Saturday evening, the Rifles are back

Did the captain even need to worry about that, not this captain no! Not in Pye's opinion atleast. Though he felt as flustered around the man, he would have been very glad and thought it only right that the captain got what he wanted. He nodded in reply, having either of the men speak first.

Very timidly then, in part as he didn't think he should have a voice about it, being such a fresh blood, and in part because it was Captain Vickery, he spoke: "Lots there, very .. very honoured, sir." He stumbled over his words and wondered if he was just so tired or still in shock by the carrots and vegetables being shared with the very officer!

Roper grinned. "See, sir. Even Pye says you're welcome to, sir. Lemme jus' put the kettle back on so's we can have some tea, though."

Vickery nodded and took his shako off before sitting down. "So how are you finding it all, then, Pye? And what do you prefer being called - Zachary? Or Zack? Or something else entirely?"

The boy looked up in surprise at being addressed, and glanced at Roper who was grinning too. The men liked the captain there, that was clear. It wasn't something that surprised him at all, since he was of the same mind and saw no reason to change it.

He smiled wishing his rifle had been already cleaned by then, and so his coat and trousers, the red on the collar still quite vibrant and strong, even if a bit dustier.

"Zachary,..Zack.. I.. it's all fine to me sir." He looked awkward but still smiling.

"Is great sir. We've been out there with Palmer n' Roper n' we've watched first and not even a rabbit could've gone past! Heard a branch fall, but didn't act, as it wasn't a Frenchman no. Just a branch n'.. we saw a..." He bit his lip worried he was blabbering right infront of an officer. It felt unnatural enough with what his training had been before. If he'd have dared to do this even infront of a Sergeant it would've been wrong in the 33rd.

" ...one. N' then fighting sir..They'um real marksmen." It was true. He'd been glad he was able to learn and though he was slower than them both, that he had still a struggle to do exactly as the riflemen did, he would try more and better. Just as them, who were the skilled professionals in that line of work.

"Thank you, sir." He was grateful for the chance he'd been given.

Vickery grinned. "You did well out there, then. You'll pick it up quick enough. The best way to learn something is by doing it, after all. And Roper here is a good teacher, I know that much." He indicated the lad's rifle. "Don't let me stop you cleaning that off, will you? I'm not here on duty, so there is no need to stand on ceremony. Roper and the others must have told you I like talking with my men, after all."

Roper nodded, smiling. "He did pretty well out there, for his first time in action with us, sir," he said, pausing in chopping up vegetables for the pot so he could wink at the lad in question.

Being told and seeing it were two things, as Pye was all too often learning. Nothing of the sort could've come out of the 33rd. And many of the men would not have liked it either, though it was obvious why. People such as Hakeswill or even the higher up, who were comittioned oficers.

His cheeks turned as red as his collar at Roper's words. He hurried to clean his rifle, nearly scolding himself on the hot water.

"They did." He nodded and began to scrub dirt of his weapon, taking greatest care about it, and trying to concetrate while torn between it and saying more.

"We've had them running, sir! But.. but you saw it o course." He looked down at the rifle again and added shyly. "The food here's a real treat!.." And that's not something an officer would probably thing, even if Pye felt so excited about it.

Vickery chuckled. "Aye, that's Jacklin's cooking, and a habit the Germans have, of carrying something with them to add to the pot. It's a good habit to have, I think. Depending on where you pick things up, of course."

"Yes. Jacklin's cookin' s' a real fine." He beamed, smiling at the man in question. He had deserved the praise. It was easy to make good food out of a vast selection of it but out of what they had and what they brought, well that was a skill. He prayed his tummy wouldn't make itself known again. It would be embarrassing and unappropriate infront of a captain.

He looked at his rifle and studied the area he'd already wiped clean. It needed another rub and it would be done. Heh, depending where it was picked, what exactly did captain Vickery mean by it?

" Sir.." he began wondering if he could ask something, but again being stricken by that feeling that the captain was still an officer and that this meant he could not, should not. He bit his lip and looked at his rifle again, proud that it was looking a might bit better than before. His coat would be wiped too, dusted and cleaned, and would have all thorns he'd missed removed too.

Before the rifleman could ask his question, there was a distraction as the women from the baggage arrived. Men rose to welcome their weary sweethearts and wives, embracing and exchanging news of the day, the women fussing over their men's minor cuts and bruises.

Jenny wandered in with them, looking for Newbury. He had already left the surgeon's wagon by the time she reached it, so she expected to find him here. They had things they needed to discuss, and she hoped she might also be given some supper.

Vickery raised his eyebrow as Pye started to ask something but broke off. He smiled as Jenny Ross came into the bivouac, although she looked a little distracted. Seeing her made him wonder how Maggie Evans was doing, and that reminded him that he hadn't seen Cotton yet this evening. He smiled at Pye. "I won't get annoyed with you for asking a question," he said. "I'd prefer you to ask rather than worry over something, and as far as I am concerned, there isn't anything that you can't ask about. So what do you want to know?"

He knew there were things one could never ask a Captain, out of respect, out of the knowledge that such questions just could not be asked and would show insolence if not stupidity if they were. Then there were questions that were at the border of what could or could not be asked and those that were just, with a proper Captain, accepted. He glanced up as he saw the many women, girls and even some children join with their men. Girls were embracing this and that man, some were holding the pickings of food that they've gathered while their men were fighting. Where those came from was questionable, even though many of the women must've bought it.

He caught one that looked like she was searching for someone and hadn't gone straight for a man, with the corner of his eye, and then turned around and back to the Captain as quick and apologetic as he felt.

"Sir,.."He then began mulling over his question and how to phrase it proper. He'd stlil not gotten fully used to being able to talk to an officer and not fearing the lash right after that. He only hoped his hesitance would not stir impatience with the man or the others that would possibly have wanted to add something into the conversation as well.

" We'um let t' go about camp today too, right? I mean if we're ter go to t' other regiments like, as long as we're 'ere." No, wasn't exactly how he'd wanted to ask it, but so much closer to the enemy he hadn't known if the Rifles would be on duty through the night or whether all the men would be to stay put with their own, only the women so freely going back and forth. He had heard already that the pass to the town was somewhat barred or would be soon.

He looked to his rifle again. Why he'd even ask, now that he thought of it. Maybe something else he wanted to know would be better said: "Are we goin' ahead 'tomorrow? Front lines ..um..well front first?"

Vickery was sitting with his feet flat on the ground, leaning forward slightly with his wrists resting on his knees. "You can visit who you like, when we're in camp. When we're on duty, or when you're on picquet, that is different, as I am sure you know. Try and make friends with the other Riflemen, though, won't you? After all, they are the ones you'll be fighting alongside now."

"I will , I am!" The boy looked a bit alarmed, perhaps thinking that the captain thought him to hold away from the riflemen. It wasn't the case at all. He'd been spending a good deal of time with Roper and Zeb Palmer even when he hadn't been to be on picquet duty with them. He had been with Newbury, and new a few other riflemen too, even got the water for the camp there, and then Cotton, whom he hoped was alright now. He hoped he wasn't as upset as he'd seen him, and wondered just where he'd been when they went to fight. But he might've been with another team of riflemen, what with a logical explanation on it.

" I do." He said and looked a bit flustered. "They'um great lot, sir...they are." He looked at Roper and at Jacklin, whose cooking he'd probably praise to the heavens. It was much better than what the 33rd could offer. Though even that regiment had its benefits as well as it's bad parts. It was only he found more good in the rifles. A lot more. "N' I know." Well there he was, he'd really said nothing while talking a lot. I will, I am, I do, I know.. really making a fool of himself.

"Sir, if.. if I may ask. Why do you choose to speak to the men.. bein' yer an officer, and even sit with us..is.. uh.."And he was at loss for words wondering what prompted him to be so bold as to ask that at all.

Vickery smiled. "Because I like talking to people, finding out about them and getting to know them. Did you know that before a Rifles officer is allowed to give any orders at all, he has to train with the men? To fall in with them to do drill, and learn how to fire a rifle and skirmish with them?"

Pye looked as though Vickery had just told him that he'd seen a proper Portuguese pig fly out of its barn and that it had a pair of fluffy wings on them too. "Really?" He asked, before he could save himself from embarrassment and had his gawking mouth closed.

"Train with the men?... side by side? n'... like them?" That made the officers of the rifles a different breed altogether.

Vickery nodded, smiling at the new Rifleman's reaction. "Yes. Side-by-side in the same squad, doing the same drills, just like the men."

Officers in redcoat regiments were supposed to learn the drill, but they generally did it apart from the men, under the watchful eye of the adjutant. He preferred the Rifles with their strange ideas, though, and wondered how the lad would react if they were back at the training depot and a man in an officer's jacket and sash fell in next to him.

" But.. why?" He could not phantom it exactly. He didn't ask it though, as if he meant it to be something wrong, an action ill decided on. It was more a curiosity of a lad who'd have asked why the sun was in the sky and why the grass was green. He looked at his rifle, and had some water used on it, careful with the weapon as if she were a lass that needed tending. It was the one he'd chosen though, and that along with the other things still made him smile.

"..n'.." He added quickly, thinking that if he had so far asked and made a silly one of himself, he could still do a bit more. "..sir, " He began politely, respectfully, for it was really nothing else he could've felt for the captain. "Why do ye.. want t' know us..men n' boys?"

"Because that's how the Rifles do things," Vickery replied lightly. "And I want to get to know you because you're in my Company, and have to take my orders. And it helps if we can trust each other. It's all part of that loyalty I told you about when you transferred. And don't you think that it's much nicer to have an officer who's interested in you than one who couldn't care less?"

"It is." He kept his eyes a bit lower than those of the captain. A form of respect, submission and expression of his rank in comparison to that of the captain. He was less than the captain, a mere soldier though a rifleman, and that he knew well enough.

"It's.. a lot to get used to sir, but.. I am grateful n' glad.." Not that it would have mattered if he weren't. He didn't mind that it wouldn't have mattered, it was a fact of life. "is something new, but a good sort of new.. I think." He smiled shyly.

He leaned forward to poke an errant stick back into the fire. "I'm sure there's a lot to get used to. It is bound to be very different to life in the 33rd, but I am glad that you think it will be good. And there are probably going to be a thousand and one questions that you will want to ask. If you have any more right now, I don't mind answering any questions you might want to ask me."

"It is. Very different. N'.. it's t'.. choice that matters sort of, sir. You've given us one. Men are easier t' complain when it's not their choice." He spoke awkwardly. "But if they've picked it.. then it's like complainin' why ye went to get the water n' got wet."

But here there was nothing to complain for. Not yet, unless one went all soft and said it was an awful thing that they had to crawl through bush and thorn, somewhere unpleasantly high and dangerous, and that it was just a terrible thing not to wear a smart red uniform. But them, who'd complain about something like that would be just silly anyhow.

"Is ..them all riflemen 'ere by their choosin' ter be riflemen?"

"Yes, I believe so. We have a number of men who joined us from other regiments, several from the militia and others who joined us instead of joining a Line regiment." He chuckled. "Men still complain. It wouldn't be the Army if they didn't, but I think that they really only do it because it's got to be a habit."

"Can't kick a habit no." The youth agreed with a grin. "Do you have a habit, sir?" He asked and was quick to look at his rifle again, busying himself with the butt of it, where dirt was still clinging to the material.

"..which, do you think, are quicker learners, sir?" He added.

There was something he hadn't really considered. "I think... I think the men who come from the Light Company of a Line regiment pick things up the quickest. After all, they know how to load and fire a musket, and how to fight in skirmish order, so it is really only a case of learning how to aim a rifle, and what all our bugle calls and whistle signals mean, as well as the various different firing positions we use.

He chuckled, answering the first question second. "I've got habits, certainly. I smoke, though I try to keep from smoking too often. And I like a good brandy after a meal, which I can't always have."

The lad grinned, seeing that the captain was made of flesh and blood, but the kind of better quality and breeding. He nodded sharply and thought that the first that he said was good news, and the second was an interesting sort of thing to hear. Having seen the captain chuckle put his mind at ease, much more.

"Do them.. competitions, are they frequent 'mongst t' men? Ye see, like t' one that yer had at the presentation. That was between them.. us and the 95th?"

Vickery nodded. "They may not be as frequent when we are this close to the French, but yes, competitions and things like that are a regular occurrence when we have the time and space to hold them. That was the first time that we've held one against another regiment, and I hope it won't be the last." He smiled. "If you learn the required skills quickly enough, you may even give a good showing the next time. Who knows, you may even give Cotton a run for his money."