Hope - Lesley Pearse [185]
On the march to Scutari, they were only allowed a mule to carry their baggage, yet some of the officers had a couple of mules and a horse too. But Hope didn’t mind the march, despite the heat. And she wouldn’t have complained about anything anyway for Bennett was now afraid he might be ordered to send her back to Malta in the company of some other officers’ wives, for the duration of the war.
Hope believed that she had already proved herself useful by nursing some of the men who had fallen sick in Gallipoli and dressing a bad cut on Lady Errol’s hand. She hoped that an exception would be made for her but she couldn’t count on it.
The first sight of the Turkish barracks which was to become the headquarters of the Guards and Light Divisions was a favourable one. It was a magnificent building, three storeys high, standing in a courtyard with a tower at each corner. Its position on high ground above a landing stage, the fir trees that surrounded it and the turquoise sea so close by were all very attractive.
A group of riflemen went in for a cursory inspection, but came running out only seconds later looking as green as their uniforms.
They claimed it was the worst thing they had ever seen, and as Bennett was aware that many of these men came from places every bit as bad as Lewins Mead, he realized it would be truly hideous.
As the regimental surgeon he was expected to join the full inspection, and on his return he told Hope that the men hadn’t exaggerated. It was utterly appalling, the courtyard awash with sewage from the blocked sewers beneath the building, a rotting horse’s carcass in the water supply, and the whole building full of every kind of putrefying rubbish, alive with vermin and fleas. There was no question of the Rifle Brigade taking up residence in the building, so a camp was set up far enough away from the barracks so that they couldn’t smell it.
Bennett was not himself that evening. He declined any food, didn’t smile when Hope pointed out that Lord and Lady Errol’s tent was completely transparent with a lamp lit inside, and that the men were strolling by in pretended nonchalance while Lady Errol removed her stays. He didn’t even look at her when she reminded him of the time early in their acquaintance when he’d said he wished he had a chance to camp out.
‘Tell me what is wrong,’ she begged him. ‘Is it concern that I’ll be sent back?’
‘Yes, I am concerned about that,’ he said. ‘But I’d rather you were back in England with my uncle and Alice than stuck in Malta.’
‘But that isn’t all of it?’
‘No,’ he sighed. ‘That filthy barn of a place is to become the main hospital for the campaign. The men can clean it, but we have no beds, blankets or medicine, and I fear that the sick and injured will be filling the place long before those back in England see fit to send us the equipment and provisions we need.’
‘You think there is going to be a battle soon?’ Hope asked. She couldn’t help but feel excited; many of the soldiers had confided in her that they couldn’t wait for the fighting to begin, and they’d infected her with their enthusiasm.
He shrugged. ‘I heard today they are hoping to take Sebastopol in the Crimea.’ He drew a rough map of the Black Sea in the dirt to show her where Sebastopol was. ‘But it’s worrying. I’m only a sawbones, but if I was commanding, the first thing I’d do would be to reconnoitre this place. Few among us can even say where it is, and no one knows how well it is defended. Our men’s uniforms are not suited to this warm climate, I do not think we have enough provisions, we have only a fraction of the medical equipment needed, and so far I have seen nothing that even approaches being suitable for use as an ambulance.