13th June: Mapping out surroundings

There was a polite scratch at the tent flap, made by a pinch-faced corporal in a Guards jacket. He looked at the three officers without appearing to see them. "Note from the colonel, sir," he said.

Vickery reached to take it, before glancing at the name on the outside of the folded sheet. "Ah. It's for you, Captain," he said, holding it out for Torrington to take. "Thank you, Corporal," he added.

Edward took the note with a graceful word of thanks from Captain Vickery; then he nodded to the Corporal.

"Thank you, Corporal Miller."

The repetition of the name was more for his own sake. It wouldn't do if he couldn't remember the name of the man who would hopefully become one of his assistants. Turning back to the two other captains, he politely asked, "May I ...?", and held the note up inquiringly.

Vickery nodded. "Certainly you may."

"Sir." The corporal did not move until there was a nod and a dismissal from his own captain.

"By all means," Blackwood said, once Miller had gone.

Edward quickly unfolded the note and read the short message, than handed it to Captain Blackwood. To Captain Vickery he said:

"Colonel Trevor has agreed to spare some men from Captain Blackwood's company for this project as well, so unless the weather turns bad, we might begin training all men this afternoon."

He considered for a moment what schedule would answer best; should he have one group of each company, hoping that some friendly rivalry might make the soldiers more interested in the task, or would this only lead to frictions? Asking such questions was always awkward, and it went against the grain to have to ask other officers to help with what should be his own field of expertise, but he still did not know enough about the relations between the different companies to decide on the best course, and having the training proceed as smoothly and as effectively as possible was mandatory for handling the task in the short time alloted. Therefore he asked as lightly as he could, dividing the question impartially between both Captains:

"Would the men enjoy working with a party from the other company respectively, or might it be better to have two parties from the same company at a time?"

"I see no reason why you could not teach a party from each company at the same time. My men would certainly relish the opportunity, although I will have to defer to Captain Blackwood as to whether he will concur with me," Vickery replied. It was his considered opinion that if his men and the Light Company had to work together, the sooner they began to do so, the better.

Edward nodded in acceptance of Captain Vickery's opinion, but withheld any comment until Captain Blackwood could give his opinion as well.

It was, Blackwood felt, just as well Colonel Trevor had agreed to the proposal.

"I should rather the men learned the same skills together," he said. "Our two companies having more or less the same purpose, it hardly makes sense to keep them separate."

"Then I would be glad to see the first party of each company at two a clock, I think."

Edward's face was animated now, no longer the cool and polished facade he usually wore. He loved this part: Beginning a new project, making plans and seeing them come into action, especially if this worked out as well as in this case.

"Should we then perhaps have our cup of tea now? It would be my honour to toast with you to the success of this endeavour, even though I unfortunately have somehow neglected to bring champagne in my baggage."

Two o'clock. That would be easily arranged. Mostly. By rights, Blackwood should delegate to one of his subalterns. Of the two, he judged Wickham to be more willing to work. Woodmarsh, on the other hand...

"I will send the first detail at that time," he said. "Corporal Miller will be answerable for the men who are part of it."

"Very good. Thank you, Captain Blackwood."

Edward made a mental note of Blackwood's statement about Corporal Miller's responsibility. That would probably include that he ought to leave the disposition of the several roles that needed to be filled to the Corporal as well. That suited him well enough. Looking at the two other officers, he added another mental note though: Not to rely too much on the Corporal and make himself acquainted with the men nonetheless. He had no doubt that the Corporal would do an excellent job, but that made the danger of slipping into the easy, safe way of leaving everything to him only greater.

"I'm sure this will answer very well."

Vickery nodded. "Two o'clock will suit very well. You wish to have them in groups of three, I believe you said? I will send a detail of Riflemen with Cotton, if that will suit. If you would prefer to have an NCO rather than Cotton, that can be arranged with no difficulty."

"No, thank you, Captain. If it can be fitted in with Cotton's other duties, I would be very glad to have him. "

That was true, and not solely because Cotton was a familiar face. He had already proven that he would set Edward unobtrusively right should he transgress riflemen customs, and that he had a steady head and some standing among the other men.

"Might I ask whether he can write? It would be of great help if two or three of the men of the complete group would be able to do so."

He knew that the NCOs were encouraged to learn and he assumed that Miller could read and write adequately to take down the measurements, but he was not sure about Cotton.

"I am afraid he does not, although he is learning. He has a quick mind and does not forget anything he is told. I believe that is because he can't write something down to remember it." He was pleased that Cotton had proved his worth to Torrington.

He considered for a moment. "I was going to give you Cotton, Pye and Burke. I can let you have Roper as well if you require someone literate. Actually, unless it will be a problem for you to have four Riflemen, I think I shall do that anyway. He is a Chosen Man, what some regiments call a Lance Corporal, and I have my eye on him for promotion."

"It won't be a problem at all. I asked for three men each because that would mean two to hold lines and staff and one to stand guard and lent a hand as need be, but if Roper could act as my assistant to take down the actual measurements, that would be a very welcome addition. Might I also ask whether you could include Rottlander in that batch as well? He is more ... at ease when Cotton is around, and he needs to learn how to properly care for the instruments."

Edward had taken out his notebook and was now jotting the names down, adding Vickery's comments on the men's abilities. He also made a note to remind himself of Roper's possible promotion. If the man did the job well, it would be his pleasure to give a favourable report to Captain Vickery.

"Of course Rottlander can be included." It was probably a good thing that Roper was going to be part of the group if it was to include both Pye and Rottlander. Of course, they would be under the eye of an officer, and Vickery would be very surprised if they managed to get up to anything much while under supervision. "Is there anything else that I can help you with?"

Edward raised an amused eyebrow. In a tone that was quizzical in a very friendly way, almost teasing, he asked:

"You don't happen to have by any chance some additional measuring equipment as well? Perhaps one of your men has brought something from home? In Germany they make excellent circumferentors ... but I would take a French one as well."

Vickery chuckled. "No, I am sorry. I can draw somewhat but I will leave all the technical aspects of it to those more skilled in their respect, such as yourself." He sketched a small bow in Torrington's direction. "Perhaps my father may be able to supply your deficiency, however? I know he collected several useful instruments from his visits to Hanover when he was younger."

Edward answered the compliment and the bow with one of his own.

"For the sake of this army I hope that it can supply some additional instruments before we have to trouble a peer of the realm. But I should dearly love to see his collection sometimes. Have you yourself been in Hannover as well?"

"I am sure that my father would be very pleased to receive you at Fallbrooke and to show you his collection," Vickery replied, with a smile. He gave a nod. "I had a very abbreviated Grand Tour in the Year Two, after leaving school and before taking up my first commission. I remember the Herrenhausen Gardens as being a highlight, although I daresay they cannot compare with the wonders of the Classical world, or the splendours of Versaillles."

Edward shrugged.

"I'm in no position to judge. I've been to Italy and Greece, but have never seen Germany so far, and of course the recent events have made it inadvisable to visit France at all."

Slowly replacing the notebook in his coat pocket, he remarked:

"It appears that there are some rather marvellous sights from the Classical period here as well. Should we advance again, it is not totally unlikely that we will have opportunity to view the aqueduct of Plasencia, which is described as a very impressive structure."

"I have been given to understand that not a bridge has been built here in the Peninsula since the days of the Romans, although I cannot credit it," Vickery remarked. "Very fine engineers, the Romans. I wonder how many of our own structures will still be standing in eighteen hundred years' time?"

"You shouldn't give an Engineer such thoughts."

Edward smiled wryly.

"It's rather ... tempting to think that something we build might still be in existence then."

He shrugged rather self-consciously.

"As for the bridges ... it really looks that way, does it? But I know for a fact that there's a gothic bridge in Ponte de Lima, and some other medieval ones in the rest of northern Portugal. So we might still hope that when we go on, we will discover that this part has not been completely forgotten after the Romans left either."

"Oh, I would hate to encourage any delusions of grandeur, sir," Vickery said, with a smile. "Although it would certainly be a grand memorial to have a bridge stand for that long. I do fear, however, that while the bridge - or whatever structure you build - may last that long, the memory of its architect would not."