All in Scarlet Uniform (Napoleonic War 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

helped to win over Mr Garland, who seemed a good deal shrewder than either his wife or younger son.
    The young couple remained with the Garlands for a few days when Williams hurried to rejoin the battalion. Yet once her husband took her to Bristol on his way to Plymouth, Kitty would need the support of his family. Williams could already see his funds draining away, for even if Garland helped there were bound to be greater expenses.
    ‘Now come, all my brave lads, and enlist today in the finest regiment in the whole army!’ The drummer had finished and Lance Sergeant Dobson’s voice carried across the square. ‘The One Hundred and Sixth are taking just a few, high-spirited young men – those whose hearts beat high to tread the path to glory!’
    Williams moved to the side, waiting to play his own part.
    ‘We are the Hundred and Sixth and we are the youngest corps to serve the King. To our enemies we are a terror, and them Frenchies shake at the knees when they see us.’ He paused a moment for effect. ‘Almost as much as the village maidens’ hearts flutter at the sight of a fine young buck in the red facings of the Hundred and Sixth!’ Williams could not see Dobson through the crowd, but knew that he would now direct a wink and gesture towards the comeliest woman in sight. ‘Aye, miss, you know what I mean!’ There was laughter, as well as a few squeals of shock.
    ‘Look at me,’ said Dobson. ‘Almost an old man, and yet here I am with a new young wife just this year. Beautiful she is, and almost straight out of the nursery.’
    That was generous, and hid a tragedy. Dobson’s wife of many years, and the mother of his three children, had died in an accident during the retreat to Corunna. The new Mrs Dobson was widowed a week later. In the army way, they had remarried soon afterwards. Dobson must have been past forty, his gaunt face creased and tanned by a succession of tough campaigns. For all his years, he was as hard as the teak his skin resembled. Annie Dobson was scarcely a child, being twenty-seven, and her looks, though pleasant enough, were far from beauty, not least because she seldom smiled in company. Dobson’s wife was prim and very proper, and Williams had to admit that she had done her husband a world of good. In the past he had been frequently promoted and inevitably broken to the ranks for drinking. The death of one wife, and the arrival of a new one, had changed him, and the old veteran had been sober ever since. Williams hoped it would last.
    ‘It’s all because of these red facings and the bright red cross on the Colours of our regiment. We’re the youngest corps, and you all know that young men are the bravest and most vigorous.’ Williams imagined the prettiest woman again being singled out. ‘Only the best for the fair, for a beauteous maid can take her pick, can’t she, miss?’ More laughter, and louder, but less convinced squeaks of outrage.
    ‘That’s the One Hundred and Sixth! Always ready and always steady! The French know it and so do the lasses!’ Williams smiled as there was more laughter from the crowd. The motto was one devised by Lieutenant Colonel Moss, who had fallen in Portugal. Williams had once admired the man, but now understood that he was dangerously unwise and had led the battalion into a tight spot at Roliça, costing many more lives apart from his own. Moss had been ambitious, and ever eager to promote the regiment. Only he had ever used the slogan during his lifetime. Then, months later, it had reappeared as a joke, used more often to speak of women than of the French. Williams suspected that before he joined the army he would have found it vulgar, and yet now it made him laugh. He had marched and fought with the regiment for more than a year. The redcoats were often crude in speech and actions, unbecoming in appearance and had a capacity to drink themselves senseless and behave like beasts that far surpassed even that of his fellow officers. Williams still