Wandering Heath | Page 8

letter, the padlock opened in his hand.

"'Did you know, trumpeter, that when I came to Plymouth they put me
into a line regiment?'
"'The 38th is a good regiment,' answered the old Hussar, still in his dull
voice. 'I went back with them from Sahagun to Corunna. At Corunna
they stood in General Fraser's division, on the right. They behaved
well.'
"'But I'd fain see the Marines again,' says the drummer, handing him
the trumpet; 'and you--you shall call once more for the Queen's Own.
Matthew,' he says, suddenly, turning on my father--and when he turned,
my father saw for the first time that his scarlet jacket had a round hole
by the breast-bone, and that the blood was welling there--'Matthew, we
shall want your boat.'
"Then my father rose on his legs like a man in a dream, while they two
slung on, the one his drum, and t'other his trumpet. He took the lantern,
and went quaking before them down to the shore, and they breathed
heavily behind him; and they stepped into his boat, and my father
pushed off.
"'Row you first for Dolor Point,' says the drummer. So my father rowed
them out past the white houses of Coverack to Dolor Point, and there,
at a word, lay on his oars. And the trumpeter, William Tallifer, put his
trumpet to his mouth and sounded the Revelly. The music of it was like
rivers running.
"'They will follow,' said the drummer. 'Matthew, pull you now for the
Manacles.'
"So my father pulled for the Manacles, and came to an easy close
outside Carn du. And the drummer took his sticks and beat a tattoo,
there by the edge of the reef; and the music of it was like a rolling
chariot.
"'That will do,' says he, breaking off; 'they will follow. Pull now for the
shore under Gunner's Meadow.'

"Then my father pulled for the shore, and ran his boat in under
Gunner's Meadow. And they stepped out, all three, and walked up to
the meadow. By the gate the drummer halted and began his tattoo again,
looking out towards the darkness over the sea.
"And while the drum beat, and my father held his breath, there came up
out of the sea and the darkness a troop of many men, horse and foot,
and formed up among the graves; and others rose out of the graves and
formed up--drowned Marines with bleached faces, and pale Hussars
riding their horses, all lean and shadowy. There was no clatter of hoofs
or accoutrements, my father said, but a soft sound all the while, like the
beating of a bird's wing, and a black shadow lying like a pool about the
feet of all. The drummer stood upon a little knoll just inside the gate,
and beside him the tall trumpeter, with hand on hip, watching them
gather; and behind them both my father, clinging to the gate. When no
more came, the drummer stopped playing, and said, 'Call the roll.'
"Then the trumpeter stepped towards the end man of the rank and
called, 'Troop-Sergeant-Major Thomas Irons!' and the man in a thin
voice answered 'Here!'
"'Troop-Sergeant-Major Thomas Irons, how is it with you?'
"The man answered, 'How should it be with me? When I was young, I
betrayed a girl; and when I was grown, I betrayed a friend; and for
these things I must pay. But I died as a man ought. God save the King!'
"The trumpeter called to the next man, 'Trooper Henry Buckingham!'
and the next man answered, 'Here!'
"'Trooper Henry Buckingham, how is it with you?'
"'How should it be with me? I was a drunkard, and I stole, and in Lugo,
in a wine-shop, I knifed a man. But I died as a man should. God save
the King!'
"So the trumpeter went down the line; and when he had finished, the
drummer took it up, hailing the dead Marines in their order. Each man

answered to his name, and each man ended with 'God save the King!'
When all were hailed, the drummer stepped back to his mound, and
called:
"'It is well. You are content, and we are content to join you. Wait yet a
little while.'
"With this he turned and ordered my father to pick up the lantern, and
lead the way back. As my father picked it up, he heard the ranks of
dead men cheer and call, 'God save the King!' all together, and saw
them waver and fade back into the dark, like a breath fading off a pane.
"But when they came back here to the kitchen, and my father set the
lantern down, it seemed they'd both forgot about him. For the drummer
turned in the lantern-light--and my father could see the blood still
welling