‘Did they find anything?’
‘Yes, they did. I didn’t get a proper look at what it was because they were all clustered together but I think it must have come from under the seat.’
‘It was my sword!’
‘If it was, the army has it now, Gustave. I daresay it’s been handed over to a senior officer. You may have lost it for ever.’
When they put their minds to it, Burgundy and Vendome could work effectively together. Their meeting that afternoon bordered on friendliness. They dealt with correspondence together, reviewed the latest intelligence and — should battle arise — discussed the deployment of their men. It was only when Vendome was about to leave that the commander-in-chief introduced a note of discord.
‘I’m pleased to see that you’ve come to your senses at last,’ he observed. ‘It’s very gratifying.’
Vendome tensed. ‘I’m not sure that I follow.’
‘Your mind is now centred on the task in hand, my lord Duke. It’s no longer befuddled by your obsession with a captain in the British army.’
‘It was not an obsession.’
‘Let’s not be pedantic. We’ll call it an undue interest, shall we?’
‘You can call it what you like, my lord,’ said Vendome, sharply. ‘I see it as a legitimate subject of concern.’
‘Then let’s leave it at that,’ said Burgundy with a patronising smirk. ‘Suffice it to say that you’ve learnt your lesson.’
‘And what lesson was that, may I ask?’
‘That it’s wrong to give priority to a single individual when we have a whole army to fight.’
‘Yet that’s exactly what you do,’ rejoined Vendome. ‘I’ve just spent a couple of hours listening to you repeating Marlborough’s name over and over again. You, too, it seems, have your gaze fixed on a single individual.’
‘Marlborough is their captain general.’
‘Captain Rawson is a valued member of his personal staff and is entrusted with missions that nobody else could accomplish. That alone makes him a person of exceptional interest.’
‘The fellow made you look like a fool.’
‘I see no fool when I peer into a mirror, my lord.’
‘Why do you keep arguing over my choice of words?’ said Burgundy, irritably. ‘Let me rephrase what I’m trying to say. You set a trap for Captain Rawson and he cleverly eluded it. I would have thought you’d be glad to forget about him altogether.’
‘I can’t do that,’ said Vendome.
‘Why go on scratching the itch of your complete failure?’
‘The failure was by no means complete. It was tempered with success. Even you were impressed at the way I contrived to get one of our ablest spies — Sophie Prunier — inside the British camp.’
‘That was a pleasing stratagem, I admit.’
‘Then you’ll also admit that the capture of Captain Rawson is a pleasing stratagem when I bring him before you.’
Burgundy sniffed. ‘It will never happen.’
‘Would you care to place a wager on that?’
‘I wouldn’t demean myself by doing so. Mademoiselle Prunier, I am sure, is a lady of immense ability but even she is not going to walk into our camp with the captain over her shoulder.’
‘I fancy that he’ll walk into the camp on his own, my lord.’
‘That’s a preposterous notion!’ said Burgundy, laughing.
‘It’s not too late to accept that wager.’
‘I don’t have the slightest interest in Captain Rawson.’
‘Well, you should do — your grandfather certainly will.’
Burgundy flicked a hand. ‘Be off with you!’
‘Very well, my lord,’ said Vendome, frothing at being dismissed in such a peremptory manner. ‘But I may be back before long and I’ll be ready to accept your apology.’
Turning on his heel, he swept angrily out of the tent.
When he joined his father at their wagon, Alphonse found the old man in a reflective mood. Nudged out of his reverie, he told his son about the conversation with Gustave Carraud.
‘I met him earlier,’ said Alphonse, ‘and told him what happened to his wagon. He was keen to speak to Josette.’
‘What did you make of him?’
‘He seemed very upset that his wagon had gone.’
‘That’s the funny thing,’ said the old man, stroking his chin. ‘It wasn’t the wagon that he was worried about. He didn’t even mind that his horse had been stolen. How can he stay in business with no animal to pull the wagon? It doesn’t make sense. All that he was after was his sword.’
‘I didn’t know he had a sword,’ said Alphonse.
‘Gustave told me it was hidden under the seat. I knew he didn’t find it there because I saw soldiers searching the wagon this morning. I think they took the sword away.’
‘What does he want with it?’
‘He claimed that it belonged to his father.’
‘Did you believe him?’
‘No,’ said the old man, ‘and I don’t believe that he’s a sutler. None of us would dare to leave our wagon unguarded for a few days. That’s what Gustave did. Where did he sneak off to in the night?’
‘I wondered about that.’
‘I’ve been thinking, Alphonse.’
‘Well?’
‘There may be money in this for us,’ said his father. ‘There’s something else I remembered about him, you see. Gustave wanted to be shown around the camp.’
‘That’s right — I took him. We went everywhere.’
‘Put all those things together, Alphonse. He arrives here out of nowhere. He beats you and Victor in a fight. He gives us wine to buy our friendship. You walk around the camp with him. The next minute, he’s nowhere to be seen. And when he comes back, the only thing that he’s really after is a sword.’ The old man narrowed the lids on his remaining eye. ‘Do you see what I mean?’
Alphonse needed time to absorb all that he’d been told and to weigh its significance. His brain was slow but it eventually reached the same conclusion as his father.
‘We need to speak to someone,’ he decided.
‘Leave that to me,’ said the old man. ‘I know how to haggle. We have useful information. That costs money.’
Daniel was agitated. The chances of getting his sword back seemed remote. If it was in the hands of the army, it meant that they’d had a specific reason for searching the wagon. They must have known who its putative owner was. That being the case, it was almost certain that a link had been established between the arrival of a sutler by the name of Gustave Carraud and the disappearance of two women from custody. Daniel was in a quandary. Common sense told him to get out of the camp as soon as possible but nostalgia urged him to continue the search for his sword. It was a question of head versus heart. As he sat beside the stream, a fierce battle was raging within him.
Another factor had to be considered. Henry Welbeck was hiding in the woods not far away, waiting to ride back to Terbanck with his friend. He would already be fretting. Daniel had assured him that he would soon return with his sword, possibly even with his wagon. That plan had been shattered. He was now cut adrift in the enemy camp with no means of warning Welbeck that his mission might take a great deal longer than anticipated. Daniel scolded himself for being too confident. Having made false assumptions, he was now suffering the consequences.
Should he go or should he stay? Daniel agonised over the decision until it was suddenly taken out of his hands. As he gazed at the stream, he noticed human figures dancing on the water and turned round quickly to discover that he was facing a dozen bayonets.
‘Where the hell are you, Dan Rawson?’ said Welbeck to himself. ‘I want to get out of this bleeding place.’
Though he had the cover of the woods, he could never feel safe being so close to the French camp. His one source of comfort was the ample supply of food and drink they’d brought with them. Crouched beside the horses in the clearing, he munched some bread and cheese. He’d reloaded the pistol that Daniel had given him and carried a dagger as well but the weapons didn’t reassure him. The wood was full of wild animals. Welbeck never actually saw any of them but the horses were aware of any potential danger. Every so often, they’d neigh, become restive and pull at their reins. When he heard a noise in the undergrowth yet again, Welbeck jumped to his feet and drew the pistol in readiness, hoping that he wouldn’t have to fire a shot in case it was heard by any French soldiers on the road nearby. The sound of something scuttling rapidly away allowed him to relax a little and put the weapon back in its holster.