Soldier of Fortune

'No, Henry.'

'Then she led you into danger.'

'Not deliberately,' said Daniel. 'Abigail was as much at risk as me so you could claim that I led her into danger.'

'You're as bad as each other. Good riddance to her, I say!'

'I'll take a rather fonder farewell than that.'

'Are you going to see her now?' Daniel nodded. 'Then I ought to come with you to stand guard. I know what fond farewells can do. I must have lost over a dozen men who went to wave off their sweethearts then never came back again.'

'There's no chance of my deserting, Henry. All that I intend to do is to wish her well on the journey. What harm is there in that?'

'Miss Piper is a woman and women are made of harm.'

'You malign the sex unjustly,' said Daniel, laughing at his friend's curt misogyny. 'But you won't be able to grumble about Abigail for much longer. This time tomorrow, she'll be miles from here.' He set off. 'I'll see you later, Henry.'

'Make sure you come without her,' Welbeck called after him.

Daniel had long ago divined the source of Welbeck's hatred of women. The sergeant came from a family that consisted of a tyrannical mother and three older sisters, all of whom made his life a misery. Outnumbered and too small to fight back, he had endured the persecution until he was old enough to run off to the army. Behind his loathing of the opposite sex was a lurking fear of them. While he would readily confront any foe in battle, Welbeck was quietly terrified of being left alone with a woman. In that respect, he and Daniel were worlds apart. His friend might flee from intimacy and hide behind his alleged contempt for women but Daniel always welcomed closeness.

After striding through the camp, he reached Abigail's tent and called out her name. It was Emily Greene who emerged to give him a token curtsey.

'Good afternoon, Captain Rawson,' she said.

'Hello, Emily. I was hoping to see your mistress.'

'She went off to your tent over an hour ago, sir.'

'Did she?' said Daniel in surprise. 'Then she must have lost her way. I was there most of the afternoon and saw no sign of her.'

'A soldier brought a message from you.'

'What message?'

'It was an invitation to join you,' said Emily, starting to worry. 'I helped Miss Abigail to get ready then the man took her off. He was a private from your regiment, Captain Rawson.'

'Well, I certainly never sent him.'

'Then who could he be?'

'That's exactly what I'm asking myself,' said Daniel, controlling his disquiet. 'It would have taken her no more than five minutes to reach my tent from here yet you say she's been gone for over an hour.'

'Yes, sir.'

'Did this man give a name?'

'No, Captain Rawson. He just passed on his message.'

'I'd never have sent a verbal invitation. I'd have done Miss Piper the courtesy of writing a short note to her. Let's go back to the start, Emily,' he advised. 'Describe this man as accurately as you can then tell me precisely what he said.'

Emily gulped. 'Do you think Miss Abigail is in trouble, sir?'

'I think we need to find her as quickly as possible,' said Daniel seriously. 'Now — what did this man look like?'

She could not believe it. Abigail Piper was surrounded by thousands of soldiers yet not one of them came to her aid. After being imprisoned in the tent for a while, she was forced to walk out on the arm of her captor. Before she did so, she let her handkerchief drop behind the box in the hope that it would be found and act as a clue to her disappearance. She prayed that the man beside her would make a mistake and arouse the suspicions of the sentries. It did not happen. Charles Catto had enough confidence to chat freely with the pickets as he and Abigail went past them. She could not understand why they did not recognise the distress she was in. Abigail was exuding fear and panic yet nobody seemed to notice. All that the men observed were her youthful beauty and her shapely figure.

Once outside the perimeter, they took a leisurely stroll in the direction of some trees. Abigail was on tenterhooks. The farther away they went from the safety of the camp, the more rattled she became. The fact that she had no idea who her companion was and what designs he might have upon her, made it even worse. The man had given nothing away. He had interrogated her about her friendship with Daniel Rawson and was very pleased when she told him that she had left England solely in order to follow the captain. Encouraged by the man, she had found herself talking more candidly about her feelings than she had done to Daniel himself, admitting how those feelings had changed somewhat in the wake of the battle.

As long as she was in the camp, there had always been an outside chance that she would be missed then sought out. It was a thought that had sustained her throughout her incarceration in the tent with an armed man. In the event, nobody seemed aware that she had gone astray and she was now taken out of reach of any possible rescue. Approaching the copse, she suddenly stopped.

'Let me go,' she pleaded. 'Im no use to you.'

'On the contrary,' said Catto, 'you are of great use.'

'If it's money you want, I have some that I can give you.'

'I need a lot more than money from you, Miss Piper.'

'Where are we going?'

'Keep walking.'

'We're not supposed to be outside the boundary of the camp.'

'Keep walking,' he ordered, tightening his grip on her arm so that he could pull her forward. 'You've behaved yourself this far, Miss Piper. If you become obstructive, I shall get very angry.'

'I just want to know what's happening!' she exclaimed.

'We are going for a pleasant walk, that's all.'

'Where are you taking me?'

'Stop asking questions.'

'I want to know what's going on.'

'Come now, Miss Piper,' he said. 'You're an intelligent young lady. You must have worked it out by now. You're being kidnapped.'

Edward Marston

Soldier of Fortune

The search was systematic and wide-ranging. Organised by Daniel Rawson, teams of men scoured the camp in the fading light and looked into every tent and wagon. To his credit, Sergeant Henry Welbeck suppressed any comments he might have wished to make about the troublesome nature of women and joined in the hunt with enthusiasm. Having investigated every inch of the route between the tent where Abigail Piper had been staying and Daniel's quarters, they broadened the search. When it failed to find any trace of the missing person, Daniel was baffled.

'Somebody must have seen her, Henry,' he said to Welbeck. 'She was the sort of young lady to turn heads.'

'More than heads, from what I gather,' murmured Welbeck.

'She simply has to be here.'

'Well, we can find neither hide nor hair of her, Dan. My guess is that she may no longer be in the camp.'

'Where else can she be?'

'I've been thinking about that description you gave me of the man who may have abducted her. The beard deceived me at the start until I realised that he might have grown it since we last saw him.'

'Who?'

'That skulking deserter,' said Welbeck. 'Private Will Curtis.'

Daniel started. 'Would he be bold enough to sneak back into the camp?' he asked, disturbed by the notion.

'He was bold enough to try to behead you, Dan, and — if my guess is right — he was daring enough to fire that shot at you. Curtis is as bold as brass. It was the first thing I noticed about the bugger.'

They were still speculating on what might have happened to Abigail when a corporal brought a man over to them who wore the uniform of the Dutch army.

'This is Private Berchem,' said the corporal. 'He's a blacksmith, sir. His English is poor but he thinks he can help us.'

'Can you?' asked Daniel, speaking to him in Dutch.