‘A terrible waste,’ Arthur muttered as he surveyed the thick carpet of bodies surrounding the mouth of the gully. Dusk was gathering over the battlefield and a working party from the Rifles was gathering up the bodies of Lake’s battalion and carrying them to a mass grave that had been dug a short distance away.

‘Indeed, sir.’ Somerset sighed. ‘And to such little effect.’

‘Have they found Lake?’

‘Yes, sir. He was near the bottom of the pile. Must have been killed almost as soon as he emerged from the gully.’

‘Where is he?’

‘I’ve had the body taken to Roliça for burial in a private grave, sir.’

‘Very well.’ Arthur nodded and then asked the question he had been avoiding. ‘And the final butcher’s bill?’

‘Four hundred and fifty confirmed dead so far. Mostly from the Twenty-Ninth. Over seven hundred French accounted for, sir.’

‘Not quite a pyrrhic victory then,’ Arthur mused and then smiled bitterly.‘Here we are, somewhat less than fifteen thousand of us in Iberia against over a hundred thousand Frenchmen. Unless our soldiers can account for theirs at a ratio of one for ten, we have scant prospect of victory as things stand.’

Somerset shrugged. ‘Then it is up to our generals to improve the odds, sir.’

Arthur looked at him and smiled. ‘You are right. I will do my best.’

‘I would expect nothing less, sir.’

Arthur awoke with a start as someone shook his shoulder. A figure with a lantern was standing over his camp bed. Arthur blinked and then squinted past the flare of light to see Somerset in a loose shirt and breeches.

‘What time is it?’ Arthur mumbled.

‘Just past three in the morning, sir.’

‘What’s happened?’ Arthur sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

‘Just had word from the fleet, sir. Reinforcements have arrived. Four thousand men.They will begin landing the day after tomorrow.’

‘Where?’

‘At the mouth of the Maceira river. Near the village of Vimeiro, sir. A day’s march from here.’

Arthur smiled. Somerset must have been roused only shortly before he had come to wake his commander and had already marshalled the important details.

‘Very well. We will move the army towards Vimeiro at first light to cover the landing.’

‘Yes, sir.’

There was something in Somerset’s tone that made Arthur realise there was more news, something altogether less agreeable. He looked up at his aide. ‘Well?’

‘There’s a sloop following a day behind the reinforcements. Sir Harry Burrard is aboard.’

Arthur nodded wearily. So that was it then. It seemed his short tenure of command was about to come to an end. He sighed.

‘Have my steward prepare my best uniform. I will need to report to Sir Harry the moment his ship arrives.’

Chapter 45

Chapter 45