Rules of War Read Free Page A

hedges, ditches and marshes it would be madness to move infantry over such ground. You must agree, sir.’
    Marlborough smiled back at him: ‘Thank you for your advice, Mijnheer. And I shall take note of it and if it should indeed be madness then I give you my word that should it fail I shall summon a physician.’
    Cadogan suppressed the beginnings of a smile.
    Marlborough quickly turned back to his left: ‘Hawkins? Have we intelligence from the right flank? Are Lord Orkney’s men in place?’
    Colonel James Hawkins broke off from his conversation with Cornet Hamilton and nodded to Marlborough. ‘Aye, sir. I have it from the cornet here. They are this moment halted above the village. The right of your line is secure, Your Grace. Although Hamilton here tells me that we just stopped the infantry in time, or our lads would have been on the French already by now.’
    Marlborough laughed. ‘They shall be at them soon enough, James. That will do for the moment.’
    Half a mile away, to Marlborough’s right, another knot of officers stood before their men. Steel peered across the valley. At last the mist was lifting and the countryside was revealed to them. In the course of reforming the line, they had fallen back some fifty yards and found a small area of less boggy ground. Steel gazed now across acres of fields green with young corn, a rolling plateau of open country, quite without hedges or walls of any sort.
    Hansam spoke: ‘This is good cavalry country, Jack. The horse’ll have a field day.’
    â€˜I daresay they will, Henry, but it looks rotten bad for us. We’re to take that village and as far as I can see as soon as we step off you can bet that the French artillery will open up. And not so much as a ditch for cover. Nothing to stop a ball from carrying away four, six … ten files of infantry. I wonder that our guns will not do the same, ere long.’
    Beyond the marshes which flanked the stream running below their position on a gentle hill beyond the waving corn, the entire Franco-Bavarian army stood before them, strung out on a front four miles long. White and blue uniforms as far as the eye could see, punctuated only by the red of the Irish mercenary regiments in French pay – the Wild Geese – and that of the cavalry of King Louis’ own bodyguard, the Gens d’ Armes. It was the whole might of France. Well, he thought, they had broken them at Blenheim and they could damn well do it again today.
    Williams spoke: ‘Seems to me there’s more of them here than there were at Blenheim, sir.’
    â€˜You may be right, Tom. King Louis has half a million men under arms, they say.’
    â€˜But we shall best them again, sir. Of that I’m certain.’
    Steel smiled and clapped the ensign on the back. ‘Aye. I’m as sure as you. Now, look to the men. Don’t have them standing-to for too long at a time. Stand them at ease a while.’
    As Williams looked to his order, Steel gazed down at the ground. For the last few minutes he had been aware that his right leg was slowly sinking into the boggy field. He cursed and began to doubt Williams’ certainty. Not here too? The whole area was sodden. How did Marlborough intend them to advance on this? Struggling to keep his balance and desperate not to reveal his plight to the men, he reached down with both hands to ease his leg free from the mud into whichit was disappearing and swore gently into the cool morning. He gave one last pull and with a squelch the tall black boot emerged from the boggy ground. Steel shook his leg, tried to remove some of the mud and looked over his right shoulder.
    Slaughter was grinning, shaking his head. ‘You’re like me, sir. Must ’ave ate too big a breakfast. Don’t know when to stop. Always like that before a fight. Nerves, it is.’
    â€˜Jacob, if I wanted your homespun wisdom on the subject of my diet I would ask for it.