Thursday morning before the march

"I asked you a question, Sergeant. And while you are considering your answer, you may let go of Rifleman Pye."

At least Cotton seemed to have calmed down a little by now, though there was obviously something going on that Vickery was unaware of, and he wanted to find out about it. Right now, however, was not the best time to ask.

Williams kept his mouth shut, but could not hide the satisfaction he felt at seeing Hakeswill being pressured. Who the young scrub of a rifleman was, he didn't know, never seen him before, and he was not one of Cotton's friends that he knew. But if Hakeswill made him a target too - well, it would teach him not to push his nose into other people's business.

Hakeswill's hand dropped back down to his side, and he adopted an air of confused innosence.

"I don't know what you mean by that, sir. I've never met a Miss Evans - leastways not that I know of, sir."

"You might perhaps better know her as Maggie," Vickery continued. There was definitely something going on here, and from the way that both Cotton and Williams were standing when he had approached, he was sure it had something to do with Hakeswill, who seemed to have been trying to antagonise one or other of them.

Keeping as silent as a mouse and and a step back from where he just stood he wondered about the exchange. What seemed to be - and he wasn't one high thinker - the problem and the reason of all the anguish, was.. Miss Evans, who was missing by the looks of it. Hakeswill was playing innocent, which wasn't a surprise in the boy's mind. Not that there was more to think on it. He either was or was not guilty, but either would be hard to proove. But officers knew how to do that, because they were wise enough, Vickery was for certain!

He looked at Cotton, then Vickery, as if anticipating their next call. He smiled gratefully at the captain.

"No, sir," Hakeswill shook his head, his eyes all innosence. "I knew a Maggie in Portsmouth years ago, but I don't know one here, sir."

Vickery wasn't so sure of that, but he didn't feel there was anything else to be gained by carrying on an interview with the man. Whatever he had or had not done concerning Maggie Evans, he was not going to admit anything.

"Then you may return to your regiment, Sergeant." Hopefully, with Hakeswill gone, Cotton and Williams might tell him what was going on and what they suspected him of doing.

"Sir!"

Glad to be given the excuse, Hakeswill turned sharply and marched away before he could be caught again by Cotton or the Welshman. He would have to hurry to get back to the 33rd anyway, in good time before the ten minutes was up.

Vickery sighed. "Right, now that he's gone, would somebody like to tell me what was going on, please?"

Pye watched Obediah leave, then turned to his rifle which remained the same as earlier. His 'sword' no worse for wear either. The rifle's barrel was clean, on a closer inspection - unsurprisingly - and the length of it was nice enough. He lowered it and glanced briefly to where Hakeswill had disappeared nodding to himself.

"A friend of Maggie Evans gave me a note, and asked me to give it to Rifleman Cotton. Before we left Coimbra, that was, but I couldn't leave the battalion, so I came forward as soon as I could." Williams did not know what was going on. Only that Maggie - who had seemed as set on staying with Cotton as any woman could be set on a man - had decided to stay in Coimbra. And - sure as eggs were eggs - Hakeswill had something to do with it. But what, and whether Cotton knew any more he could not say, and would not have said, not to an officer, anyway.

"And he come up an' started sayin' things about Maggie that nobody didn't ought to say about anyone," Cotton said.

If that bastard had so much as laid a finger on her...!

He couldn't forget the fact he'd been flogged - set up for it, probably by Hakeswill, who knew that the surest way to hurt him was to hurt Maggie.

Right as it was, though he'd heard only a part of it. Sure hope miss Maggie was alright, nothing else to it! Wherever she was. He slung his rifle back over his shoulder, and propped an arm on it.

"I didn't know Miss Evans wasn't ..." Williams tailed off, and turned from Vickery to Cotton. "What he said - that was said to rile you, not because it was true. He'd swear a lie on oath, that man - I know that. But he knows about her. You haven't kept it a secret, boy, and he's looking for more ways to get at you."

"I know. An' I reckon he knows more about her than he's lettin' on, too. I know she never planned on stayin' behind, else she'd have told me. And she'd have taken her things with her, not left 'em she gone and done." he should have stayed, he knew he should. And Newbury had stayed instead and was risking an awful lot of trouble on their behalf. He was grateful for that, more grateful than he'd ever be able to put into words.

"He's done summat to her, I know he has, and she don't feel she can show her face here again." And there was only one thing Cotton could think of that could make his Maggie feel that way.

Pye felt like he'd better go. He hadn't had anything much to add to this. Didn't know Miss Maggie enough, or read that letter and if Cotton said the girl wouldn't leave just like that, he sure trusted that. Didn't mean he had a word that could back it up. Probably saying that the Sergeant was here with a purpose that was different than the excuse he'd used,..well didn't need to be said now, did it?

With the men talking, the younger ones best keep quiet too. He looked at Williams and Cotton. The more he thought about it, the more he hoped this Maggie was alright, but with Hakeswill, it was more some wishfull thinking, that.

"What can I do to help?" Williams asked quietly. "They won't be letting you go back to look for her... " He glanced round at the officer, and at the nosy youngster, and dropped his voice still further. "You don't want even to think of it, boy. You won't get the benefit of the doubt, not after last time."

"I know. You... you think I don't know that? Only, I dunno what we can do."

And why hadn't she come back and said something? His hand went to where her locket hung round his neck, tucked into his shirt. And Newbury had stayed. Maybe he'd found her. Maybe... maybe he could persuade her to come back.

'Maybe' wasn't a word Cotton liked right at the moment, he did know that much.

"Other than getting hold of that Hakeswill - and that doesn't work, or someone would have done it years ago..." Williams touched Cotton's arm: their time must be nearly up. "She wrote that - that Jenny must have got it from her. So - whatever her reasons are, she isn't being held against her will."

"She... she don't..." She didn't want him to worry. And she'd written to tell him, which was something. She hadn't said anything about catching them up or what to do with her things. Though maybe... maybe she couldn't think right what to do.

Maybe she'd come later, when she felt more like herself. It was the not knowing that Cotton hated, the uncertainty of it all.

And then Vickery broke in quietly. "Time's up and we have to get on the move again. Williams, will you be all right waiting here for the 27th?"

Williams looked up at the Captain, feeling uncertain. He did not want to leave Cotton in this state, but there was no time... "Yes, Sir. I got a ticket - I can wait here for them. I - I don't know what you can do, Sir, but that Sergeant is up to something. Always is, I reckon, and he means no good for Cotton here." Or Maggie, or me, he thought, but Maggie wasn't here, and he wasn't the concern of a Captain from the 5/60s.

"I have the feeling he doesn't mean much good for you either. Would you like me to have a quiet word with your Company commander on your behalf, in case he does try anything against you?" Though it would be a foolish man who tried anything against an Inniskilling, Vickery knew from experience that Hakeswill didn't use open methods to get someone, preferring to work secretly and do something that could not be traced back to him. He was a cunning one all right, as cunning and poisonous as a snake.

"Thank you, Sir. But I think Captain Padstowe had a word with him, back in Lisbon, after the earlier trouble. And the lads know to look out for him." Especially now, after the fight on the first night in Coimbra, he thought grimly. "Only it's hard to guard against the sort of thing he might try. He's ... full of tricks, and plans, and sometime, they work." Captain Padstowe, poor bastard, beaten up in Lisbon so they said, and Cotton flogged, and now this worry about Maggie. He'd come off lightly.

"Well, I can only advise to stay on your guard, hard as it may be. And I am sure he will be wary of the other Inniskillings." It would be a brave man indeed who would try anything against one of their own, Vickery knew that. You could not fault the Irish for their loyalty, after all.

He would have to have a word with Sharpe about Hakeswill, he thought. Who knew what else he might try, and forewarned was forearmed, after all. And this was the second time he'd done something against Cotton. he wondered what on earth the Rifleman had done to set the Sergeant against him so badly.

"I'm always on my guard, Sir." The Welshman wondered if the Captian thought that Hakeswill was the only danger to another wise carefree existence. There were sergeants in the Inniskillings who would match him for brutality, if not for cunning, or vindictiveness. "But I take it kindly, Sir. And - do what you can for him, Captain Sir, for we all need to be good samaritans and love our neighbour..."