Checking the picquets, 11th June

True to his word, Vickery left his tent about half an hour later, pausing by the fire to collect Pye. He needed to talk with him privately, and didn't want it to be a formal sort of conversation, because that would put the young man on his guard and he wouldn't be able to get to the bottom of things so well. They'd already had that sort of conversation earlier anyway, and Vickery wanted to reassure Pye that his treatment of the rifleman wouldn't change despite everything that the lad had done, unless there was a reason that it needed to.

And checking the picquets would also give Pye a little more insight into how the Rifles worked and how Rifle officers differed from officers of the Line.

"All right, Pye. So, how are things between you and Cotton now?" he asked, once they were a safe distance from that Rifleman.

Pye studied Vickery for a few moments. He was excited to be called to accompany the officer on that round. He was also a little bit apprehensive, because he feared he'd have done something wrong or upset the captain in some way. The question caught him fairly off guard, so that he blinked once, twice, looked away again then mulling over what to say, finally spoke.

"...We're doing good. Sir. Perfectly good, I think." He smiled timidly. "He's a very fine man, knows lots and is willing to share. " He looked at the captain again. "Real good man, sir."

"So you've sorted out your differences since you got back from the French, then?" he asked. Maybe their conversation that morning had smoothed things out between them - or maybe it was simply too early to tell.

"Halt! Who comes there?" came a voice. Vickery held up a hand to stop Pye from moving forward - he did not want the Rifleman to get shot through simple carelessness.

"Rounds," he replied.

"Advance, rounds, and be recognised... sir," the voice said, sounding slightly amused.

Vickery stepped forwards. "I have Rifleman Pye with me, Roper," he added, to explain the lad's presence.

A shadow moved, detaching itself from the darker shadow of a tree. "All quiet, sir. Ain't seen so much as a fox. Evenin', Pye."

"Evening Roper." Pye smiled, glad for the sudden interruption. One could not know whether everything was smoothed out. He did not think it was perfect, but he could not tell that to the captain. If Cotton felt anything that was off, it was his right and it was not a black spot on his character. He glanced briefly at the captain then at the rifleman who had challenged them.

He did stand a bit straighter than he needed to. It was a subconscious reaction which was much less a rifleman's trait, than it had been one of his earlier training. He opened his mouth to inquire if there had been any French seen, but then closed it. He was there to observe and the captain was there to speak. He could not be cheeky!

"Move up, Pye," Vickery said quietly, indicating that Pye should come up to join them. "All right, Roper, what's your arc?"

Roper grinned at Pye through the darkness. "From the big boulder over to the left to the twisted olive tree - or whatever it is - to the right there, sir. The Frogs're on the other side of the stream to the front there - or well, that's where we'd see 'em first. Dunno how far off they are, sir. Got Zeb Palmer down here lookin' out too," he added, for Pye's benefit.

Pye moved to stand beside the officer, just a bit to the back of him actually. He glanced around as if imagining where the things were that the other Roper spoke of. He nodded a couple of times and glanced at Vickery. Did the captain expect him to say something, or see? Or was it alright if he was quiet and observant?

He shifted a little, feeling just a bit uncomfortable.

"If you have any questions, Pye, you may ask them," Vickery said quietly. "This is part of a Rifleman's duty, after all, so you will need to know about this one day."

Roper's attention was not on the officer and his companion, but on what was to their front, if anything, and he carried his rifle in the ready position, alert and prepared in case of anything unusual.

"I will watch sir, if I may." he did not know where to begin asking questions nor, what questions he was to ask. if he had known, it would have been much easier.

He smiled timidly. "I'll liss'en too sir." He added nodding. The fact that Vickery spoke as though he intended to keep him long as a rifleman, made Pye smile a bit wider. That was nice.

Vickery nodded. "Of course, but if you do find you want to ask something at any point, you may. Carry on, Roper."

"Sir."

The officer turned to lead Pye to the next sentry post. "How are getting on with the Rifles?" he asked, holding a branch aside for the younger man as he ducked under a tree.

"..Like a family, sir." Which seemed to give a better answer than saying well, or not so well. He'd never had said the latter, but a family had its ups and downs, or so he had seen. And even with all that, they still held together in the end. He thought the same. The riflemen were closest to having a family any way.

"An'.. i've got some of them that's really good friends too. Like Freddie... I mean, Rifleman Ro....what'is name is in his language." He smiled sheepishly. "He is teaching me German and I teach him English."

"Rottländer," Vickery supplied, aware that his accent and enunciation were different from the Rifleman's own. He smiled. "I am glad you two are friends. And how are you getting on with learning German, then?" He let the branch go once Pye had passed it, allowing it to spring back into its original position.

Pye ducked under the branch moved forward a bit, waited for Vickery to move again and then smiled. "Gut!" He hoped he had accented it well. "Sehr gut." He tried again, looking quite embarrassed at using German to answer.

"It's a funny language...but it's.. it's nice to understand someone when he speaks, even if it isn't in English!"

"I think that, when learning a language, there comes a point when it is easier to understand people speaking that language than it is to find the words when speaking it yourself," Vickery said musingly, finding his way through the trees towards the next picquet post.

He was rewarded with a, "Halt! Wer geht dort?" rather sooner than he had expected.

"Rounds, mit einen Kameraden," Vickery replied, moving forward to be seen.

Pye paused, grinned. He had understood what was said. "Wir... sind Kapit...Hauptmann "He was not sure whether that was the correct word. "Vickery und Pye." He tried to remember what the word for rifleman was. It was certainly nothing similar to the English word.

"Um... Jager?" He looked sheepishly at Vickery. He must have said something utterly silly now. But it was certainly not Kaninchen.. that was an animal.

"Ja, du bist ein Jaeger," Vickery replied, smiling at Pye through the darkness.

The German Corporal on sentry replied with a grin, which was evident in the tone of his words. "Du sprichst sehr gut Deutsch, Pye."

"You will be chattering away nineteen to the dozen in German before you know it, Pye," Vickery said, before asking the men on picquet whether they had seen anything, and reminding them to keep a good eye out.

"Danke!" Pye was positively glowing with pride. It was good that this was not an actual glow, because the enemy would have certainly known their whereabouts by now. For someone who was afraid of dogs, he did act like a pup who's just been told he was good. He eagerly nodded to Vickery, promising himself that he would learn even more, so that he would do as Vickery said and then he would no longer need to worry or second guess the Rifleman's talk.

He listened to what was said. it was harder to follow now, because he did not know as many words, but he was slowly learning that with more words he could make better guesses of what he heard and what it meant.

"Nein, mein Herr," the corporal replied. "Ach. There was a dog - that little white one - but it has gone now. No Frogs."

"What are your arcs of fire?" the officer continued, still speaking in German, translating the question very quietly for Pye's information.

"From the twisted tree on the left, there, to the stump on the right, there, mein Herr."

Vickery nodded and translated the answer for Pye, and added, "Now you've seen two picquets and their arcs of fire. Have you noticed anything about their arcs?"

"They are both marked up so everybody knows what they're covering.." Pye began shyly. "....an'..." He looked again, trying to remember where the markers were earlier. "Oh.." He began, hoping he would not make a fool of himself by suggesting that. "...This'un....it goes into the other one.. and the other one goes into this one... I mean,... They're both looking at a section .. not just one or the other.. Is it that?" He looked at the officer nervously.

Vickery nodded. "Yes. Correct on both points. Every man on a picquet point needs to know where he is looking and every section - arc, we call them - overlaps with the next one, so that all areas are covered. We started with Roper's point because he is on the left of the line that this Company is covering. If I were officer of the day, I would check every picquet point, including those of the Guards, but I am not, so I am just checking the picquets belonging to the Rifles."

He turned to The German corporal. "Danke, Unteroffizier," he said, and indicated that Pye should begin to move away.

"Bitte schon, mein Herr," the corporal replied.

"Do you have any questions now?" Vickery asked, as they moved away to the next post.

"...Sir,.. may I ask something?" Pye inquired as they began towards the next post. "You called the corporal under officer......I know the word for under is unter... atleast, I think that's what Freddie said.. and the other word sounds almost the same as an officer...but..if you meant a mean who's servin' under an officer, that makes all of us.. and if you meant just him.... what are we called in German then?.. unterunterofficers?" He smiled sheepishly.

Don't have any other question as o' yet...I've been on one o' em picquets..'fore. Never checked on'em though." He straightened a little. "...oh an' there's another thing I don't understand.. though mebbe.. i should jus'.. wait an' not tire an officer with it." He looked at Vickery hopefully however. "Why.. did he say.. ask nicely.. when you told him thank you."

"Unteroffizier is the German for what we would call a Corporal, in English. A Sergeant is Feldwebel. And the German for Rifleman is Jaeger, which actually means hunter." He smiled at Pye's curiosity, pleased with the way the lad was opening up and showing his willingness to learn.

Vickery frowned for a moment, confused, and then realised what had confused Pye. "Ah. Bitte can mean please, when asking for something or... or 'that's all right', as a reply to Danke. So, what Corporal Becker said was something like 'you're very welcome'."

Feltweby?" Zachary tried to imagine a web out of felt and it made no sense to call a sergeant that. His face cleared however at the explanation of the two uses and he smiled. "...Ah, I see. Well silly to say a word that's the same as please." He flushed red with embarrassment. "I'm sorry sir.. I did not mean to.." Then he looked on , tried to straighten a little and look serious.

"So.. after the picquet rounds are done... what does t' officer do?" He knew he would never need to know that. While Sharpe was known by others as having climbed from the gutter into the world of lace and good food, he had no belief that he would ever to climb anywhere higher than a tree... and certainly in rank remain a private soldier, a rifleman.

"Feld-we-bel," Vickery said, splitting the word down into single syllables, to make it easier for the lad to catch it. "I dare say a lot of languages have silly things like that, even English, if you think about it."

They had walked on a few paces before Pye asked his next question, a question that made Vickery arch an eyebrow. "Well, Pye, it depends on whether the picquets have seen anything unusual or not. If they haven't, it depends on what else the officer needs to do - write reports, maybe. If they have seen something, again, it depends what. I may call out the guard, or get the whole Company to stand-to, or it may just be something that needs further investigation before making a decision."

He looked at Pye through the darkness, and smiled. "I think it only fair that I ask you a question now. Have you ever considered learning to read and write?" he asked, wondering what Pye's reaction would be to that, and the implication of the question.

"Learning to write, sir?" In the past Pye had believed writing and reading were two things he would never need to know. Books had just too many scribbly lines to consider having time to seep through. Then came the time when they had discovered packets on the French and none of them could read what was said, and then also the ability to read was something of a rarity, and those who could, and who could write , were able to write for others.

He looked thoughtful and then he slowly nodded. "If I could sir,..an' was smart enough for it, I'd have liked to do that. Firs' I didn't think that I needed it sir, couse looking at books it seems like I'd spend ages at t' first page only!.. but then...you never know..I didn't think German was something I needed to learn and now I'm very happy about knowing and understandin' it.. couse it opened a whole new world for me... so I think readin' and writtin' will too.. and.. and if I need to remember something I might write it down.... right? that's what writtin' is good for too.." He looked sheepishly at Vickery, hoping he had not spoken too much.

He looked confused however at why Vickery would ask. Was it something of a past time that the man wanted to try, or have somebody else do so? A pet project? Or .. he did not believe it could be anything else , surely. He looked back at the captain curiously. Maybe just his gaze might convince the man to elaborate on his plan, if there was one, and if there was none, he would save them both the embarrassment!

"Oh, I think you are more than clever enough to learn to read and write," Vickery said. "One's ability does not reflect on one's intelligence, after all. I mean, it is possible to be clever and not know how to do something." He paused for a moment, thinking of the best way to put this. He would have offered to help Cotton to learn to read, had he not thought that it would make both of them feel awkward, and he had been pleased to hear that Maggie had begun to teach Cotton herself.

"Should you wish to learn, I would be pleased to teach you," he said, eventually, coming to the conclusion that now he had broached the subject, he had better get to the point.