



Produced by Al Haines.





[Illustration: "SETTING SPURS TO THEIR HORSES, THE FOUR MEN DASHED
FORWARD"]




                       *WITH THE BRITISH LEGION*

                      A STORY OF THE CARLIST WARS


                                   BY

                              G. A. HENTY

      Author of "With Roberts to Pretoria" "Held Fast for England"
                        "Under Drake's Flag" &c.



            _WITH TEN FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS BY WAL. PAGET_



                                 LONDON
              BLACKIE & SON, LIMITED, 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C.
                           GLASGOW AND DUBLIN
                                  1903




                               *PREFACE*

The story of the doings of the British Legion under Sir de Lacy Evans in
Spain is but little known.  The expedition was a failure, and that from
no want of heroic courage on the part of the soldiers, but from the most
scandalous neglect and ill-treatment by the Government of Queen
Christina.  So gross was this neglect that within six months of their
arrival in the Peninsula nearly five thousand, that is to say half the
Legion, had either died from want, privation, or fever in the hospitals
of Vittoria, or were invalided home.  The remainder, although ill-fed,
ill-clothed, and with their pay nine months in arrear, showed themselves
worthy of the best traditions of the British army, and it was only at
the end of their two years' engagement that, finding all attempts to
obtain fair treatment from the Government unavailing, they took their
discharge and returned home.

The history of their doings as described in the following story is
largely founded on a pamphlet by Alex. Somerville, a man of genius who
enlisted in the Legion; and the events subsequent to its disbandment are
taken from the work of Major Duncan, one of the Commissioners appointed
by the British Government to endeavour to see that the conditions of a
convention entered into by our Government and the leaders of the
contending parties in Spain were duly observed--a convention, however,
that had very small influence in checking the atrocities committed by
both combatants.

G. A. HENTY.




                               *CONTENTS*

CHAP.

      I. ENLISTED
     II. IN SPAIN
    III. AN ADVENTURE
     IV. THE FIRST FIGHT
      V. A FURIOUS STRUGGLE
     VI. A CAPTIVE
    VII. A GREAT CHANGE
   VIII. A DESPERATE ADVENTURE
     IX. THE ESCAPE
      X. A GOOD SERVICE
     XI. A THWARTED PLOT
    XII. A FIASCO
   XIII. A DESPERATE ATTEMPT
    XIV. A RESCUE
     XV. A CHALLENGE
    XVI. ENGAGED
   XVII. KIDNAPPED
  XVIII. ESCAPED
    XIX. MILITARY MOVEMENTS
     XX. THE END OF A FEUD
    XXI. HOME




                            *ILLUSTRATIONS*


"SETTING SPURS TO THEIR HORSES THE FOUR MEN DASHED FORWARD"
_Frontispiece_

ARTHUR MAKES HIS WAY THROUGH THE CARLIST LINES

"A SAIL WAS HOISTED AND THEY RAN OUT MERRILY"

"HE BEGAN TO DRAG HIMSELF ALONG"

"ARTHUR FLUNG HIM BACK ACROSS THE TABLE"

"QUEEN CHRISTINA HELD OUT HER HAND"

"AH!" HE SAID, "SO I HAVE LAID HANDS ON YOU AT LAST"

"LITTLE BY LITTLE ARTHUR'S ADVANCE ACCELERATED"

"A TALL MAN WITH A HARSH, ASCETIC FACE ENTERED"

"THE TWO WEAPONS FLASHED AT THE SAME MOMENT"




                       *WITH THE BRITISH LEGION*



                              *CHAPTER I*

                               *ENLISTED*


"Well, sir, I shall be glad to know what you intend to do next?"

There was no answer to the question, which, after a pause, was repeated
in the same cold tone.  "Don't know, uncle," came at last from the lips
of the boy standing before him.

"Nor do I, Arthur.  This is the fourth school from which I have been
requested to remove you.  When I sent you to Shrewsbury I told you that
it was your last chance, and now here you are back again.  Your case
seems hopeless.  By the terms of your father's will, which seems to have
been written with a prevision of what you were going to turn out, you
are not to come into your property until you arrive at the age of
twenty-five; though, as his executor, I was authorized to pay from the
incoming rents the cost of your education and clothes, and also a
certain amount for your expenses at the university, and when you took
your degree I was to let you have the sum of one hundred and fifty
pounds per year until you reached the age fixed for your coming into the
bulk of the fortune."

The speaker, Mr. Hallett, was a solicitor in Liverpool with a large
practice, which so occupied him that he was too busy to attend to other
matters.  At bottom he was not an unkindly man, but he had but little
time to give to home or family.  He had regarded it as a nuisance when
his elder brother died and left him sole trustee and guardian of his
son, then a boy of ten years old.  Arthur's father had been an invalid
for some years before he died, and the boy had been allowed to run
almost wild, and spent the greater part of his time in the open air.
Under the tuition of the grooms he had learned to ride well, and was
often away for hours on his pony; he had a daily swim in the river that
ran through the estate, and was absolutely fearless.  He had had narrow
escapes of being killed, from falling from trees and walls, and had
fought more than one battle with village boys of his own age.

His father, a weak invalid, scarcely attempted to control him in any
way, although well aware that such training was eminently bad for him;
but he knew that his own life was drawing to a close, and he could not
bear the thought of sending him to school, as his brother had more than
once advised him to do.  He did, however, shortly before his death, take
the latter's advice, and drew up a will which he hoped would benefit the
boy, by rendering it impossible for him to come into the property until
he was of an age to steady down.

"I foresee, Robert," the lawyer said, "that my post as guardian will be
no sinecure, and, busy as I am, I feel that I shall not have much time
to look after him personally; still, for your sake, I will do all that I
can for him.  It is, of course, impossible for me to keep him in my
house.  After the life he has led, it would be equally disagreeable to
him and to my wife, so he must go to a boarding-school."

And so at his brother's death the solicitor made enquiries, and sent the
boy to school at Chester, where he had heard that the discipline was
good.  Four months later Arthur turned up, having run away, and almost
at the moment of his arrival there came a letter from the principal,
saying that he declined to receive him back again.

"It is not that there is anything radically wrong about him, but his
disobedience to all the rules of the school is beyond bearing.  Flogging
appears to have no effect upon him, and he is altogether incorrigible.
He has high spirits and is perfectly truthful; he is bright and
intelligent.  I had intended to tell you at the end of the half-year
that I should be glad if you would take him away, for although I do not
hesitate to use the cane when necessary, I am not a believer in breaking
a boy's spirit; and when I find that even severe discipline is
ineffectual, I prefer to let other hands try what they can do. I
consider that his faults are the result of bad training, or rather, so
far as I can see, of no training at all until he came to me."

At his next school the boy stayed two years.  The report was similar to
that from Chester.  The boy was not a bad boy, but he was always getting
into mischief and leading others into it.  Complaints were continually
being made, by farmers and others, of the breaking down of hedges, the
robbing of orchards, and other delinquencies, in all of which deeds he
appeared to be the leader; and as punishment seemed to have no good
effect the head-master requested Mr. Hallett to remove him.

The next experiment lasted eighteen months, and he was then expelled for
leading a "barring-out" as a protest against an unpopular usher.  He had
then been sent to Shrewsbury, from which he had just returned.

"The lad," the head-master wrote, "has a good disposition. He is
intelligent, quick at his books, excellent in all athletic exercises,
honourable and manly; but he is a perpetual source of trouble.  He is
always in mischief; he is continually being met out of bounds; he is
constantly in fights--most of them, I am bound to say, incurred on
behalf of smaller boys.  His last offence is that he got out of his room
last night, broke the window of one of the masters, who had, he
considered, treated him unfairly, and threw a large number of crackers
into his room.  He was detected climbing up to his own window again by
the house master, who, having been awakened by the explosions, had
hastily gone round to the boys' rooms.  After this I felt that I could
keep him no longer; discipline must be sustained.  At the same time I am
sorry at being compelled to say that he must leave.  He is a favourite
in the school, and has very many good qualities; and his faults are the
faults of exuberant spirits and not of a bad disposition."

"Now, to return to my question," continued Mr. Hallett, "what do you
mean to do?  You are too old to send to another school, even if one
would take you, which no decent institution would do now that you have
been expelled from four schools in succession, winding up with
Shrewsbury. I have spoken to you so often that I shall certainly not
attempt so thankless a task again.  As to your living at my house, it is
out of the question.  I am away the whole day; and your aunt tells me
that at the end of your last holidays you were making your two cousins
tomboys, and that although she liked you very much she really did not
feel equal to having you about the house for six weeks at a time.  You
cannot complain that I have not been frank with you.  I told you, when
you came home from your first school, the provisions of your father's
will, and how matters stood.  I suppose you have thought, on your way
from Shrewsbury, as to your future?  You were well aware that I was not
the sort of man to go back from what I said.  I warned you solemnly,
when you went to Shrewsbury, that it was the last chance I should give
you, and that if you came back again to this place I should wash my
hands of you, except that I should see the terms of the will strictly
carried out.

"Of course, your father little dreamt of such a situation as has arisen,
or he would have made some provision for it; and I shall therefore
strain a point, and make you an allowance equal to the sum your
schooling has cost.  According to the wording of the will I am certainly
not empowered to do so, but I do not think that even a judge in the
Court of Chancery would raise any objection.  I have ordered your boxes
to be taken to the Falcon Hotel.  You will find there a letter from me
addressed to you, enclosing four five-pound notes.  The same sum will be
sent to you every two months to any address that you may send to me.
You will, I hope, communicate with me each time you receive your
remittance, acquainting me with what you are doing.  I may tell you that
I have determined on this course with some hopes that when you are your
own master you will gain a sufficient sense of responsibility to steady
you.  At the end of two years, if you desire to go to the university you
will receive the allowance there which would be suitable for you.  I
have thought this matter over very carefully and painfully, Arthur.  I
talked it over with your aunt last night.  She is deeply grieved, but
she agrees with me that it is as good a plan as can be devised for you.
You cannot go to school again; we cannot have you at home on our hands
for two years."

"Thank you!" the lad said; "I know I have been a frightful trouble to
you, and I am not surprised that I have worn out your patience."

"I wish you to understand, Arthur, that the course has been made easier
to your aunt and myself, because we are convinced that with all your
boyish folly you can be trusted not to do anything to disgrace your
father's name, and that these two years of what I may call probation
will teach you to think for yourself; and at its termination you will be
ready to go to the university to prepare yourself for the life of a
country gentleman which lies before you.  If you will let me advise you
at all, I should say that as a beginning you might do worse than put a
knapsack on your back and go for a walking tour of some months through
England, Scotland, and Ireland, after which you might go on to the
Continent for a bit. I don't like to influence your decision, but I know
that you will never be content to stay quiet, and this would be a way of
working off your superfluous energy.  Now, lad, we will shake hands.  I
am convinced that your experience during the next two years will be of
great value to you, and I ask you to believe that in what we have
decided upon we have had your own good even more than our comfort at
heart."

"I will think it over, uncle," the lad said, his face clearing up
somewhat, "and will write to tell you and my aunt what I am going to do.
I suppose you have no objection to my saying good-bye to my aunt and my
cousins before I go?"

"No objection at all.  You have done nothing dishonourable; you have let
your spirits carry you away, and have shown a lamentable contempt for
discipline.  These are fault that will cure themselves in time.  Come,
by all means, to see your aunt before you go."

Arthur Hallett left his uncle's office in somewhat low spirits.  He was
conscious that his uncle's indignation was natural, and that he
thoroughly deserved it.  He had had a jolly time, and he was sorry that
it was over; but he was ashamed of the trouble he had given his uncle
and aunt, and quite expected that they would not again receive him.  His
only fear had been that his uncle would at once place him with some
clergyman who made a speciality of coaching troublesome boys; and he had
determined that after the liberty and pleasant life at Shrewsbury he
could never put up with that.  But upon the way by coach to Liverpool he
had read a placard which had decided him.  It ran as follows:--

"Smart young men required for the British Legion now being formed.  A
bounty of two pounds and free kit will be given to each applicant
accepted.  For all particulars apply at the Recruiting Office, 34 the
Quay, Liverpool."

"That is just the thing for me," he said to himself.  "Till I saw that,
I had intended to enlist; but there is no chance of a war, and I expect
I should get into all sorts of mischief in no time.  This legion, I
know, is going out to fight in Spain. I read all about it some time ago.
There will be excitement there, and I dare say hard work, and possibly
short rations. However, that will make no odds to me.  It will be
something