Young Buglers , livre ebook

Pub One Info - George Alfred Henty

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

169 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

I remember that, as a boy, I regarded any attempt to mix instruction with amusement as being as objectionable a practice as the administration of powder in jam; but I think that this feeling arose from the fact that in those days books contained a very small share of amusement and a very large share of instruction. I have endeavored to avoid this, and I hope that the accounts of battles and sieges, illustrated as they are by maps, will be found as interesting as the lighter parts of the story. As in my tale, "The Young Franc-Tireurs," I gave the outline of the Franco-German war, so I have now endeavored to give the salient features of the great Peninsular struggle. The military facts, with the names of generals and regiments, the dates and places, are all strictly accurate, and any one who has read with care the story of "The Young Buglers" could pass an examination as to the leading events of the Peninsular war

Informations

Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	27 septembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819922544
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0100€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

PREFACE
To my Young Readers.
I remember that, as a boy, I regarded any attempt to mixinstruction with amusement as being as objectionable a practice asthe administration of powder in jam; but I think that this feelingarose from the fact that in those days books contained a very smallshare of amusement and a very large share of instruction. I haveendeavored to avoid this, and I hope that the accounts of battlesand sieges, illustrated as they are by maps, will be found asinteresting as the lighter parts of the story. As in my tale," The Young Franc–Tireurs ," I gave the outline of theFranco–German war, so I have now endeavored to give the salientfeatures of the great Peninsular struggle. The military facts, withthe names of generals and regiments, the dates and places, are allstrictly accurate, and any one who has read with care the story of"The Young Buglers" could pass an examination as to the leadingevents of the Peninsular war.
Yours truly,
THE AUTHOR.
CHAPTER I.
A COACHING ADVENTURE.
Had any of the boys in the lower forms of Eton in the year 1808,been asked who were the most popular boys of their own age, theywould have been almost sure to have answered, without the slightesthesitation, Tom and Peter Scudamore, and yet it is probable that notwo boys were more often in disgrace. It was not that they wereidle, upon the contrary, both were fairly up in their respectiveforms, but they were constantly getting into mischief of one sortor another; yet even with the masters they were favorites, therewas never anything low, disgraceful, or ungentlemanly in theirescapades, and they could be trusted never to attempt to screenthemselves from the consequences by prevarication, much less bylying. If the masters heard that a party of youngsters had beenseen far out of bounds, they were pretty sure that the Scudamoreswere among them; a farmer came in from a distance to complain thathis favorite tree had been stripped of its apples—for in those daysapples were looked upon by boys as fair objects of sport,—if thehead–master’s favorite white poodle appeared dyed a deep blue, ifMr. Jones, the most unpopular master in the school, uponcoming out of his door trod upon a quantity of tallow smeared allover the doorstep, and was laid up for a week in consequence, therewas generally a strong suspicion that Tom and Peter Scudamore wereconcerned in the matter. One of their tricks actually came to theears of the Provost himself, and caused quite a sensation in theplace, but in this case, fortunately for them, they escapedundetected.
One fine summer afternoon they were out on the water with two orthree other boys of their own age, when a barge was seen ahead atsome short distance from the shore. She was apparently floatingdown with the stream, and the fact that a horse was proceedingalong the towing–path a little way ahead was not noticed, as therope was slack and was trailing under water. The boys, therefore,as they were rowing against stream, steered their boat to passinside of her. Just as they came abreast of the horse a man on thebarge suddenly shouted to the rider of the horse to go on. He didso, the rope tightened, rose from the water just under the bow ofthe boat, and in another minute the boys were struggling in thewater. All were good swimmers, and would have cared little for theducking had it occurred accidentally, but the roars of laughter ofthe bargeman, and the chaff with which he assailed them as theyscrambled up the bank, showed clearly enough that they had beenupset maliciously. The boys were furious, and one or two proposedthat they should report the case, but Tom Scudamore pointed outthat the bargeman would of course declare that it was a pureaccident, and that the boys were themselves in fault in not lookingout whether the barge was being towed, before going inside her, andso nothing would come of reporting.
The boat was dragged ashore and emptied, and in a few minutesthey were rowing back towards the town. The distance was but short,and they did not repass the barge before they reached theirboat–house. The brothers had exchanged a few words in a low voiceon the way, and instead of following the example of the others, andstarting at a run for the house where they boarded to change theirclothes, they walked down by the river and saw that the barge hadmoored up against the bank, at a short distance below the bridge.They watched for a time, and saw the bargeman fasten up the hatchof the little cabin and go ashore.
That night two boys lowered themselves with a rope from thewindow of one of the dames–houses, and walked rapidly down to theriver. There were a few flickering oil lamps burning, and the oneor two old watchmen were soundly asleep in their boxes. They didnot meet a soul moving upon their way to the object of theexpedition, the barge that had run them down. Very quietly theyslipped on board, satisfied themselves by listening at thehalf–open hatch to the snoring within that their enemy was there,then loosened the moorings so that they could be thrown off at amoment’s notice.
"Now, Peter," the elder brother said, "open our lantern. Thenight is quite still. You hold your hand behind it, so that thelight will not fall on our faces, and I will look whether he isonly wrapped up in a blanket or has a regular bed; we must not risksetting the place on fire. Get the crackers ready."
A dark lantern was now taken out from under Tom’s jacket, andwas found to be still alight, an important matter, for striking alight with flint and steel was in those days a long and tediousbusiness, and then opening it Tom threw the light into the cabin.It was a tiny place, and upon a bench, wrapped up in a blanket, thebargeman was lying. As the light fell on his eyes, he moved, and amoment afterwards started up with an oath, and demanded who wasthere.
No answer came in words, but half a dozen lighted crackers werethrown into the cabin, when they began to explode with a tremendousuproar. In an instant the hatch was shut down and fastened outside.The rope was cast off, and in another minute she was floating downstream with the crackers still exploding inside her, but with theirnoise almost deadened by the tremendous outcry of shouts and howls,and by a continued and furious banging at the hatch.
"There is no fear of his being choked, Tom, I hope?"
"No, I expect he’s all right," Tom said, "it will be prettystifling for a bit no doubt, but there’s a chimney hole and thesmoke will find its way out presently. The barge will drift down tothe weir before it brings up, there is not enough stream out forthere to be any risk of her upsetting, else we daren’t have turnedher adrift."
The next day the whole town was talking of the affair, and inthe afternoon the bargeman went up to the head–master and accusedone of the boys of an attempt to murder him.
Greatly surprised, the Provost demanded what reason the man hadfor suspecting the boys, and the bargeman acknowledged that he hadthat afternoon upset a boat with four or five boys in her. "Theywould not bear you malice on that account," the Provost said; "theydon’t think much of a swim such weather as this, unless indeed youdid it on purpose."
The man hesitated in his answer, and the Provost continued, "Youevidently did do it on purpose, and in that case, although it wascarried too far, for I hear you had a very narrow escape of beingstifled, still you brought it upon yourself, and I hope it will bea lesson to you not to risk the lives of Eton boys for youramusement. I know nothing about this affair, but if you can pointout the boys you suspect I will of course inquire into it."
The bargeman departed, grumbling that he did not know one of theyoung imps from another, but if he did find them, he’d wring theirnecks for them to a certainty. The Provost had some inquiries madeas to the boys who had been upset, and whether they had all been inat lock–up time; finding that they had all answered to their names,he made no further investigation.
This affair had taken place in the summer before this storybegins, on the 15th of October, 1808. On that day a holiday wasgranted in consequence of the head–master’s birthday, and the boysset off, some to football, some for long walks in the country.
The Scudamores, with several of their friends, strolled down thetowing–path for some miles, and walked back by the road. As theyentered their dames–house on their return, Tom Scudamore said forthe twentieth time, "Well, I would give anything to be a soldier,instead of having to go in and settle down as a banker—it’sdisgusting!"
As they entered a boy came up. "Oh, Scudamore, Jackson’s beenasking for you both. It’s something particular, for he has been outthree or four times, and he wanted to send after you, but no oneknew where you had gone."
The boys at once went into the master’s study, where theyremained all the afternoon. A short time after they went in,Mr. Jackson came out and said a word or two to one of thesenior boys, and the word was quickly passed round, that there wasto be no row, for the Scudamores had just heard of the sudden deathof their father. That evening, Mr. Jackson had beds made upfor them in his study, so that they might not have the pain ofhaving to talk with the other boys. The housekeeper packed up theirthings, and next morning early they started by the coach forLondon.
Mr. Scudamore, the father of the young Etonians, was a banker.He was the elder of two brothers, and had inherited his father’sbusiness, while his brother had gone into the army. The banker hadmarried the daughter of a landowner in the neighborhood, and hadlived happily and prosperously until her death, seven years beforethis story begins. She had borne him three children, the two boys,now fifteen and fourteen years old respectively, and a girl, Rhoda,two years younger than Peter. The loss of his wife afflicted himgreatly, and he received another shock five years later by thedeath of his brother, Colonel Scudamore, to who