The Trumpet-Major by Thomas Hardy

The trumpet-major now contrived to place himself near her, Anne's / presence having evidently been a great pleasure to him since the moment / of his first seeing her. She was quite at her ease with him, and asked / him if he thought that Buonaparte would really come during the summer, / and many other questions which the gallant dragoon could not answer, but / which he nevertheless liked to be asked. William Tremlett, who had not / enjoyed a sound night's rest since the First Consul's menace had become / known, pricked up his ears at sound of this subject, and inquired if / anybody had seen the terrible flat-bottomed boats that the enemy were to / cross in.

'My brother Robert saw several of them paddling about the shore the last / time he passed the Straits of Dover,' said the trumpet-major; and he / further startled the company by informing them that there were supposed / to be more than fifteen hundred of these boats, and that they would carry / a hundred men apiece. So that a descent of one hundred and fifty / thousand men might be expected any day as soon as Boney had brought his / plans to bear.

'Lord ha' mercy upon us! ' said William Tremlett.

'The night-time is when they will try it, if they try it at all,' said / old Tullidge, in the tone of one whose watch at the beacon must, in the / nature of things, have given him comprehensive views of the situation. / 'It is my belief that the point they will choose for making the shore is / just over there,' and he nodded with indifference towards a section of / the coast at a hideous nearness to the house in which they were / assembled, whereupon Fencible Tremlett, and Cripplestraw of the Locals, / tried to show no signs of trepidation.

'When d'ye think 'twill be? ' said Volunteer Comfort, the blacksmith.

'I can't answer to a day,' said the corporal, 'but it will certainly be / in a down-channel tide; and instead of pulling hard against it, he'll let / his boats drift, and that will bring 'em right into Budmouth Bay. 'Twill / be a beautiful stroke of war, if so be 'tis quietly done!'

'Beautiful,' said Cripplestraw, moving inside his clothes. 'But how if / we should be all abed, corpel? You can't expect a man to be brave in his / shirt, especially we Locals, that have only got so far as shoulder fire- / locks.'

'He's not coming this summer. He'll never come at all,' said a tall / sergeant-major decisively.

Loveday the soldier was too much engaged in attending upon Anne and her / mother to join in these surmises, bestirring himself to get the ladies / some of the best liquor the house afforded, which had, as a matter of / fact, crossed the Channel as privately as Buonaparte wished his army to / do, and had been landed on a dark night over the cliff. After this he / asked Anne to sing, but though she had a very pretty voice in private / performances of that nature, she declined to oblige him; turning the / subject by making a hesitating inquiry about his brother Robert, whom he / had mentioned just before.

'Robert is as well as ever, thank you, Miss Garland,' he said. 'He is / now mate of the brig Pewit -- rather young for such a command; but the / owner puts great trust in him. ' The trumpet-major added, deepening his / thoughts to a profounder view of the person discussed, 'Bob is in love.'

Anne looked conscious, and listened attentively; but Loveday did not go / on.

'Much? ' she asked.

'I can't exactly say. And the strange part of it is that he never tells / us who the woman is. Nobody knows at all.'

'He will tell, of course? ' said Anne, in the remote tone of a person with / whose sex such matters had no connexion whatever.

Loveday shook his head, and the tete-a-tete was put an end to by a burst / of singing from one of the sergeants, who was followed at the end of his / song by others, each giving a ditty in his turn; the singer standing up / in front of the table, stretching his chin well into the air, as though / to abstract every possible wrinkle from his throat, and then plunging / into the melody. When this was over one of the foreign hussars -- the / genteel German of Miller Loveday's description, who called himself a / Hungarian, and in reality belonged to no definite country -- performed at / Trumpet-major Loveday's request the series of wild motions that he / denominated his national dance, that Anne might see what it was like. / Miss Garland was the flower of the whole company; the soldiers one and / all, foreign and English, seemed to be quite charmed by her presence, as / indeed they well might be, considering how seldom they came into the / society of such as she.

Anne and her mother were just thinking of retiring to their own dwelling / when Sergeant Stanner of the -- th Foot, who was recruiting at Budmouth, / began a satirical song: --

/ When law'-yers strive' to heal' a breach', / And par-sons prac'-tise what' they preach'; / Then lit'-tle Bo-ney he'll pounce down', / And march' his men' on Lon'-don town'!

/ Chorus. -- Rol'-li-cum ro'-rum, tol'-lol-lo'-rum, / Rol'-li-cum ro'-rum, tol'-lol-lay.

/ When jus'-ti-ces' hold e'qual scales', / And rogues' are on'-ly found' in jails'; / Then lit'tle Bo'-ney he'll pounce down', / And march' his men' on Lon'-don town'!

/ Chorus. -- Rol'-li-cum ro'-rum, tol'-lol-lo'-rum, / Rol'-li-cum ro'-rum, tol'-lol-lay.