13th June: Locusts and honey

Freddie had his rifle ready even before he had consciously realized what had just happened; when his mind caught up with his hands, he exhaled deeply. For an instant he had been close to shooting the Frenchman.

Easing the lock back to half-cock, he looked at Pye. Now they would have to face whatever was coming. With a small smile he made a polite little bow, then turned to Cotton.

Now what to say? Perhaps stating the obvious would buy them a bit of time.

"He tried to kill us."

The look Cotton gave Rottländer was one of frank confusion. "Who? What? The Captain?!"

Freddie looked equally confused for a moment, then his face cleared and he stabbed the muzzle of his rifle towards the sous-lieutenant.

"No! The Frog!"

"Oh." Well, it hadn't sounded quite right, even as Cotton had asked the question. "That still don't 'splain why you an' Pye was out here in the first place - he ain't s'posed to leave camp. Captain's orders, that."

His gaze never wavered from the Bad Human, at whom he was growling. Even his dislike of the Angry Human paled in importance to keeping this two-legger in one place. This sort of human were never anything but mean. He had tried being friendly with them - many times, in fact - but always they chased him away with loud words. Sometimes they fired at him with their long sticks, even.

"C'm 'ere, Dog," Cotton said, his gaze never moving from the French officer. He slipped his hand from his rifle stock and patted his thigh beckoningly. The animal probably hadn't been taught how to heel, of course, but calling him was still worth trying.

He moved his hand back to the rifle stock, carefully easing the flint back to full-cock. There was no sense in taking chances.

Pye glared at the dog, but he was obviously frightened of the thing more than anything. There was worse to be had. While he had hoped they would be back before they were discovered missing, this would not be so.. as was clear now. He wondered what Cotton thought first seeing them, and guessed it was nothing good.

That he had been under supervision of the other lad, didn't make it any better,...as they were both where they ought not to have been. "...Cotton, we've.....we've ..brought him."

The Frenchman eyed the dog warily. It was bad news. It obviously didn't like him, and it could follow one's scent. But it was good that it had appeared now before he might have made a mistake.

Now for the other rifleman. He had said that Nosey and Cheeky had both been missed and that their officer was angry. That boded well for his plane. The ready stance the other had taken spoke of experience, and that in turn didn't. He seemed well acquainted with Nosey, too, so perhaps he also knew how to fight dirty. Which meant: In future, avoid if possible.

Not wishing to draw any attention to himself and disturb this interesting conversation, the officer continued to stand there, hands still half-raised.

He did not trust this Bad Human, nor the Angry Human. But the Earthy Human was calling him back. It was confusing! What if one of these two did something quickly, intending to do harm? It didn't matter if either might try to run, for there was no human alive who could outrun a dog.

Very slowly and at first only a single step, the dog backed toward the Earthy Human, who had, he saw after he'd finally drawn even, his short stick levelled on the Bad Human. That was something, perhaps.

"What ... what do we now, Herr Cotton? Do we go to our camp?"

Freddie asked the question with a curious mixture of eagerness and dread. He was afraid to go back, but to stand out here, knowing that the Captain would find them soon, and just waiting, that was even worse.

"Good boy," he told the dog, still not taking his eyes off the Frenchman. "The Captain's comin', he'll only be jus' a minute," he informed Rottländer. He was still not that comfortable with being addressed as 'Herr' but decided it was probably best to let it stand for now.

"Ah, an' here he is, too," he added, hearing the horses coming up behind him.

Pye looked up and wished he had gone and turned invisible. Having two officers, a party of riflemen all approach them for what appeared to be a little hunt for two lost boys.. it was not boding well for either of them.

He lowered his gaze. Somehow, having an officer prisoner just did not sound as useful as it had, at the time. And having helped the Hussars and redcoats.. not excusable.

Whatever was going on, there seemed to be more to it than was apparent from a quick glance. Cotton had his rifle up, covering a French officer who had his hands raised, the Rifles' adopted dog was by his side, growling softly at the Frenchman... and Pye and Rottländer were there too, looking not altogether innocent.

He dismounted. "Would someone care to tell me what is going on?" he asked, quietly. His tone made it clear that he expected a reply.

"We... we caught a frog,..er.. Frenchman, sir." Stating the obvious was better than not stating anything at all. Now from there he could not go in the direction of - we just wanted to check traps - as this would not work with the present officer. There was still some time to think up a good excuse for them being out so far.. that did not involved betraying their sweet treasure.

"And just what were you doing outside our camping ground?" Vickery asked.

Pye. It would be Pye, of course. He was going to have to keep him on a very short rein for a while, apparently.

From here.

His little detachment and their Engineer companion had, by now, caught up to Vickery and his men. There was a French officer with an unreadable expression on his face and both hands partially raised. He was obviously a prisoner. There were also two guilty-faced Riflemen standing near the Frenchman. Vickery was talking with one.

With a few quiet words, Blackwood dispersed most of his men to join the handful of Vickery's lads as close picquets. He took care to have Sergeant Northcut and a steady private remain behind, to assist in taking charge of the prisoner.

Once this was done he stood silently to the side, seeing no reason to interrupt.

"Sir..." He should have known better. "....we did some of.. advancin' in pairs practice." Not a lie. Even if that advancing was towards the buzzing enemy of the bees. And now? He did not know what else to say, but he worried that if they said something wrong, Vickery would only be more upset.

"There's been fighting ahead." He suddenly spoke. While this would not solve the problem, it could possibly postpone it.

"We helped... Two Hussars , our side, against a number of the French keen on getting their horses. We fired at them. Then the 33rd came, and the French fled. Rotland'r had done a real fine a job, there. Exemp.. Ex....real fine." Damn that word he could not say.

He shut up again, looking nervously from Vickery to the newly arrived officer and back. Then he just dropped his gaze, straightened stiff, and stood remarkably like he would have in his old regiment, blank expression and all that included.

Whatever else had been going on here lost importance next to the mention of the 33rd. Mayden shifted his grip on his rifle.

"What're you doin', helpin' the 33rd?" He growled.

"They're me former Regiment!" Pye snapped defensively. His shako had shifted dangerously, but the lad did not notice. "And they're on our side!" He added after a few moments, thinking that Mayden's growl was completely unfair. Sure there were the likes of Hakeswill in the 33rd, but there was also the good folk there too!

This boy was a fool, Mayden thought scathingly.

"You'd say that," he snarled.

"But we helped the hussars first! And then the 33 came. When ... if they had not dome that, the hussar would be dead!", Freddie protested.

Although he did not know the cause, he felt Mayden's sniding remark to his friend deserved some reply, and he thought that Mayden had the facts wrong as well. Trying to give some sort of coherent report himself, he elaborated:

"We heared shots and go looking, Herr Hauptmann. The Frogs kill our soldiers. He say..s it were deserters." He indicated the sous-lieutenant, who still stood silently nearby. "We try to help, and Hussar has auch heard and comed. He shoots at Frogs, and another hussar appears. I have not seen what passierte next, but when I look again one hussar is fallen down and Frogs charge. Then 33 come and some Frogs run, but one tries to kill the hussar. But then the hussar kills him with his sabre and we go and that officer has layed and waited for us and he tries to kill us, and we beat him on the head and ..."

Running out both of breath and story, Freddie sucked in a deep breath, then finished in a rush: "And then we come back, Herr Hauptmann!"

Edward sat his horse quietly, keeping in the background. It did not appear as if Rottländer had seen him yet, and he didn't want to add to the young man's nervousness. He tried to analyze his own feelings now that they had found the two lads, but gave up: They were to confussed to distangle quickly, and most of his mind was quickly occupied by trying to disentangle the reports those choirboys were giving.

Vickery felt inexplicably as though he had just been flattened by a runaway horse and cart after hearing Rottländer's explanation.

"It is commendable that you went to help," he said, looking from one miscreant to the other. "What is not commendable is that you were outside the limits of our camp without anybody else's knowledge in the first place - and that goes doubly for you, Pye. What was my last order to you, the other day?"

Pye looked at a loss. But atleast for the moment he chose, quite wisely, not to continue the argument with Mayden.

"....that.. I stay near t' ...army..?" He said timidly, lowering hi gaze. His shako tipped some more. The dead weight that it carried inside was moments from letting itself known. Pye was too distraught to realise how great the danger actually was.

"That you be easily found," Vickery said. "It seems that you prefer to have to be accompanied everywhere, or to report to me every time you wish to go somewhere."

Something about Pye's shako caught his eye. "You seem to be having trouble with your cap," he added. "Let me see it."