The covenant - James A. Michener [453]
'At Spion Kop he was a disaster.
'At Spion Kop he relied upon General Warren. Now he relies on himself.'
'Are you defending Sir Reverse?'
'I am. He's no Roberts, flying off all over the place. He's no Kitchener, blustering into cannon fire. He's an elderly general with a smart sense of warfare and a devotion to his men.'
Buller proved this in an embarrassing way, for in the hearing of the visiting colonel he said, 'Saltwood, we're facing the final push. Go down to Trianon and fetch me five hundred of their best sparkling. It may not be champagne, but it does taste good at the end of a long march. And fetch some beer for the men.'
When the two junior officers were alone, the visitor said, 'He never took a long march in his life.'
'I can assure you of one thing,' Saltwood said. 'On the day of victory, Old Buller will be the one marching in. Not fast, mind you. But very steady.' And when the sneering colonel had departed, Frank realized to his amazement that he had grown to love the Ferryman of the Tugela, for Redvers Buller, with his squinting eyes and eggplant head and telescope between his toes, knew what war was, how it should be fought, and how it could be won.
When he reached the Trianon vineyards to commandeer the best part of their bottling, Saltwood found that his wife had come east from Cape Town to share a few days with him, and from her he learned that the war had taken a dramatic turn, about which he had heard nothing.
Maud was worried: 'Frank, do you think General Roberts is justified in this move?'
'It's brilliant. Two armies concentrating on the last railroad the Boers have. It'll end the war.'
'I don't mean the railroad. I mean the scorched earth.' He would always remember that she was incredibly beautiful as she first uttered these words: the sunlight of Trianon fell on her auburn hair, outlining the wondrous curls and twists she used for controlling it, and her eyes glowed with that intensity she had shown when first he met her. War and decisions were forgotten as he leaned over to kiss her, but after a kind of routine compliance she returned to her concern.
'Yes, he's given orders to the burghers: "Lay down your arms or we will burn your farms and devastate your fields. If you fight, you will starve." ' She took a deep breath. 'Really, Frank, is that decent warfare?'
'Well, they're a difficult enemy. You scotch them here, they break out there. I hadn't heard of the new order . . .'
She produced a copy, signed by General Roberts, and he saw that she had reported it correctly. 'Looks sensible to me. We've defeated them, you knowtotally defeated themand these regulations apply only to the scattered remnants.'
'But they sound so barbaric. They don't sound like my England at all. They sound like Genghis Khan.'
'These are the mopping-up days of the war, Maud. We're gleaning the last sheaves.'
'Then why are you here buying wine for your stupid general?'
'Maud, he's not stupid. He's a man who knows exactly what he's doing, although I didn't use to think so.'
'But why the wine?'
Her chin tilted forward, and the hardness which she could command when confronted by stupidity showed itself. Frank became irritated by her questioning and blurted out: 'Because he likes to have an orderly mess, even in wartime. And he does so because he's the nephew of a great duke, who gives him the money to spend as he sees fit. He sees fit to buy champagne, that's why.'
It was a silly answer and he realized this as soon as the words were spoken. 'It's been a long, trying year,' he said. 'But I've grown fond of Old Buller, and you'd be ashamed of me if I deserted him now.'
'I'm sorry if I spoke harshly,' she said with such sweet innocence that he had to embrace her, but even as he kissed her, she returned to her concern: 'Is General Buller burning farms?'
'He could never do that. He fights armies, not women and children.'
'But it's an order. From Roberts.'