Third Day on the March

Waldegrave saluted, and mounted up. He was not going to argue with Captain Vickery in front of two camp-followers and a Private - no, that term wasn't special enough: a Rifleman!. But what had just happened was what the officers of the 62nd had been warning against since the Rifle companies joined them - a far more lenient attitude, which would infect the men of the 62nd eventually.

Vickery watched the Lieutenant ride away.

"Don't expect that to be the end of it," he said warningly. Colonel Edrington was not going to be pleased to hear about this.

"Cotton, fall in."

The Rifleman saluted and returned to his place in the ranks.

"You two women, if one of my men ends up flogged because of a stupid squabble, I will not be happy. Maggie, I know you were trying to protect him, but next time tell the truth instead of lying to cover someone's back. Annie, will you think before opening your mouth and downright accusing them of theft? You should know what that means in this army. Now, get back to your places and hope that's the last we hear of it."

Flogged! Both of the women nodded and looked ashamed, but Maggie had the greater reason. Annie was quick to escape back to the baggage, but Maggie hovered tentatively. "I'm so sorry, sir," she said quietly. "Oh, but please don't punish Gabriel! I'm the one who told him not to leave it there in case the thief came back. I heard the man last night - he called out to me by name and scared me! Some man, some other man stole that watch and then hid it in your bag, sir!" She looked up at him entreatingly. "And I'm sorry I lied to the lieutenant. It was a stupid thing to do. But he asked me where I got it, and I couldn't go telling him that some rifleman took it out of his captain's bag and gave it to me, now could I? So I just told him I'd found it, which was close to the truth since I was there when Gabe found it."

"I know you meant it for the best, Maggie, but lying doesn't always work." He paused, looking down at her. "You heard someone last night? If it does go further than this, that would be evidence, though it might now be discredited somewhat. Let's hope that we do not hear any more of it. Run along now, and you can apologise Cotton later on."

She nodded, looking anguished, and hurried away before the tears in her eyes could have a chance to overflow, though at least they would be disguised in the rain. "The truth doesn't always work either," she thought to herself despondently, wiping her cheek with her hand.

Vickery shook his head and remounted Brandy. What a bloody mess! And he had no real reason to believe it would be the last they heard of it, not after Colonel Edrington had said in the strongest terms that he didn't want there to be one rule for the redcoats and another for the greenjackets.

He gave the order to march in a toneless voice, and rode on, feeling depressed.

Edrington had been riding towards the front of the column when Lieutenant Waldegrave found him. The man might be an arrogant fool, and at first, Edrington had been inclined to think that Vickery could be allowed to handle it, whatever the rights and wrongs. Probably Waldegrave had got the story wrong anyway. But the belated mention of the name on the stolen watch meant that this was potentially more than just theft. "Padstowe?" he had asked. Which meant that quite possibly the watch had been the proceeds of the robbery which had left Padstowe so badly injured. And if one of the 60th had been involved in that, it was a capital offence, and the man would have to be sent back to Lisbon for trial.

Edrington rode up to the 60th, which had been stationary as the slower redcoats caught up, and which was moving off. Vickery had mounted and Edrington rode up towards him.

"Captain Vickery. Are you aware of that Captain Padstowe was violently assualted and robbed, the night before we left Lisbon?"

"My Lord?" Vickery turned and saluted as Edrington rode up. And then the vague dread he felt crystalised into a leaden lump in his stomach.

"I heard the rumours that someone had been assaulted, yes, sir. I didn't hear any names, though. Is he all right?"

And if he'd been assaulted and his watch was found where only Cotton could have put it, things looked very black for him.

"It was Captain Padstowe, and - Dr Maturin, who was here yesterday - he was most concerned about the injuries inflicted. The Captain was still unconscious when the doctor left Lisbon. So - no, he is not all right."

He looked across at Vickery. "The theft charge alone is serious enough - the possibility that your man was responsible for what sounds like the attempted killing of an officer means that I cannot agree to your handling this within your Company. It is far too serious for that."

"I cannot believe Rifleman Cotton would do such a thing. You are quite right, of course, but I will fight tooth and nail on his behalf. I will not see him hang." He sighed. "It strikes me as ironic that Captain Padstowe himself should warn me earlier that same evening that a Sergeant Hakeswill of the 33rd had taken against Cotton for some reason, and would probably attempt to set him up for a flogging, or worse."

"I have far too little information about the attack on Captain Padstowe to comtemplate trying him for that. But you can see that the fact that the watch was stolen - was probably taken - during a particularly brutal attack alters the situation. In any case the charge of theft ought to be examined properly, even if you believe that your man is innocent. I would expect such a case to be brought to court martial at regimental level, not dealt with by a warning. Theft is not something we can tolerate." He glanced at Vickery. "Do you seriously believe that the evidence against Cotton was manufactured by another soldier? It seems that Cotton and his woman acted on their own, and admit taking the watch from your baggage."

"But what was it doing in my baggage in the first place, sir? I certainly never put it there, and it seems to me that Cotton and Maggie Evans did what they did, as reckless and inadvisable as it may have been, because they did not put it there either, had no idea how it came to be there and did not wish to be accused of the very thing they now stand apparently guilty of, namely, theft of an officer's pocket watch."

He took a breath trying to calm down a little. "Yes, my lord, I certainly believe the evidence, such as it is, to be fabricated."

Edrington shook his head. "I am talking about the theft of the watch from your baggage, and that is what I will expect to see Cotton charged with. Not the assault on Padstowe, because, far-fetched though the idea of a segeant fabricating evidence against a Rifleman is, I have not seen any evidence, fabricated or not. On the other hand, I do not think that an officer's servant should take it a valuable item from his officer's baggage just because he did not know how it came to be there. He might, of course, do so while checking with the officer, although it seems extreme. But to hand it to his woman - that is not just inadvisable, it is incredible. "

Rather more coolly he said: "I will hear the charge against Cotton - of theft from your baggage. Tonight. You may defend him." He grinned. "Probably Lieutenant Waldegrave will be happy to offer the evidence against him."

"Yes, my lord," the Rifles Captain replied, wondering just how he was going to defend Cotton against what seemed to him to be nothing but circumstantial evidence. And by Cotton's own admission, he hadn't planned on removing it at all. To be flogged for something he hadn't wanted to do would be the height of injustice... but since when did it matter that a common soldier got justice?

"I would hope that Lieutenant Waldegrave has more solid evidence against him than circumstances and hearsay, if he is pressing to have my man flogged, sir," he said. "And I would hope that this would prove to both yourself and your regiment that the Rifles do not abide by a separate set of rules."

"I hope so too," Edrington replied. "The rules are the same for everyone. Waldegrave may not be able to establish his case to my satisfaction - but I shall use the same standards as I have for the 62nd."

He paused and then said: "Waldegrave suggested that the woman be tried as Cotton's accomplice, and whipped. I leave it to you to decide on whether to do so. It will rather depend on what Cotton's defence is, I suppose."

"If the sentence were a thousand lashes, I daresay he'd prefer to take that in its entirety than see her suffer ten lashes. I shall certainly tell him Waldegrave's opinion, my lord, as you may inform him of mine: I shall not see a woman put under the lash for a lapse of judgement."

He kept to himself the thought that Edrington seemed to think it cut-and-dried and appeared to have made up his mind before it had even come to trial. At least a regimental court martial could order nothing higher than a thousand lashes, if he were inclined to go that far.

Edrington raised an eyebrow. "A thousand lashes would possibly be excessive. And affecting though the idea of Cotton heroicallyaccepting this to spare the woman, it is a strange fact that a large number of men do blame the women. It is a long-established tradition, after all. If Cotton does that, then the woman must be there. If not - then I would prefer not to whip women. For a first offence." He let Bryony sidle for a moment, before saying with an encouraging smile. "Do not dwell on the plot to frame Cotton. It may not exist, and makes you look foolish. And it will remind people of the origin of the watch. Concetrate on the two confused young people, who panicked"

"Well, there's a good defence," Vickery said. He couldn't see any way around the fact that Cotton was going to be flogged. He had, after all, removed the article in question from an officer's baggage, but how could that be considered theft if the officer in question didn't know it was there in the first place, and the soldier accused had wanted to tell him it was there? And hadn't been able to do so before being accused of theft?

And in only a few short hours, Cotton would go on trial for it. What a mess.

Edrington acknowledged Vickery and rode back to the column. The question of how Padstowe's watch had come to be with the Second Division was going to trouble him, and he resolved that, once he had heard all that Vickery and his man had to say about it, he would write to - to whom? Captain Padstowe was possibly dead, and his superior officers, Sir Arthur and Major Hogan, were here. They would have to be told. But he decided he would write to Dr Maturin. He could at least inform Padstowe that his watch had been recovered, if he was still alive.

He sent a soldier back along the column with a note for Waldegrave, advising him of his role, and telling him to report to the battalion's headquarters when they had set up camp.