That was a surprise. Why would Wellington want to see him in person? ‘Kindly inform His Grace that I shall carry out his orders immediately.’
Immediately. Supper would have to wait.
CHAPTER NINE
‘His Grace’s timing is, as ever, perfect,’ said Harry when the captain had gone. ‘We will take our supper at the Château Hougoumont.’ Adding to one of his foragers, ‘See if you can find a handcart to transport it.’
‘Harry, fetch the Grahams, please.’
The Graham brothers, not quite able to suppress ‘told-you-so’ smirks, arrived with their packs on their backs and ready to march. ‘You sent for us, Colonel,’ said James.
‘I did, Corporal. We are ordered at once to the Château Hougoumont. Not all the company were as prescient as you. Their blankets will be wet and heavy and they were not expecting to have to move again today. There will be mutterings and grumblings. As Sergeant Dawson has not yet returned from the dressing station, I need you to organise the dismantling of bivouacs, repacking of blankets and collection of muskets. Do what you can to keep their spirits up. In the sergeant’s absence, report to Captain Wyndham.’
The two giants exchanged a look. ‘Depend on us, Colonel. We’ll have them down at the chateau in no time,’ said Joseph.
‘That we will, Colonel, but what about Mister Gooch and Mister Hervey?’ asked James.
‘Show them how it’s done. Politely, mind.’
‘Politely it is, Colonel.’
‘Better be off, James,’ said Harry. ‘The peer waits for no man, or so they say. Leave everything to us. The corporals will carry them down one at a time if they have to.’
Most of the senior officers were billeted in the town of Waterloo and the surrounding villages, each name marked in chalk on the door of the appropriate house. Macdonell was shown into the Duke’s quarters in a hotel in the main street of the town by a lieutenant of the Life Guards and escorted to a room off the entrance hall. The four men sitting around an oak table in the centre of the room were studying a large map. Two were smoking cigars. He stood in the doorway, shako in hand, and waited. None of the four acknowledged him. He coughed lightly. The man whose aquiline looks and startlingly direct gaze were as well known as any face in England sat at the head of the table. He looked up. ‘Ah, Macdonell,’ said Wellington affably, ‘here you are. You know, of course, Generals Cooke and Byng, and this is Colonel de Lancey of my personal staff.’
Macdonell knew of de Lancey, an unusual soldier in the British army in that he was American by birth and very young to hold the position of Deputy Quartermaster General. He inclined his head politely. ‘Gentlemen. Your servant.’
‘Had you a hard time of it at Quatre Bras?’ asked Wellington.
‘Not as hard as some, Your Grace,’ replied Macdonell. The Duke, not above a little boasting himself, could not abide it in others. A tiny smile played around his eyes.
‘And your strength now?’
‘Two hundred and sixty officers and men, sir.’
The Duke tapped a finger on the bridge of his long nose. ‘It will have to be enough.’ The other three nodded their agreement. ‘Now, Macdonell,’ went on the Duke, ‘look at this map.’ Macdonell stepped forward to peer over General Byng’s shoulder. ‘I have deployed our forces across the Mont St Jean ridge. It is the very ridge which my illustrious predecessor the Duke of Marlborough recommended as the best place on which to mount a defence of Brussels, should one ever be needed.’ He looked up from the map. ‘And by God it is needed now. Buonaparte’s advance guard is already arriving from the south and is taking up position here.’ He ran a finger along an imaginary line running through the inn at La Belle Alliance. ‘As you see, we have the advantage of the ground. However, there are three vital points which hold the key to our success. One is the farm on our left flank at Papelotte, which I have entrusted to Prince Bernhard’s Nassauers. The second is the farm of La Haye Sainte, in our centre, which the King’s German Legion will defend.’ He pointed to the farm they had passed on their march up the slope. ‘The third is the chateau and farm at Hougoumont on our right wing. Here,’ the Duke paused, ‘I have already sent companies of Hanoverians and Nassauers to Hougoumont with orders to occupy the farm and the wood south of it and Saltoun will be taking the light companies of General Maitland’s 1st Brigade down to occupy the orchard. Macdonell, your companies will occupy the chateau, farm and garden.’ The Duke turned to Colonel de Lancey. ‘I gather the garden is rather fine, de Lancey. Such a pity to ruin it but there it is. In addition, you will have overall command of the defence of the position. Any questions?’
‘Are you expecting Marshal Blücher, Your Grace?’
‘I certainly am. Blücher has promised to be here tomorrow. If we hold the three positions until he arrives, the battle will be won. If not …’ The Duke let the thought hang in the air. It was clear enough. The Guards must hold Hougoumont. ‘General Byng’s main force will be positioned on the rising ground to the north of the chateau,’ went on Wellington, pointing to the map. ‘From there he will provide covering artillery fire. It might be the time to give Major Bull’s howitzers a chance to show us what they can do, Byng, don’t you agree?’
‘I do, Your Grace,’ replied Byng in his thoughtful way.
The Duke leant back in his chair. ‘You know, Buonaparte once said that he never went into battle with a plan. He simply attacked in strength and then reacted to what his enemy did. Arrant nonsense, of course. Boney has a plan and it is to take Hougoumont. If he does, it will expose my right flank and give him the road to Brussels. That must not happen.’
For the first time, General Cooke spoke. ‘Our intelligence is that Buonaparte has put his brother Prince Jérôme, under General Reille, in command of the attack on the chateau. That signifies how much importance he attaches to it.’
‘I understand, General. Hougoumont must be held.’
‘We will review your defences early tomorrow,’ said Wellington, rising from his chair. ‘Be about your business now, and may good fortune be with you.’
As Macdonell was leaving the house, he stopped for a moment in the hall to check his dress in a long mirror. While adjusting his collar he heard de Lancey tell the Duke that he had given a tired man with tired troops a fiendishly hard task. ‘Ah,’ came the reply, ‘but you do not know Macdonell.’
CHAPTER TEN
He trotted the three miles back to the ridge and along the lane, where he found all but a handful of the company gone. ‘Make haste, you men,’ he urged the stragglers. ‘There is little light left and we have work to do.’
‘Our blankets are sodden, Colonel,’ complained one of them. ‘It is the devil’s own job to get them into our packs.’
Macdonell was on the point of telling the wretched man to try harder when a flash of lightning streaked across the evening sky. It was followed by a deep, echoing roll of thunder. The weather, capricious and unforgiving, had yet to relent. ‘There was a thunderstorm on the eve of our victory at Salamanca,’ he told them. ‘A good omen, to be sure.’ Two horses, spooked by the thunder, bolted past them and galloped down the slope towards the French. ‘There you are, even the horses cannot wait to attack the frogs. Make haste to the farm, now.’