself, and nor could he really ask a mate or the Captain to do so for him.

"But there's nearly always someone you can talk to. If not me, then Roper, or a Sergeant, or the Captain. Depends on what it is, o' course, an' mebbe on who you'd feel comfortable havin' in the know, so to speak."

"Burke. If'n he stays with me as a partner,.. will it be a'right if I talk ter him and enough that he knows of things? Mind.. it will depend o' things. How big they'd be. And.... I still won't tell him everything, jus' as you don't tell Maggie everything.. Only a bit different, couse she'm your wife and he's my partner.. but.." It made sense, the comparison, especially in his mind it made sense!

"...Cotton. How do you know t' other partner wants ter stay with ye, or n' he's enough satisfied to remain, even if you're not as trained, as him?"

Cotton nodded. "Of course - you can't not talk with your partner, after all. You... it's trust, y'see. You need to be able to trust him, same's he needs to be able to trust you. An' you can't do that without talkin' with each other." He shrugged. "Reckon he'd say so to you. If he don't, there's likely to be an awful sort of... of feelin' that summat ain't right, that you can't talk with him, can't trust him to do the right thing." He shrugged. "If me an' Newb'ry had to split up for some reason, I reckon we'd both come right an' say so. If you think he might want to partner someone else, best you ask him right out."

And it was a bit like marriage, really, only it was easier to get out of a partnership than it was to get out of a marriage.

"Well, so far.. I did have a fine feelin' . I think." Pye looked very much a happy rifleman thinking back on his encounter with the new partner. On the first, and those after. He still could not wrap his head around the fact that he had a partner at all. But when he thought of it, he grinned like he was just presented with a grand dish of the finest meat, or rather a table of all assortments of food, just for him.

"An' I think I can trus' him not ter lie about it. Yer know. Sort o' got a feeling of t' sort. That he's genuine at wot' he does n' feels."

Cotton nodded. "That's the best sort of partner to have, one you can trust. Jus'... make sure he knows he can trust you, all right? Don't do anythin' that'll make him think twice about bein' able to trust you, 'cause that's the sort of thing that'll break your pairing up quicker'n you can say Jack Robinson."

"A'right." Pye paused. "So...don't do what then? Do wot' different than I already does?"

Cotton had to think for a moment. "Well, really, 'part from that damn fool thing you done puttin' on a Frog uniform, you ain't actually done anythin' real stupid. So, well, jus' keep on doin' what you been doin' with us, that's all. Jus'... be yourself, Pye, that's about what."

"Hmmm, if'n you think that's best."Though how much being himself would be a good thing, he did not know. He shrugged. If Cotton said he thought he should act so, it was as good as permitting him to go at things in his own ways.

"Cotton,.. do yer know. When do we face the enemy again? You did not hear anything of any exchanges of the women, did you? From Yesterday? We should be ready for active service real soon..I think."

Cotton shook his head. "I dunno. Don't reckon even the Captain knows. Thing is, to be ready to face the Frogs 'cause it could happen at any time. An' if you're ready, it won't be a surprise."

He let his rifle slip down from where it was slung on his shoulder and held it out for Pye to see. "If you allus look after your rifle when it ain't needed, it'll be ready to fire when it is needed, if you see what I mean. There ain't no point in only makin' sure it works when you think there'll be a battle - if there's summat wrong with it, the night before a major fight ain't the time to be findin' out."

"Oh.. ,Cotton. That I do. I keep me rifle as clean as I can, as frequent like. T' uniform I would try, but it's in tatters at t' moment,....and.. I am told it's the rifle wot' matters. Though I don't want to be all in rags of an embarrassment to the rifles!"

He shook his head. "It's a bit of an old habit ter want that... but even so,.. the rifle still comes first, couse you can't fire a coat, but yer can fire a rifle....an' she's me sweat'eart too." He looked embarrassed at saying that and dropped his gaze.

"Then you ain't got nothin' to worry about, have you?" Cotton said, and slung his own rifle on his shoulder again. "It is the rifle that's important. O' course, if we had nice new jackets an' all, we'd all like it, but it ain't goin' to happen, so we do the best we can."

Pye's jacket was a complete disgrace, though. "What was you doin', to get into that state, anyhow?" Cotton asked. He had his suspicions, of course, but he'd not really heard anything that would completely explain it, though the Captain had had to see the General about it, which was something completely out of the ordinary run of things.

Pye grew silent when the question was asked, and kept his gaze to the ground, walking on. He adjusted his sling a bit, careful of his fingers. He bit his lip. He averted his gaze towards the rifleman then dropped it again.

"..it got ripped." Well, not a lie. Not a complete truth, but certainly NOT a lie.

"No, really? I couldn't tell!" Cotton said, eyes open in surprise. He shook his head, smiling. "How'd it get ripped, that's what I want to know. An' no, I ain't plannin' on tellin' anyone, so you needn't worry about that."

"Well...." Mental note. Speak not until one knows what they mean to say. Worse than that, he did not know what to tell Cotton in the first place. And even worse? He felt that if he lied about it now, any minimal amount of trust he might have regained in the past hour would be lost, and he would have estranged himself from the man even more than when first seen in the blue uniform coat. He cursed inwardly, but made no sound or indication that he did more than thinking.

"....I.." He wanted dearly to speak half truth or to lie, but he did not want to loose Cotton's dust particle of trust, which meant a lot more to him than he could say with words. "...Promise, promise you won't go tellin' anyone I tole you .. even under the oath..?" Though why he was asking for that he did not know. He could not ask it of the man and yet he had to tell the truth. Dreadful pickle he was in, but a hole he had dug for himself, no matter the noble intentions. And it was with his own help that he needed to sort the problem out and regain some of their former relationship.

Cotton considered. "Um. Depends who's doin' the askin'. If the Captain asks, reckon I'll have to tell him... only, I'll not let on that I know there's anythin' to ask about, an' if he does find out, I'll only tell him off the record, so to speak. Unofficial, like." He shrugged. "Can't not tell the Captain if he asks, of course, like I say. But if he don't know there's anythin' to ask about, he won't be askin', will he?"

He gave Pye a direct look. "I won't go tellin' anyone else, though, I promise. An' only the Captain if he asks right out - an' I'll tell him unofficial so's he can't do anythin' about it."

And if Pye didn't want to tell him after all, well, that was understandable. Though it had to be something really bad if Pye didn't want anyone to know at all.