Reginald Mortimer, or Truth more strange than Fiction. A soldier's life

Preface

. It was in the last charge of the British troops on that eventful day on the heights of Alma, that Captain Mortimer, of the , whilst gallantly leading on his company, received his death wound, and was carried from the field to his tent within the lines ; a few hours after which he breathed his last. Ere that sad moment came, he dictated a few lines which are now before me, and which, though months have past, still draw the tear from mine eye. Honour to the memory of the dead prevents me from laying this letter in its entirety before my readers. We had served together through flood and field, in many a clime, brothers in heart as well as brothers in arms. His life was one of much variety ; fortune had dealt hardly with him ; in many of his adventures I had been his companion, nor was any event of his life hidden from me r his last wish was that I should still be the repository of his experiences, by bequeathing to me all his private papers, books, and personal property, and, in the words of his own letter, he thus entrusts them to my keeping : — " There are several of these things, my dearest friend, which to " many would appear worthless, to you I know they will be in " valuable — far more so than those articles of intrinsic value I also " would beg your acceptance of; both will remind you of bygone " days, and though the dreams of youth, in which we so often " indulged, to me were never realized, nor the long cherished " hope that we might spend the last few years of decline of life in " some quiet retreat together, still these things may remind the B

PREFACE.

. II " survivor of the past. You will find also that wonderful manu " script in which is recounted many of those scenes we so oft "joined in, and if in your writing mania you wish to publish " them, gratify the inclination." This letter reached me when quartered in Tasmania. Imme diately on my return to England in '56, I found the cases be queathed to me by my poor friend at my agent's house in London. It was a painful but an interesting moment to inspect the treasures (as my poor friend rightly judged) invaluable to me. Trinkets, pictures, books, &c, &c, were hastily glanced over and laid aside in anxious search for the manuscript. Whether my readers will feel the same interest in perusing these pages now laid before them with but slight alteration, I cannot tell : but as I can answer for the truth of the story, having, as I said before, been an eye-witness to, and a participator in, a great portion of it, I boldly and trustfully lay it before the public.

There is a certain degree of interest ever attached to truth, that I confidently hope such may be the fate of Reginald Mortimer, and the necessary change from autobiography, for description's sake, will, I trust, also make it more readable as a monthly publication. H. B. S. Somerset House Melbourne, 12th August, 1857. EEGINALD MOUTHER; OR "TRUTH MORE STRANGE THAN FICTION. " I'll read you a matter deep and dangerous, " As full of peril and adventurous spirit " As to o'erwalk a current roaring loud, " On the unsteadfast footing of a spear." Shakspeare. " But stumbling in the rugged dell " The gallant horse exhausted fell, " The impatient rider strove in vain " To rouse him with the spur and rein, " For the good steed his labors o'er " Stretched his stiff limbs to rise no more. ' Scon.

Chapter I

" Who waits ?" cried the General, as with an impatient and hasty step the commander of the British Legion entered his office within the walls of St. Sebastian. " Reginald, sir," was the prompt reply. " Come hither, boy, and tell me what men or what gueriUo can be found to carry a dispatch of the utmost importance to the camp of the Allies o'er the morena to-night." The youth thus addressed was a young lad of eighteen. His light hair and blue eye told of the Saxon extraction, and the merry smile that so oft lit up his countenance, discovered him to be a native of the Emerald Isle. Tall and well formed, though light B REGINALD MORTIMER. 4 of limb and active, there was still a pensive shade that sometimes passed over that youthful countenance, and told that the midnight oil had been spent not in vain amid the cloisters and halls of the Alma Mater.

His dress was that of an aide-de-camp, yet still bearing a resemblance to the rifle uniform of the British forces, with the green and furred pelisse hanging gracefully from his left shoulder, but the cocked hat and heavy plume showing the staff office he enjoyed. Previous to the entering of the General, he was half stretched on a bench, his head on his arm, and a pile of papers laying near him. Dreams of home, and some dear perhaps to him, had evi dently flitted o'er his mind, for a tear was still on his cheek as he jumped up to receive the General. There was an awkwardness and a timidity in his reply that at first made him seem as if fearful of addressing his chief. A rich glow spread o'er his pale countenance, and with a hesi tating manner he replied, " You were pleased, sir, in your orders of this morning, to mention far more kindly than I deserved my services of yesterday and the previous days.

I would now entreat, by the position which thus I may have won in your esteem, to grant my request, and allow me to be the bearer of those dis patches to the camp near Vittoria." " Nonsense, boy," said the General ; " a pretty wind up for my beardless aide-de-camp, to be shot in a defile by some mountain robber. I could well face your friends and my own in recounting such a tale of the student that I lured from his college rooms and appointed to my personal staff. No ! no ! Reginald, name it not. " Some daring guerillo will be found who will bear them safely." " Yes ! and sell your secrets to the enemy, and so defeat the purpose of the mission. I have the best horse in the garrison ; I am both ready and willing to use him, and show to you that though I did not deserve my name to be so kindly mentioned in the general orders, yet I am ready to prove that I might be so worthy.

I pray you, therefore, let me go. An hour hence I wdl be in the saddle, and ere two hours sun shall have shed its light o'er these walls to-morrow, your letters shall be read by the General of division." MORTIMER. 5 With hasty strides the General still paced up and down the room, ever now and again casting a hurried glance at the burning cheek and flashing eye, as the anxious youth before him urged to be allowed to be the bearer of this missive. At length he paused before him. " Are you aware," said he, " of the danger you run? Know you not, that surrounded with spies as we are, that even now intelligence of these dispatches may be on its way to some retreat of those numerous banditti who for a gold piece would send a bullet through your head with as little hesitation as they would quaff a horn of wine."

" I care not for them," said Reginald, " I'll manage some way to outwit them ; trust me the dispatches will safely reach their destination, and I will return safe to thank you for the favor of being their bearer." " Well, weU, if it must be so, take them, and God speed you, but be cautious, obtain every information possible of the road without creating any suspicion relative to your own movements ; tell not even your servant of your horse being required, make every preparation yourself, let none know aught of our conversation ; appear at parade this afternoon in the grand place, and after that go out as if for an evening ride, taking the lower road skirting along by the river, where the reserve was posted. Stay! see here is the chart of the route; "and with particular care, as if each mile of the road was well known to him, he pointed out to his attentive listener, how and where he should direct his steps.

There was a full mustering of officers that evening in the grand place, and as the General and his aides rode down the lines, no one could have dreamt that the laughing lad in the rear was about, ere two hours passed, to carry dispatches through a country infested with a villainous banditti. As the General left the ground he bowed to Reginald, who, wheeling his horse round, rode back down the principal street to his own quarters, giving his horse to his servant to hold ; he entered the building, and without changing aught but his gay jacket and plumed hat, which he replaced by a loose shooting jacket and sombrero, he hastily returned, and merely saying to REGINALD MORTIMEE. 6 his servant " you need not wait up for my return," he rode out of the city carelessly, and without exciting any suspicion.

He had not come, however, unprepared, for previous to his going on parade his pistols, carefully loaded, were placed in his holsters ; a duplicate of the dispatch, with his own hands, was sewed in the padding of his saddle, whilst the original was also concealed beneath the lining of the long boot he wore on parade. The sun was just assuming that softened and mellow tinge so peculiar to the fair clime of Spain ; it was an autumn evening, and the rich beams of the gorgeous declining lamp of day shed its radiance o'er the landscape, along the winding river, and the merry song of the grape gatherers was borne on the air from the surrounding hills. Reginald, leaving the plain, entered the defile where the last glimpse of the city turrets became hidden from his view : little would a stranger have thought, in traversing o'er that quiet plain, that not three days had elapsed since some ten thousand men had there met in deadly conflict. 'Tis true that here and there a broken carriage appeared, a few heaps of fresh thrown-up earth were scattered o'er the plain, marking where the victims of that fierce conflict lay, now indeed in quiet repose, for civil war raged through the land, and hostile bodies were scattered o'er the country, eager to meet friend against friend, and brother against brother, in deadliest warfare.

We write of a time re markable in the annals of more recent date in Spanish history. It was the year 1836 when Don Carlos raised the flag of rebellion, in the vain attempt to unseat his niece from the throne of the two Castiles, and when the Queen's government once again fell back on its ancient ally, and sought succour from the British Isles. To advance this succour the government of England allowed a brigade of several thousand strong to be raised under the leadership of General Evans. * Most of these men were collected and enrolled in Ireland, from whence they assumed the name of the Irish Brigade, and though for the major part they were composed of any thing but the choicest recruits, and many from the very dregs of Hibernia, yet they fought well and bravely ; and being officered chiefly by the young blood of the aristocracy of the country, led thither by the brilliant promises of rank, pay, and glory, the Spanish government found little difficulty, in this respect at least, and General Evans could boast of as fine a body of officers as graced the British Army.

Nor was his general order of the 6th September vain or tinged with bravado when he stated " that briUiant was the charge of his irregular cavalry, and steady, cool, and indomitable, the courage of the brigade," that won now the second time the field of Sebastian, and with an intrepidity and dauntless bearing unequalled in Wellington's former sacldng of that city, did the Irish Brigade enter it and scale its walls, establishing for themselves a reputa tion that made many a vacillating body of the insurgents return to their allegiance, and eventually crowned the Queen's party with that success which foUowed them in every engagement. It does not appertain to our story to enter into minute detail of the civil war which at this period deluged the land in blood. Our account is with an individual alone, whom we left some time since slowly wending his way by the river side into the defile that hid the city from his view.

Scarcely, however, had those last glimpses faded from his view, when a change came o'er the spirit of his dream, and the saunter ing, careless-like air was quickly replaced by the bold spirit of preparation for adventure, now flashing in his light blue eye. Putting spurs to his horse he quickly passed the defile, and entering on a valley beyond, sped quickly on his way. Pause we a moment to describe this gallant steed, as with di lated nostril and arched crest he lightly cantered on as if not heeding the weight of his well loved master. Reginald had pur chased him in his own dear native land some two years before, and being the pride of his life, and the choice hobby of his colle giate pastime, when escaping from the trammels of the University, he cared him, and with excusable pride daily exhibited him as the choice steed of the metropolis; when, therefore, he was appointed to a Lieutenancy in De Lacy Evans' Rifles, and also succeeded in being placed upon his staff, his favorite was brought with him, the loved companion through the campaign. .

Coal black, a white star marked his forehead, a short ear and brilliant eye, with small head and wide nostril, denoted the purity of his blood. Above the common standard, he stood on well set and perfect limbs, with deep flowing mane and tail, as fine a charger as ever champed the glittering bit. And though not trained in the evolutions of a riding school, yet, from the unwearied teaching of his rider, and his implicit obedience to his word and touch, few horses ever stepped more free to their director's command. During the last week, Mazeppa (for so he was called) had ha many a hair-breadth escape, being actively engaged during the three days' desultory skirmishes on the plain, and at the final engagement previous to the taking of, and entering St. Sebastian. As mentioned before, the setting sun warned Reginald to hasten his way in order to clear Tolosa ere the shades were fallen.

Were he not pressed for time (and then undertaking a mission of no small importance), as one so great a lover of the sublime and beautiful, how gladly would he have loitered on that road which lay through those most enchanting vaUeys, green and fertile beyond description. The feature in the scenery most peculiar to this part of the Biscayan provinces, being the sides of the mountains, covered with fruit trees, which give the effect striking and beautiful, and which at that season of the year was much enhanced by the quantity of ripe golden fruit which weighed the clustering branches in rich festoons. Occasionally were seen interspersed through the orchard gardens, glimpses of the more open vineyards stretching away over the hills, in trellis rows, drooping deeply laden with purple grape along the ground; and above them again were brought in bold relief against the rich coloring of the autumnal sky.

The ruby tints of the setting sun warned our hero to speed more quickly, so at a quick pace he moved forward, breaking from the reverie which he had indulged in when slacking his place sometime before he caught the first view of the beautifully situated town of Tolosa ; and yet a more close inspection of it did by no means bear out the favourable impression the traveller must form entering it by the frontier road, on such an evening as above described. Fearful of attracting attention to his movements, Reginald, reining Mazeppa in, allowed him to saunter leisurely through the principal thoroughfare, and without stopping at the Posada, where mine host seemed ready to receive him, quietly passed on as if about to rest at some more humble halting place. The shades of evening had now closed in, and about a mile from Tolosa he drew up at a small wayside Inn, just where the road, entering a mountain gorge, leads over the higher range of the Pyrenees, the road to Vittoria (near to which was the camp of the Queen's forces, whither he was bound), resolving to rest there till midnight, when he knew that a bright harvest moon would be a guide to him on the mountain pass ; and that so he might avoid any suspicion of his going, or any likelihood of meeting any one after midnight, he pretended that it was his in tention to remain there till morning, and thus, though by no means able to converse in the language of the country, yet having picked up a smattering of the patois, he gave the lad who took his horse at the inn door to understand that he would not require him tiU late next morning.

A gay widow, proprietress of the locanda, met him under the deep verandah, which was prettdy covered over with the rose tree and clematis, and neat trellis-work that partly extended over the roof, and bidding him enter with a kind urbanity and grace ful bearing, so peculiar and natural to the women of Spain, soon won upon the good graces of the young soldier. This pleasing impression was the more increased by her little bright-eyed daughter, a girl about ten, who with a sweet and coy expression, hastily and attentively administered to the wants of the stranger — assisting her mother to lay out the little table by the fireside of the inner room which serves for a kitchen and dining apart ment in the small inns of the country. A long corridor ran on one side, from whence branched off two or three sleeping apartments that opened out on a pretty garden full of fruit trees and flowers, the window of each room being level to the ground, and opening as a door into the garden.

REGINALD MORTIMER. From the room to where they conducted Reginald another apart ment opened, cutting off the verandah on that side — this was fitted up as the cabaret, where all the good things of the thrifty housewife were stowed away, and the luxuries of her establish ment exposed to sale. As the little maiden, with nimble step and laughing air, ran to and fro, anxious to attract the attention of her guest, and to win a smile from him in her zeal to please, the more quiet matron laid on the table the viands her household afforded, which con sisted of the brown loaf and the piled baskets of grapes and other fruits, together with the never failing dish of the dressed fish fried in od, and cold, as used and considered a great dainty by the Spaniards. A flagon or two of different wines, and a snow white napkin handed to the guest told him that supper was ready.

Seating himself comfortably at the table, he soon showed how well he appreciated their hospitable care; and kept up a non descript conversation with the charming little waiter, in broken Spanish, of which his knowledge was most imperfect. To a stranger, the scene presented in that little room would be most amusing ; the earnest endeavours of the little teacher to instruct, and his attempts to follow, were alike ridiculous. Thus passed pleasantly half an hour away; and the good widow, heaping abundant faggots on the fire, invited Reginald to sit in the nook under the wide chimney, where, ensconcing himself, he proceeded with increased anxiety to receive the instructions of his well-pleased preceptress. Suddenly the calm of the quiet household was invaded, and the quick trot of horses coming to the door again called forth the bustling hostess.

Loud tones of anger and rebuke aroused the little girl from her pleasing occupation on Reginald's knee, and the color went from her cheek as she stood trembling beside him, as if fearful of the new strangers, and uncertain how to act. Unable to divine the cause of this change, and deeply sympa thising with his little friend that cowed beside him, Reginald rose as two swarthy strangers entered the apartment, and certainly neither their dress nor bearing was in any way calculated to give a pleasing impression to him. Large sombreros shaded their sullen and dark faces, which their long black hair partly concealed — a gleaming eye of deep determination, and faces bronzed and weather-beaten, declared them at a glance as either heroes of the banditti or some of the roving bands of guerillas which at that time over-ran the country, well skilled in Parthian warfare, ever ready to engage with the party that paid them best.

A slashed tunic, covered with faded braid, cross belts and gaberdines, richly ornamented in silver, pistols, carbines, and sword, with the high trooper's boot falling over high up the leg, and ponderous spurs, completed the attire of the two worthies, who, with an air of hidalgo importance entered the apartment. Their age might be about forty. One, who seemed the younger of the two, and with a more vil lainous aspect, stalked up to the fire place, frowning fiercely on the youthful instructress, who stood trembling by her nonchalant pupil, who returned the gaze of the bold intruder with that careless indifference and open countenance that ever stamps the lineaments of the true and nobly born. Enraged by the indifference of the youth, the hero of the road (for such he was in every sense of the word) seized the little maiden roughly by her arm, and with brutal violence attempted to kiss the crying child.

Scarce however had the attempt been made when a well planted blow from the young but sinewy arm of Reginald made him stag ger against his companion, and the little girl, freed from his grasp, rushed to the arms of her protector. With flashing eye and wrathful bearing the freebooter hastily drew his sword, rushed on the defenceless Reginald, who, not shrinking from the assailant, was appeasing the terror of his little friend. With no less rapidity, however, was the act prevented by his more mature and sage companion, who, eagerly ispeaking some words in an undertone, made the sword as quickly return to its scabbard, and both to pass to another part of the room, where mine hostess soon tranquilized their excited feelings by spreading supper before them. REGINALD MORTIMER. From the eager and anxious look of Anina (for so was the little maiden called), and from the terrified looks with which she devoured their words, somewhat of a fearful import she seemed to glean from them ; and yet with an heroic bearing, worthy of maturer years, she resolved at once to act a part worthy of the grateful feelings that ran through her heart.

Attracting the attention of Reginald by a gentle pressure of his hand, she stole from the room, and waiting at the door, hid den from the freebooters, till catching his eye by eager signs and attitudes, she led him to the conclusion that he should feign to sleep. He was not slow to obey her directions, but stretching him ing himself on the low seat that ran along the chimney corner, he was now, to all appearance, in a sound slumber. The good widow, entering quickly after with fresh flagons for her guests, and perceiving the sleeping youth, lighting a small lamp approached him, and intimated to him her wish to show him to a sleeping apartment. This act, which to all appearance was the natural result of her host-like care, was nevertheless done at the instigation of Anina, who, patiently waiting at the door, as he crossed the threshold, took the lamp in one hand, and seizing Reginald by the other, led him quickly into the verandah, where, extinguishing the light, and placing her finger on his lips to enforce silence, she conducted him with hurried steps to the stables.

There again lighting the lamp, she showed the three horses fully accoutred and ready for the road. Having given directions to the lad that took Mazeppa, that he himself would come after supper and see him made up, though surprised that his saddle was not removed, yet this direction led him to believe it as the result of it in place of neglect. In one instance such was unfortunate, as Anina told him she gathered from the conversation of the two worthies within, that they, seeing his horse thus prepared for starting, had ordered their'sto be left so too. She also made him to understand how that when the elder one checked the other, and prevented him striking Reginald, he appeased his wrath by telling him that ere the morning dawn he should have a certain and sure revenge. She quickly then, half by signs and half by the language which he so imperfectly understood, but that she made more intelligible by her anxious gestures, that he should replace his own horse by one of the other horses, he quickly obeyed her injunctions, which the terror and anxiety of her looks urged him the more to expedite.

The change of horses being effected, she made him conceal him self under the loose straw at the head of the stall, and, putting out her lamp, crept close to him, also carefully hiding herself. Scarce had she done so, when the loud voices of the freebooters were heard calling for the ostler and a light. Reginald felt his little companion tremble violently as the harsh sounds smote on their ears, and putting his arm round her whis pered to her that he would protect her with his life. The men now entered the stable accompanied by the ostler holding a lamp, which fortunately was not a very brilliant one, or the change of horses might have been discovered. After some discussion, the junior of the two, taking off his coat, commenced to take off in an artistic manner, the hind shoes of his own horse, evidently under the impression that it was Reginald's. He then partly cut the girths of his saddle, and performed the same ope ration on the bridle reins, with many a ribald jest of the defeat of the young tyro, as they designated him, and the evident chance of success awaiting them in impeding his movements and making him an easy prey, after which they returned to the inn.

Words can but ill paint the state of mind with which Reginald from his hiding place so plainly saw the deliberate act of the bandit. Scarce, however, had the sound of their footsteps ceased to be heard, when Anina hastily sprung from the covert, and again with frantic gesture and hurried voice, made him to under stand the necessity of his immediate departure. Going herself and loosening the cord that fastened his horse to the stall, she led him out before the wondering Reginald could well conceive what she was about. To his wish to enter the inn for his cloak, and to pay his bill, she decidedly objected, and having made him mount, conducted him by the back of the garden through a bye path. Stdl guiding Mazeppa, holding the reins, she led him quickly and silently along till they reached the road, and having led him behind a large tree, signified that he should await her return, and then bounded away from his side.

In a few minutes she returned with his 'cloak and a flagon of wine, and again assuming the guiding of his horse, led him down another pathway, determinedly resisting all Reginald's entreaties for her to return, or to accept aught from him — though he placed his well filled purse in her hand. Nor would she permit him to dismount and walk with her, as he wished. For near a mile she thus continued leading him on by a narrow path along the margin of the mountain torrent, then crossing over a rustic bridge, she ascended the hill side for a short way, when they again struck on the main road. She now stopped, and drawing his horse near to a small wall which ran along the road side, taking Reginald's hand she jumped on the wall close alongside of him, and explained to him in her patois tongue, which he sufficiently comprehended to know that she wished him to proceed with all speed on his way, and to pro mise to her that at some future day he would return to assure her of his safety ; then throwing her arms round his neck she bid him adieu, and descending from her position, retraced her steps to the inn.

Collecting his astonished senses after the strange events of the evening, he proceeded up the mountain road. It was still dark, though starlight, the moon not having yet risen. Scarce, how ever, had he reached the top of the hill ere she appeared, clearly displaying to him his way down the mountain side. All was now bleak and drear, and for several miles he proceeded on his way, now entering some lonely valley, and again ascending to the ridge of the high mountain range. As morning began to dawn, and still another hill appeared be fore him, he dismounted to rest Mazeppa. He had not, however, proceeded many paces, when, turning round to survey the way by which he came, he faintly discovered in the grey of the morning, the figures of two horsemen riding after him. Quickly examining his girths, he vaulted into the saddle, and giving Mazeppa the reins, trotted smartly up the hill.