sickness, I have been called on often to give aid to the newly wounded, of whom there is a growing number. I was rousted out this morning when a party of the Blues went to the river to prevent the water carriers leaving the keep, and came under sneak attack.
‘It was early, with Nelson thankfully asleep, and when I was hurried to the water, shots were flying round like wasps. God help me, Sarah – I found that I enjoyed it! To be doing something! To be beyond the smell of sickness and of death. One man was hit but three-foot from me – less – and I was not afeard, but exhilarated! And happily, dear girl, he was not badly hurt, and thanked me very pretty when I bound him up.
‘But happiness was short-lived. I am ashamed to tell it, cariad , but I must. Ten minutes afterwards, the attackers having been chased away, we came upon three victims of their jolly little outing. Three of our men, three sons of Liverpool, robbed, and killed, and naked on the strand. It is said the Dons will be out soon once more, in full force. And Nelson lies abed, and sweats, and groans. He will be so vexed that he has missed it.’
Hastie was right in his intelligence. That night the Spanish sallied out in strength, and the air was thick with musketry and yells. The Loyal Irish bore the brunt of the first wave, and two of them were killed, but Colonel Polson had pulled his men up forward just in time, and the battle, though extremely fierce, went to the English not too bloodily. Next day, the twenty eighth, the colonel asked Timothy to convey to Nelson that he was going to invite the castle to surrender – and enquired if he had an officer who had the Spanish to translate it!
‘Sarah, we had no such man,’ Tim wrote. ‘And in any way, Nelson was by now too ill to speak or even think. To say that he was raving would be to risk his anger, but he was gripped with fever, and hallucinating. But even as I waited on him, hoping desperate that he would come to good again, I was interrupted with news of another messenger. And required to attend the colonel urgently.
‘You may imagine, if you will, the scene. Polson was standing by the roaring river in sight of San Juan castle, and I say roaring advisedly, because the sky was almost solid with the rain. The level of the water was rising inch by inch, and it had gone from a sleek, green, sinuous animal to a raging, tumbling torrent. Drawn up on the bank there was a pitpan, fully manned with Africans, jet black and magnificent. The colonel seized me by the arm.
‘“Despatches!”’ he shouted. ‘“Hastie, we will save your captain’s life! We have failed to persuade him he must go downriver, but now he can’t deny us! Despatches! Orders from Admiral Parker. He is to give Collingwood command of Hinchinbrook, and he is to go to Jamaica to be captain of the frigate Janus. Orders that will save his life.”’
It was two hours before Nelson was conscious enough to be told all this. Tim Hastie kept him quiet, refused to let Polson or Despard even enter his tent. But finally the deed was done, and Nelson was convinced.
Whether the castle fell or not, he would play no part in it. He had orders from his admiral, and Horatio Nelson, above all other things, would do his duty.
With the aerosol of rain misting the dull flax interior, Hastie leaned inwards, and the men embraced.
Please God, thought Tim, that there would still be time.
Nineteen
Nelson, too sick to walk or even stand unaided, dressed in his full uniform to make the journey down to Greytown. He would have been better carried in a cot, he would have been more comfortable in loose and unconstricting clothes. The gleaming eyes in the starkly ravaged faced brooked no argument.
‘Tim,’ he whispered, ‘I am post captain in dear England’s navy, and as such I will comport myself. Wash me, Tim, from the keelson up, then dress me in my finery.’
He even managed a ghostly laugh.
‘My finery. Ah, those were the merry days, eh
‘It was early, with Nelson thankfully asleep, and when I was hurried to the water, shots were flying round like wasps. God help me, Sarah – I found that I enjoyed it! To be doing something! To be beyond the smell of sickness and of death. One man was hit but three-foot from me – less – and I was not afeard, but exhilarated! And happily, dear girl, he was not badly hurt, and thanked me very pretty when I bound him up.
‘But happiness was short-lived. I am ashamed to tell it, cariad , but I must. Ten minutes afterwards, the attackers having been chased away, we came upon three victims of their jolly little outing. Three of our men, three sons of Liverpool, robbed, and killed, and naked on the strand. It is said the Dons will be out soon once more, in full force. And Nelson lies abed, and sweats, and groans. He will be so vexed that he has missed it.’
Hastie was right in his intelligence. That night the Spanish sallied out in strength, and the air was thick with musketry and yells. The Loyal Irish bore the brunt of the first wave, and two of them were killed, but Colonel Polson had pulled his men up forward just in time, and the battle, though extremely fierce, went to the English not too bloodily. Next day, the twenty eighth, the colonel asked Timothy to convey to Nelson that he was going to invite the castle to surrender – and enquired if he had an officer who had the Spanish to translate it!
‘Sarah, we had no such man,’ Tim wrote. ‘And in any way, Nelson was by now too ill to speak or even think. To say that he was raving would be to risk his anger, but he was gripped with fever, and hallucinating. But even as I waited on him, hoping desperate that he would come to good again, I was interrupted with news of another messenger. And required to attend the colonel urgently.
‘You may imagine, if you will, the scene. Polson was standing by the roaring river in sight of San Juan castle, and I say roaring advisedly, because the sky was almost solid with the rain. The level of the water was rising inch by inch, and it had gone from a sleek, green, sinuous animal to a raging, tumbling torrent. Drawn up on the bank there was a pitpan, fully manned with Africans, jet black and magnificent. The colonel seized me by the arm.
‘“Despatches!”’ he shouted. ‘“Hastie, we will save your captain’s life! We have failed to persuade him he must go downriver, but now he can’t deny us! Despatches! Orders from Admiral Parker. He is to give Collingwood command of Hinchinbrook, and he is to go to Jamaica to be captain of the frigate Janus. Orders that will save his life.”’
It was two hours before Nelson was conscious enough to be told all this. Tim Hastie kept him quiet, refused to let Polson or Despard even enter his tent. But finally the deed was done, and Nelson was convinced.
Whether the castle fell or not, he would play no part in it. He had orders from his admiral, and Horatio Nelson, above all other things, would do his duty.
With the aerosol of rain misting the dull flax interior, Hastie leaned inwards, and the men embraced.
Please God, thought Tim, that there would still be time.
Nineteen
Nelson, too sick to walk or even stand unaided, dressed in his full uniform to make the journey down to Greytown. He would have been better carried in a cot, he would have been more comfortable in loose and unconstricting clothes. The gleaming eyes in the starkly ravaged faced brooked no argument.
‘Tim,’ he whispered, ‘I am post captain in dear England’s navy, and as such I will comport myself. Wash me, Tim, from the keelson up, then dress me in my finery.’
He even managed a ghostly laugh.
‘My finery. Ah, those were the merry days, eh
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