Disclaimer: These are works of fan-fiction created for entertainment. It is not the intention of the author to infringe on anyone's copyright. No rights infringement intended. Warning: General Audience

The Sharpe Fan Fictions of Paul K.

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Sharpe's Family

PART IV

April 1793

Chapter 14

APRIL 1793
YORKSHIRE – PENNINE HILLS

Richard woke to the sound of Lear snorting and rattling his bridle. It was damn cold, but the rain had stopped and the sun was shining between the clouds for short periods. “Hungry, Lear? So am I. Nothing here in the woods. Can’t ride you. I can go faster alone.” He stretches as he rises, then approaches Lear. As he removes the bridle to free Lear. “Thank you for your help, Lear.” He points Lear to the west then slaps the horse on its hind quarter. Lear reacts to the slap by running forward on the trail. Richard watches the horse run away until the animal vanishes into the woods.

When the horse has clearly gone, Richard finds the sun. He doesn’t know the time, but thinks that the sun is to the south. “This stream goes south. I need to avoid Sheffield. People know Eagleton there. Oakworth is away from the Sheffield road. Need to go west and south.”

The Pennines hills border Yorkshire and Essex. It is very hilly and wooded terrain. Even though the stream provided a course for him to follow, Richard could go only very slowly. Twice the stream crossed roads that ran east to west. He was not ready yet to risk walking along a road, so continued in the stream. When the course turned sharply to his right he had to make a decision. Where the stream turned, a trail continued south. He was tired of walking in the water, so he chose the trail.

Shortly the trail came to the intersection of two roads. He waited in the trees to watch and listen for any traffic. When he sees nor hears no one, he cautiously follows the road. The woods are closer to the roadway on the right side of the road. He chooses to walk along that edge. If he hears or sees someone he can quickly move into the woods to hide. To his left, he can see an occasional building. At one point he sees on that horizon what appears to be a village. He is hungry, but not ready to risk meeting someone.

“Oakworth? “ He wonders. With another quick look, he continues along the edge of the road.

As the sun sets, he sees a village before him. The road goes into the village. If he wants to avoid people, he will need to leave the road to go around. The village has a church and a building adjacent to it. He watches a man dressed as a parson come and go from both buildings. When the man returns to the house, Richard approaches the church to see if there might be something to eat. It is dark, but a small candle burns on the altar. Next to the candle, he finds the box that contains bread and wine for serving the sacraments.. He grabs each, then leaves the church quickly. When he is safely away from the village, he eats.

“Too dark to go on.” He finds a spot to sleep. It will be cold again. He would like to find a barn instead of only a hole in the woods. “Maybe tomorrow, I can find food and a place to sleep out of the weather.”

For twelve days, Richard cautiously made his way south around the villages of Oxenhope, Hardcastle Crags, Henden Bridge, Mytholmroyd, and Luddenden Foot. He did not know the names of these villages as he passed Along the way he did find barns to sleep and food to steal. His progress was slow. The country here is very rugged.

Today, before him is another village, Sowerby Bridge. It is a small market town. When he woke he could hear the sounds of carts and travellers heading from the fields. As he watches from the trees outside the village, he hears the sound of a drum. He worries that he is not far enough from Keighley yet. Although he wants to avoid meeting people, the sound of the drum and his hunger help him to choose to go into the village. .

He moved from the trees to the road after a cart with only a single man guiding the horsee passes him. He walks along behind the cart and on the opposite side of the man. No one pays attention to him because they people on the street are drawn to the sould of the drum. In the village square, Richard sees a boy playing the drum that he heard. He notes that the drummer wears a uniform of white breeches, black gaiters and a black furry cap. The two men on either side of him wore red. One looked very young. He wore a red coat with a crimson sash around his waist. From his waist hangs a sword. On his head, he wears a black bicorne hat sideways. The other man looks much older. His uniform seemed to be the same as the younger man. This man holds a pole with an axe that has a long point on the end of the pole. A bread cake almost one foot in diameter is stuck on the point. The younger man signals the drummer to stop. He raises his voice to address the small crowd.

“Lads of Yorkshire! Come to me!” He calls out three times. Richard decides that he can join the group around the drummer without drawing attention.

When a group of more than ten men have gathered in a semi-circle around him, the younger man continues. “Are you hungry? How much money do you have? Do you have clothes to keep you warm? Come join the 33rd Regiment of Foot. We will give you one shilling for every day you are a soldier. We will feed you. You will wear a fine, warm uniform, like we wear.” He pauses while the drummer beats the drum.

“Come join Sergeant Hakeswill. Learn more about our regiment.” He instructs the drummer to beat the drum and march towards the tavern. The older man follows the drummer.

Richard watches many of the men around him follow the soldiers. “They have food and drink. I am hungry. It may be warm. With so many, no one will notice me. I can hide in the shadows of the room.” He decides to join them.

Inside, the man called Sergeant Hakeswill gathers the men around himself at a table. Richard did not know why the older man listened to the younger. To him, both wore the same uniform. “What is a sergeant?”

Now that they are inside, the soldiers remove their hats. Richard immediately is drawn to the older man’s face. Whether the man talked or was silent, his face twitched uncontrollably. He never holds his head erect, but always holds it towards his right side. What caught and held his gaze the longest was the heavy scarring around the man’s neck. It seemed that the man’s neck had been twisted “Is that why he leans to the right?”

The older man stood behind the men seated at the table. As he circles them, he calls to the tavern owner. “Ale! Ale! My lads need Ale!

“Here, my gentleman soldiers.” He carries a bread cake that he breakes into pieces to give to each man. “Eat! Havercake for each of you.”

Richard is hungry and thirsty. He is not sure how the men will try to have him join the army. “They want us. I can join with them to get away from here. If I don’t like it, I can run away later.” He sits with the others. The tavern owner brings him a mug of ale. Shortly, the Sergeant stands behind him. “Ah, big fellow you are. Come, join us. Eat our havercake.” He breaks a piece for Richard. Richard eagerly consumes both.

The men drink mug after mug of ale. By late evening, the heat from the inn’s fire and the effects of ale and food cause the men to sleep where they sit.

What none of them knows is that with the last ale served, the tavern owner had placed a shilling in each man’s mug. In taking his mug, the man is deemed to have agreed to enlist. The shilling is his first day’s pay.

The tavern owner knows this is a trick that the soldiers play. He gladly joins the trick because he makes a handsome profit from ‘gentlemen soldiers’. The Sergeant does not pay for the ale and food. The ‘gentlemen soldiers’ will pay for it from the shillings they just earned.

Richard woke to the sounds of the others stirring around him. He is thirsty. His mug remains before him. As he drains it, he finds the shilling. Behind him, the Sergeant greets him. “Welcome to the 33rd. Time to pay for your meal.” Before Richard can react, the Sergeant takes the coin from him. Angrily, he tries to stand, but another man dressed in red pushes him back to his seat.

The younger man from yesterday enters the tavern before Richard can make another move.

“I am Ensign Elliott. You men have chosen to join us in the 33rd Regiment.” Elliott scans the derelict bodies lying about the floor.

“Sergeant, get them up.”

“Up sir, Yes sir. Right away, sir.”

To the drummer, “Allen, beat us a tattoo.”

Allen raises his sticks, then beats a roll on the drum.”

Richard’s head throbs to the beat of the drum. The sergeant kicks him. Then moves to the man lying next to him.

“Up, boys, up! Time to go join our army.”

Hakeswill moved around the room until all of those on the floor were standing. The boy next to Sharpe moves towards the door to try to get away.

“Private Kenning. Stop that one.”

“Sir.” The private holds his weapon across his chest as he stands in front of the door.

Ensign Elliott addresses the group of twelve men. “Welcome to the 33rd. Sergeant, time to take them to see the doctor. March them outside, if you please.” Elliott leaves Hakeswill to get the recruits out.

“Sir, yes sir, Outside. Doctor. Yes, sir.”

“You heard the officer. Collen. Clark. Savage. Get ‘em outside.” Hakeswell’s face twitches as he tries to smile.

The privates move to herd the group of men toward the door. Kenning opens the door before going out walking slowly backwards to form a barrier to any who may bolt once outside. The ‘volunteers’ shuffle out with him. Another of the privates stepped out after four had left the inn. Then after another four go, a third private exits. Sharpe is tenth in line. The fourth private steps behind him to escort the final three out. Hakeswill and Allen are the last to leave.

When they are all outside, Hakeswill asked “Line them up, sir? Off to Halifax?”

“Yes, sergeant. We have enough for this time. Column of two’s, if you please.”

“Yes, sir. Column of two’s, sir.”

“Kenning, form them into two’s.”

“Yes sergeant. Two’s.”

Kenning pushes two of his wards to the front of the third. He then grabs the collar of one from Colleen’s to add to his single. He repeats this with Sharpe’s group. Sharpe is selected as the single to add to one from the last group. The privates form up to the side of the six rows of volunteers. Kenning reports, “Column of two’s ready Sergeant.”

“Mr. Elliott, column of two’s ready, sir.”

“Very good Sergeant. Get them going. Give us a beat to walk, eh?”

“Sir, yes sir. Allen, boy. Beat us quick march.”

Allen uses one stick to beat a cadence for them to walk. It is three miles from Sowerby Bridge to Halifax. Elliott hopes to be there in time for a decent breakfast. With twelve recruits, he has met his quota for the month and will be able to stay in quarters until next month. They did well, even better than if he had if he had recruited in Sheffield. Sheffield is well known for a pub on Pond Street called the Hawle in the Pond The 33rd's recruiters always do well there, especially on market days. But, it is not season for markets. So they had gone north and west. Now, once he finishes these with the doctor and the magistrate, he will turn them over to the guards who will take them to Ireland. They will join the few that were collected from Sheffield.

No one would have mistaken the group for soldiers. Their clothing was mixed. They walked, not marched. But, the guard soldiers kept them moving at a pace to arrive at Halifax within an hour of leaving. Whenever one of the recruits would speak for any reason, Sergeant Hakeswill would call out. “Silence in the ranks. Silence that boy!” One of the privates would use the butt of his musket to hit the offender on the side of the head lightly enough to stop the talking, but not to hurt in a way that would halt the march.

At the end of an hour, the group entered Halifax and had arrived at the building that served as the 33rd’s depot. Halifax is home base for the 33rd, but the battalion is currently serving in Ireland. The men will go to Kinsale to be trained as soldiers. The recruits were stopped in front of the building. “Keep them here until we get the doctor.”

“Sir, Wait here for the doctor. Yes, Sir.”

Elliott enters the building. Shortly after, a boy exits the doorway to run down the street.

One of the recruits speaks up.” I’m hungry. When do we eat?”

Hakeswill quickly goes to the one who spoke out. “Boy, who said you could talk? You don’t talk unless I tells you to talk. Says so in the Scriptures. Shut your gob until then.”

“I’m hungry. We ain’t had nothin’ to eat since last night.”

Hakeswill punches the boy in the stomach. “NO TALKING! You don’t learn very fast do ya? What’s your name?”

The boy doesn’t reply. He looks up to Hakeswill to make sure that it is not a trick to punch the boy again.

“What’s your name, I said.?” Hakeswill’s twitch becomes faster as he becomes agitated by the offending recruit.

“Palin.”

“Palin, is it? Palin, you get to eat when you are official soldiers. Not before. The doctor will say if you are fit. Then you need to make your mark. After, you may eat. Now, stand up.”

Palin wants to say more, but has learned that he should remain silent.

Up the street, the boy returns with another man.

“Kenning, line them up for the doctor.”

Kenning stands in front of the two rows. “Turn your faces towards me, boys.” Slowly everyone in the two rows turns towards the private. “Now, back row, move up to the front row. Make one row.” Richard had been behind. He moves up between two of the others. To make room, in the first row, those in the front row have to move to one side or the other. After some shoving and pushing, they are formed into one row.

The boy brings the doctor to Hakeswill. “Boy, go get Mr. Elliott. Good morning doctor. Twelve volunteers for you to examine, sir.”

“Good morning to you too, sergeant. Very good. Twelve to examine.”

“Boys, you may speak when the doctor talks to you. Until then, silence. Face forward.”

While the doctor begins to examine the men, Ensign Elliott joins the group. The boy who brought the doctor runs off down the street again.

The doctor starts with the man at the opposite end of the row from Sharpe. He listens to the doctor question the boy’s age, to open his mouth, hold out his arms, bend forward at the waist, squat and then stand again. He repeats this with each until he reaches Sharpe.

“How old are you?”

Sharpe won’t be sixteen for another two months, as best he knows. But, he learned that he needs to be eighteen to enlist. He doesn’t hesitate to reply, “Eighteen.”

The doctor looks at him to study him. “Eighteen? You look younger than eighteen.”

“Yes, eighteen. My babyface makes me look younger. Have more hair on my ass than on my chin. Don’t need to shave much yet. When I look angry, you can see my age.”

The doctor isn’t so sure. “Show me your angry face.”

Sharpe stares at the doctor. Then with all the malice that he can think of, clenches his teeth, furls his brow and raises a fist .

“I’m still not sure that you are eighteen. That face don’t tell me much.”

The doctor moves on to the next recruit. When he finishes all twelve, he reports to Ensign Elliott. “I declare all of these men, of age” He turns to Sharpe, then back. “And, fit to serve.” Elliott pulls a coin from his vest to pay the doctor for his services.

“Thank you doctor.”

Without looking back, the doctor leaves them. Sharpe watches him go. He is relieved that he has passed the first test. As they wait for the magistrate to arrive, he worries that word of the murder at Keighley has traveled here. Will he be arrested? Many petty criminals have escaped to the army or navy, but murderers hang. “I should o’ made up a name. Not used my real name.”

Within the hour, a man returns with Elliott’s messenger boy. “Good morning Magistrate Turner. Good to see you again.”

“Yes, yes, Elliott. It is good to see you too. Let’s be quick about this. I have other business today.” Without pausing, he enters the building.

“Give us a minute, Sergeant, then send them in one by one.”

“Sir, a minute. One-by-one. Yes, sir.”

Hakeswill stands in front of the line of recruits. He twitches twice before addressing them. “You heard the officer.” He points to his left. “When I says so, you will go in. When you come back out, you will join the line again, there.” He points to his right. “The rest of you will move to your right so’s you can be in front of me here before you goes in."

After a brief pause, he points, “You, first one. Go.”

One after the other the men go into the building and then return. When Sharpe moves in front of Hakeswill, his dread increases. “What will the magistrate do when he hears his name?”

“Sharpe, ain’t it?”

Sharpe looks at him. “Yes.”

“Yes, sergeant, you say. Says so in the Scriptures. Me bein’ a sergeant and you not.”

“Yes, sergeant.”

“Babyface? Hair on your ass? You ain’t eighteen, Sharpe?”

“Yes, sergeant, eighteen.”

“I don’t believe you. But, you’s a big un. We can make you’s a soldier. Not eighteen. Baby boy you are. We can make you cry, baby boy.”

Before Sharpe can reply, it is his turn to go in.

“Go, Sharpe.”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

Inside, the magistrate sits at a small desk. There are two stacks of paper before him. From one, he pulls a sheet that is printed with the words that commit a recruit to the army. Sharpe can’t read or write, so he does not know what the paper says.

“State your name.”

“Richard Sharpe.”

The magistrate writes “Richard Sharpe”. Richard watches the magistrate write. This is the first time that he has seen anyone write his name. He has never learned to read or write. As he watches the letters spread across the paper, he wonders if he will remember what his name looks like on paper. Now is not the time, but he thinks that it would be good to learn how to read and write his own name. For now, he watches to see if the magistrate will react to the name. The magistrate continues to look at the paper while he writes Sharpe's name. He looks up to give him the quill pen.

“Here, write your name or make your mark.”

Richard is relieved that the magistrate does not ask him any questions.

“Can’t write, sir.”

“Make your mark, like this.” The magistrates strokes the quill in the air to show how to make a mark.

Richard takes the pen, strokes two lines to make an X on the sheet, then returns the pen to the magistrate. The magistrate dusts the sheet to dry the ink, then places the paper on the other pile.

“Welcome to the Army, Richard Sharpe. Next.”

Elliott points Richard to the door after he has finished signing. Outside, he walks to the end of the line that Sergeant Hakeswill had instructed. When he joins the line again, he breathes a deep sigh. He stands with the others as he waits until all have met with the magistrate.

Richard Sharpe has joined the army.



APRIL
SHEFFIELD

Mr. Glover greeted each coach that came from Keighley to see if there was news of Mr. Eagleton. Each day, the message was the same – nothing. Eagleton and his horse had vanished.

As Eagleton owned the inns alone, Glover had no one to talk with. The business manager in London arranged to pay the employees and keep the coaches running.

Glover decided to ask Eagleton’s solicitor for advice. “Eagleton gone? No sign of him, eh? He thought about options before he replied. “Mr. Eagleton left no instructions what to do with his money or the business should he expire. I suppose that you can continue to run the business for six months. After, if Eagleton is not yet found, you can find someone to buy the business AND settle any and all debts that he may hold. I will recommend that you, Mr. Glover and the others in Eagleton’s business establishments share the profits from the sale.” Glover, the only man who would want to continue to search for Eagleton and ultimately for Richard Sharpe, didn’t know what else to do. So, he waited.

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