第 42 页

more to say to Mr. Weale."

So saying, without further word, the three went out.

Upon rejoining the officer without, Lord Beresford directed that a

sergeant and ten men were to be quartered in the house, and that a

sentry was to be placed at each entrance night and day, and that the

banker was not to be permitted to stir out under any pretence whatever

until further orders.

"There, lads, I congratulate you heartily," he said as they issued

from the gate, in answer to the warm thanks in which the boys

expressed their gratitude to him; "it is a stroke of luck indeed that

you came with me to Bordeaux. It was rough-and-ready justice, and I

don't suppose a court of law in England would approve of it; but we

are under martial law, so even were that fellow disposed to question

the matter, which you may be very sure he will not, we are safe

enough. They say 'ill-gotten gains fly fast' but the scamp has

prospered on the money he stole. He owned to having another hundred

thousand safe in the States, and no doubt he has at least as much more

in securities of one sort or other here. I daresay he was in earnest

when he said that he did not mind paying the money to get rid of the

chance of detection and punishment, which must have been ever in his

mind. The best thing you can do, Scudamore, is to write to James

Pearson--he's my solicitor in London--and give him authority to

present this draft, and invest the sum in your joint names in good

securities. Inclose the draft. I shall be sending off an orderly with

despatches and letters at daybreak, and if you give me your letter

to-night, I will inclose it in a note of my own to Pearson."

Five days later an order arrived for Lord Beresford to leave the

seventh division under Lord Dalhousie, in Bordeaux, and to march with

the fourth division to join the Commander-in-Chief, who was gradually

drawing near to Toulouse, beneath whose walls Soult was reorganizing

his army. The position was a very strong one, and had been rendered

almost impregnable by fortifications thrown upon the heights.

Wellington had, too, the disadvantage of having to separate his army,

as the town lay upon both sides of the Garonne.

On the 10th of April the allied army attacked. Hill attacked the

defences of the town on the left bank, while Freyre's Spaniards,

Picton, with the third and light divisions, and Beresford with the

fourth and the sixth divisions, assaulted a French position. The

entrenchments in front of Picton were too strong to be more than

menaced. Freyre's Spaniards were repulsed with great loss, and the

brunt of the battle fell upon Beresford's division, which nobly

sustained the character of the British soldier for stubborn valor

in this the last battle of the war. The French fought stubbornly

and well, but fort by fort the British drove them from their strong

positions, and at five in the afternoon Soult withdrew the last of his

troops in good order across the canal which separated the position

they had defended from the town itself. The French lost five generals

and 3000 killed and wounded; the allies four generals and 4659 killed

and wounded, of which 2000 were Spaniards, for they upon this occasion

fought bravely, though unsuccessfully.

On the 11th all was quiet, Wellington preparing for an attack upon the

city on the following day. Soult, however, finding that the British

cavalry had been sent off so as to menace his line of retreat,

evacuated the city in the night, drew off his army with great order

and ability, and by a march of twenty-two miles placed it in safety.

Upon the morning of the 12th Wellington entered Toulouse, and the

same afternoon two officers, one British, the other French, arrived

together from Paris, with the news of the abdication of Napoleon, and

the termination of the war.

These officers had been detained for two days at Blois by the

officials there, and this delay had cost the blood of 8000 men, among

whom was Tom Scudamore, who had his left arm carried away by a cannon

ball. Sam, in the act of carrying his master from the field, was also

severely wounded in the head with a musket ball.

Before the battle was fought they had received news from England that

the draft had been paid at the Bank of England, and that their future

was in consequence secure. The war being over, officers unattached to

regiments had little difficulty in getting leave of absence, as the

troops were to be embarked for England as soon as possible. Peter's

application, therefore, to accompany his brother was acceded to

without hesitation, and ten days after the battle of Toulouse he was

on board ship with Tom and Sam, both of whom were doing well. Three

days afterwards they landed in England.

Rhoda met them, with Miss Scudamore, at Portsmith, having received a

letter telling them of Tom's wound, and of their being upon the point

of sailing. There was a great reduction of the army at the end of the

war, and the Scudamores were both placed upon half pay. This was a

matter of delight to Rhoda, and of satisfaction to themselves. They

had had enough of adventure to last for a life-time; and with the

prospect of a long peace the army no longer offered them any strong

attraction.

When they returned to Miss Scudamore's their old friend Dr. Jarvis

came to visit them, and a happier party could not have been found in

England. The will of Mr. Scudamore, made before he was aware of his

ruin, was now acted upon. He had left 20,000_l._ to Rhoda, and the

rest of his fortune in equal parts between his boys. Both Tom and

Peter were fond of a country life, and they bought two adjoining

estates near Oxford, Rhoda agreeing to stop with them and Miss

Scudamore alternately.

For a brief time there was a break in their happiness, Napoleon

escaped from Elba, and Europe was in a flame again. All the officers

on half pay were ordered to present themselves for duty, and the

Scudamores crossed with the army to Belgium, and fought at Waterloo.

Neither were hurt, nor was Sam, who had of course accompanied them.

Waterloo gave them another step in rank, and the Scudamores returned

as colonels to England.

It was their last war. A few years afterwards they married sisters,

and Rhoda having the year previous married a gentleman whose estate

was in the same county, they remained as united as ever. Sambo held

for many a year the important position of butler to Tom, then he found

that one of the housemaids did not regard his color as any insuperable

obstacle, and they were accordingly married. It was difficult to say

after this exactly the position which Sam held. He lived at a cottage

on the edge of the estate, where it joined that of Peter, and his time

was spent in generally looking after things at both houses, and as

years went on his great delight was, above all things, to relate to

numerous young Scudamores the adventures of their father and uncle

when he first knew them as the Young Buglers.

THE END.

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