Soldier of Fortune (20 page)

There was still
plenty of work left for the Confederate army. They had captured the fort on the
Schellenberg but the town of Donauworth remained intact and well-defended. It
had to be taken because it would block the road to Vienna and stop
Marlborough's forces moving deep into the rich countryside of Bavaria,
threatening its towns and villages on the way. When the fleeing garrison from
the hill had been hunted down by the cavalry, the remnants of the assault force
regrouped to count the cost of their victory and to tend the wounded. Captain
Daniel Rawson returned to take charge of his battalion. His orders were to join
the attack on the town.

It had been a
disastrous engagement for Count d'Arco. His corps had been utterly destroyed and
many of his finest officers had been killed. When he saw that his cause was
hopeless, he had fled to the town and had some difficulty persuading the
garrison commander to let him in. The report that he gave to the Elector of
Bavaria was laced with sorrow and apology. Though his men had withstood the
early assaults with characteristic valour, they had succumbed in the end to
superior numbers
and a flanking movement by Baden's men.

The Elector was
shocked. In the fierce engagement, his army had lost some of its best soldiers
and been significantly weakened. The Elector himself was now in danger. In the
interest of personal safety, he and Marshal Marsin were forced to retreat
ignominiously to a fortified camp at Augsburg in order to wait for Marshal
Tallard.

The Duke of
Marlborough was deeply saddened by the severe losses he had sustained but
accepted that they were an unfortunate necessity. Having seized the initiative,
he was quick to press home his advantage. He knew that, before quitting the
town, the enemy would try to lay waste to Donauworth so that its usefulness as
a base for the Confederate army would be drastically reduced. His artillery was
therefore repositioned and his battalions redeployed. Throughout the evening
and into the night, there was a constant exchange of fire as Marlborough's men
slowly tightened their grip on Donauworth.

It fell to
Colonel du Bordet to destroy the town and he ordered his men to put straw into
the houses so that they could be burnt to the ground. Time, however, was against
him. When reports came in that the Allied army had breached the defences and
was fighting its way through the suburbs, the French colonel feared that their
retreat would be cut off. An immediate evacuation ensued. Fire raged through
some houses but the rest were abandoned before they could even be torched. The
first thing that the incoming troops did was to help the beleaguered
townspeople put out the flames. By four o'clock in the morning, Donauworth was
in the hands of the Confederate army.

Daniel
Rawson had been one of the first officers to lead his men into the town. Having
helped to douse the fires and chase the last few French soldiers out of
Donauworth, he was able to take stock of what they had actually gained by the
seizure of the town apart from a strategic position on the Danube. Back in the
camp, he passed on full details to his commander in the latter's quarters.
Daniel still bore the scars of battle and his long red coat was scuffed and
torn.

'It
was an excellent haul, Your Grace,' he said cheerfully. 'We've secured three
cannon, muskets, ammunition, utensils, 3000 sacks of flour and oats and
everything you'd expect to find in an army camp. Most of the officers left
their baggage behind as well. As for the river, we now have a dozen pontoon bridges
at our disposal. The last French regiment in the town fled across one of them
like frightened rabbits.'

'This
is all very heartening,' said Marlborough, taking the inventory from him so
that he could inspect it. 'I've waited a long time to put a French army to
flight.'

'I
fancy that the Bavarians can run even faster.'

'Those
who escaped will be back, Daniel. When they've licked their wounds, they'll
join up with Marshal Tallard and seek revenge. Talking of wounds,' he added,
peering closely at Daniel's bloodstained face, 'you look as if you've picked up
a few of them yourself.'

'My
injuries can wait for attention, Your Grace. I was not going to leave the fray
until we'd taken both the hill and the town. Besides,' he went on, gritting his
teeth, 'the surgeons have enough on their hands at the moment. Some of our men
have crippling injuries.'

Marlborough
nodded gravely. 'The worst cases will be taken back to our hospital at
Nordlingen though many may not survive the journey. I don't relish passing on
details of casualties to Parliament and to the States-General in Holland,' he
confided. 'Public opinion in both countries will be outraged by the size of our
losses.'

'Given
the situation, they were unavoidable.'

'Politicians
never understand a military situation, Daniel. They view everything in terms of
numbers lost and costs incurred. I'll come in for sharp criticism, especially
in Holland.'

'That
may be so,' said Daniel, 'but the Emperor will have the sense to appreciate the
importance of this victory. The Imperial capital is now protected from French
and Bavarian advance.'

'That
was a major objective of the enterprise. Emperor Leopold will also be pleased
to hear how well Louis of Baden and his men conducted themselves. In scaling
the hill and attacking the left flank, they did us good service.'

'Your
strategy was sound, Your Grace. You struck when they least expected it. Had you
postponed the assault by a day, the outcome might have been very different.'

'Either
way, I would have been left with a lot of letters to write.'

'Of
course,' said Daniel, taking the hint. 'I'll hold you up no longer but I felt
that you might wish to include some of the details of that inventory in any
correspondence.'

'I
most certainly will. Before you go,' said Marlborough as his visitor was about
to leave, 'I meant to ask you about Abigail Piper. Is she still resolved to
stay?'

'I'm
afraid that she is.'

'I
did my best to persuade her to return home.'

'So
did I, Your Grace, but she's an obstinate young lady.'

'Love
can instil the most extraordinary tenacity.'

'True,'
said Daniel, 'but even her tenacity might wilt if Abigail knew that I came very
close to dying right beside her. It seems that I'm fighting a war on two
fronts.'

He
told Marlborough about his stroll along the bank of a stream with Abigail and
how she had saved him from being shot by fainting in his arms at the critical
moment. Marlborough was aghast.

'Why
didn't you tell me this before?' he asked.

'You
were preoccupied with other matters, Your Grace. I'm not vain enough to think
that my personal problems take precedence over the storming of the Schellenberg
and the capture of the town. When you are concerned with the deployment in
battle of thousands of men, the troubles of one are immaterial. In any case,'
he continued with a grin, 'I've long believed that I have a staunch friend in
heaven. If I can survive that Forlorn Hope with only a few scratches, I have no
worries about a lone assassin.'

'You
should do, Daniel - he may strike again.'

'I
hope that he will.'

'Have
men about you at all times.'

'From
now on, I'll have eyes in the back of my head.'

'Whoever
he is, this man is clearly determined to kill you.'

'I'm
equally determined to take his life first.'

'And
you say that Abigail is not aware of this attack on you?'

'No,
Your Grace,' said Daniel. 'And there's no reason why she should be. She's had
to face enough shock and upset already. The ugly truth must be kept from her.'

Abigail
Piper turned pale when she heard the news. She made Emily Greene repeat the
details again. Abigail was dazed.

'Where
did you learn all this?' she asked.

'I
spoke to a woman whose husband was on sentry duty at the time,' said Emily. 'He
heard the shot and ran to see who had fired it. He saw you lying on the grass
beside Captain Rawson.'

'I
fainted. It seems that Captain Rawson caught me.'

'At
first, the sentries thought that you'd been shot,' said Emily, 'but the captain
explained what had happened. He sent two men across the stream and ordered a
search party on horseback.'

'Did
they find anyone?'

'No,
Miss Abigail.'

'Who
could have done such a terrible thing?'

'They
have no idea.'

'I
could have been
killed,'
said Abigail, shuddering at the
idea.

'I
don't think the shot was aimed at you, Miss Abigail. The target was Captain
Rawson. With respect, you would be no loss to the army but the captain would.
According to the woman, her husband was certain that the attacker was trying to
kill a British officer.'

Abigail
gasped. 'That's even worse!' she cried. 'I'd rather have died myself than live
without him. This is appalling, Emily. I knew nothing about any of this.'

'Perhaps
the captain felt that it was better that way.'

'He
should have
told
me.'

'He
didn't wish to alarm you, Miss Abigail.'

The
suggestion did not reassure Abigail. If anything, it made her feel even more
distressed. She believed that Daniel

Rawson
had kept the facts from her because he perceived her as too weak and fragile to
cope with such grim tidings. Instead of sharing his worries with her, he had
kept them to himself. Abigail had been deliberately kept in the dark and that
hurt her. Daniel was under threat. Her pleasant stroll with him now took on a
more sinister and disturbing aspect.

It
was the morning after the battle and the two women were standing outside the
tent in which they had spent the night. Most of the camp followers slept in the
back of wagons or rigged up some rudimentary cover. Abigail and her maid were
more fortunate because Marlborough had arranged for them to have a small tent.
Though they were miles away from the battle, the women had heard all too
clearly the booming of the cannon, the popping of musketry and the constant
roll of drums. News of victory had been brought back but it was offset by
reports of heavy losses. Abigail had lain awake all night, praying that Daniel
Rawson was not among the fallen.

Already
tired and distraught, she was close to despair when she was told about the
attempt on Daniel's life. While she had been imploring him to withdraw from the
Forlorn Hope, he had almost been killed by a sniper in the bushes. Clutching
her hands tightly together, she walked up and down as she tried to absorb what
she had been told. Emily took a more practical view.

'We
shouldn't be here, Miss Abigail,' she said firmly.

'We
have
to be here, Emily.'

'If
that's your wish, then I'll obey you as I've always done. But I've been talking
to the others. They
belong
here. They know what to expect
and are hardened by experience.'

'We,
too, have shown endurance.'

'It's
not the same,' said Emily. 'We're outsiders.'

'The
other ladies have been very kind to us.'

'That's
because they all pull together in adversity. They're used to supporting each
other. I've been talking to some of them, Miss Abigail. Their stories are
heart-breaking.'

'I
know that army life can be testing.'

'It's
an ordeal. You deserve better.'

'I
still prefer to stay, Emily.'

'Then
I'll stay with you,' said the other with resignation. There was some commotion
off to their right and they traded an anxious glance. 'What's that noise?'

'Let's
go and find out,' decided Abigail.

Picking
their way through the tents, they came to an avenue down which a long column of
wagons rumbled. Blood-curdling moans were coming from wounded soldiers brought
back from the battlefield and the sound was swelled by wailing women who had just
discovered that their husbands had lost limbs or had their faces shot off.
Abigail and Emily were transfixed by the gruesome sight. Medical provisions
were primitive and the most that surgeons had been able to do was to amputate
arms and legs before gangrene set in, or to bandage hideous wounds without
being able to stem the bleeding.

It
was a scene of undiluted horror. Gallant soldiers who had marched off proudly
into battle were now little more than bundles of bones in ragged uniforms,
crying out pitifully for someone to relieve their agony. There were so many of
them. The column stretched back out of sight. Abigail stood there and gaped as
an endless stream of human misery went past. She blenched when she saw a man
waving a bandaged stump of an arm at her and was sickened when she observed
another who had lost both legs at the knees. Wherever she looked, there was
some new assault on her sensibilities. It was like viewing an endless parade of
corpses.