George shook his head. ‘I can’t accept that. There’s no doubt his conduct was a little rash, but he had his reasons and he made up for it at the end. After the defensive perimeter had collapsed, he organized a last stand near the nek so that others could get away. A good few hundred soldiers owe him their lives, me included.’
‘That’s as may be, but Durnford got you into that fix in the first place!’
George looked Chelmsford in the eye. ‘Did he,
General.
. . or did you and your advisors?’
There was silence as Chelmsford measured his response. At last he spoke. ‘I’d choose my words a bit more carefully if I were you, Hart. Your own conduct yesterday is hardly beyond reproach. First you disobey my instructions to return to headquarters as soon as you’ve delivered the message to Pulleine, preferring to accompany Durnford on his ill-fated reconnaissance; and later, having joined the garrison here, you go missing after the hospital rescue. But I’m not here to cast aspersions, merely to point out that none of us has come through this ghastly episode whiter than white. So it might be better for all of us if certain finer details do not see the light of day.’
‘I’m sorry, sir,’ said George defiantly. ‘But I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of.’
‘I’m not sure the court of inquiry will see it that way.’
‘What court of inquiry?’
‘The one I’m bound to convene to investigate the loss of the camp. But I’ll leave you now to discuss this further with Colonel Crealock. I trust you’ll do what’s right.’
As the door closed behind the departing general, George looked at Crealock with disdain. ‘This is all your doing, isn’t it, Colonel? You’re desperate to keep your own base motives for attacking Matshana a secret, and so hope to exonerate Lord Chelmsford and yourself from any responsibility for the defeat yesterday by blaming Colonel Durnford. I take it that His Lordship knows nothing of the diabolical plot that you and Fynn hatched to destroy Matshana, and simply wishes to save his military reputation?’
Crealock said nothing; he did not need to.
‘As I thought,’ continued George. ‘But there’s just one fly in the ointment, isn’t there?’
Still Crealock remained silent, his eyes locked on George’s.
‘And that’s me. You must have got quite a shock when you heard I’d survived not one battle but two. My death would have been very convenient for you, wouldn’t it? After all, other than Fynn, I’m the only man alive who knows of your greedy machinations.’
Crealock smiled. ‘That’s true, but you’re in no position to speak your mind, are you? So let’s forget about all that and return to the matter in hand. What His Lordship was trying to say is that one good turn deserves another. If you keep quiet about the order to Durnford, and any other matter that casts His Lordship in a bad light, we’ll turn a blind eye to your own lapses in judgement.’
‘What
lapses in judgement? The attack came in at Isandlwana before I had a chance to rejoin the headquarters staff, and Lieutenant Chard will vouch for my conduct during the defence here.’
‘I think not.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘He’ll say you showed courage and resource up to the fall of the hospital. But he will also feel that your subsequent failure to rejoin your hard-pressed comrades must leave a slight question mark as to your dedication to duty.’
‘What
?’ said George
loudly.
‘How do you know he’ll say that?’
Crealock merely smiled.
‘I don’t believe you. If anyone has reason to thank me for my actions yesterday it’s him. Why, if it hadn’t been for me and Commissary Dalton, he and Bromhead would have packed up and …’
‘And what?’
George lay there open-mouthed, unable to finish the sentence. All, suddenly, had become clear. My God, he thought, what a fool I am! Chard can’t afford to share the limelight with me in case the truth about his own defeatism ever gets out. And Crealock, no doubt, was already encouraging his fears and insinuations.
‘You’re rambling,’ said Crealock. ‘So let me finish what I have to say. As an added incentive for your cooperation, the general is prepared to recommend you for a Victoria Cross for your gallantry in rescuing the patients from the hospital, along with Hook and the others.’
George put his hand in the air. ‘Stop right there. One moment the general is accusing me of dereliction of duty, the next he’s recommending me for a VC. I can’t be a villain
and
a hero — so which is it?’
‘That’s for you to decide. Think over what I’ve said, and I’ll be back for an answer within the hour. Take it from me,’ said Crealock, wagging his finger, ‘Lord Chelmsford won’t make the same mistakes a second time, and is determined to win this war and make the Zulus pay for their barbarity to our troops. Don’t stand in his way.’
George watched Crealock’s departing back with a mixture of anger and scorn. What a contemptible man he was, prepared to lie and scheme to save his reputation and that of his master. And yet he and Fynn, more than anyone, were responsible for the catastrophe that had claimed Jake’s life, along with so many others. Chelmsford’s only
failing,
it seemed to George, was that he was weak-willed and easily led.
George pondered on what to do. He was determined not to be cowed by their carrot-and-stick approach, partly because he knew they would never dare haul him before a court of inquiry, or a court martial for that matter, for fear of what he might say that would harm them; but chiefly because he owed it to Jake, Durnford, Owen Thomas, and all the others who had died, to tell the truth.
The door creaked open and in stepped Major Gossett, his face drawn and his blue trousers covered in specks of blood. ‘George, old fellow, you’re alive!’ he said, a thin smile on his face. ‘When you didn’t return I feared the worst and was sure you’d been killed at the camp. But, no, and not content with one fight, you join another one here. Incredible.’
‘It’s good to see you too, Matthew,’ said George, tightly clenching Gossett’s proffered hand. ‘How I survived I’ll never know. Many better men than me did not.’
‘Don’t say such things. From what I hear you performed heroics last night.’
‘Not according to Chard. But tell me, did you pass through the camp on your way here?’
Gossett looked grave.
‘Far worse than that, George.
We returned as night was falling and were forced to bivouac on the nek, amidst the bodies. It was terrible, George, simply terrible. The ground was literally wet with blood and the smell indescribable. I couldn’t sleep - no one could - so I passed the time looking for people I knew. I found Charlie Pope, with his monocle still in place.’
‘Did you see Jake Morgan’s body?’
‘Yes, he was close to Pope. Both had multiple stab wounds. They and the others were all clustered together, as if they’d made a last stand.’
‘They did. I saw them.’
‘You
saw
them? Then how did you escape?’
‘Durnford gave me a message to carry here. I was lucky. I’ll tell you about it another time. What I need to know from you, Matthew, is why Chelmsford didn’t return to the camp sooner. Surely he received Pulleine’s message that we were under attack.’
‘He did. It mentioned heavy firing to the left of the camp, if I recall, but because it made no request for assistance, he agreed with Colonel Crealock that we should ignore it.’
‘What then?’
‘Well, about the same time, he received word that the guns and two companies of infantry were returning to the camp on the orders of Colonel Harness of the Artillery, who, apparently, had heard from one of the NNC battalions that the camp was in danger. His response, again on the advice of Crealock, was to countermand the order. I remember Crealock accusing Harness of disobeying his orders to march to the Mangeni, and utterly ridiculing the idea of any assistance being necessary at Isandlwana. It was only later, at about two thirty p.m., that Chelmsford finally accepted that something might be amiss and set off with an escort to see for himself. He met Lonsdale en route and was told that the Zulus had taken the camp.’
‘My God, what a catalogue of deceit and incompetence.
But something tells me none of this will come out in the court of inquiry. Chelmsford and Crealock are trying to pin the sole blame for the disaster on Durnford, Matthew, and they want me to help them.’
‘How?’
‘By keeping quiet about Chelmsford’s errors and by going along with the lie that Durnford was ordered to take command at Isandlwana and act on the defensive.’
‘Was he not?’
‘No. I saw the order, and it said nothing about taking command.’
‘I’m not doubting
your word, George, but I find it hard to believe that Lord Chelmsford would deliberately lie about something like this.’
‘I agree with you. I don’t think he would. The man I hold responsible for the lie, and much more besides, is Crealock.’
‘Crealock?
Are you sure? It’s true he exerts great influence over Lord Chelmsford, but I’m not convinced even he is capable of a bold-faced lie.’
‘He is. Take it from me.’
Gossett frowned, as if uncertain what to think. After a long pause he said, ‘I hope you’ll forgive my bluntness, George, but all this sounds a little far-fetched.’
‘I appreciate that.’
‘So what do you intend to do?’
George thought for a moment. ‘I can’t decide. But what I won’t do is lie about the Durnford order.’
‘I admire your integrity, George, but
is
that wise? Chelmsford is a powerful, well-connected man and could make things extremely difficult for you. You’re still under military authority, after all.’
‘I know, Matthew, and Crealock even had the nerve to say Chelmsford would recommend me for a VC if I went along with their version of events. But I couldn’t live with myself if I let Chelmsford and Crealock off the hook by allowing Durnford to take the blame.’
‘Well, if you ask me you
deserve
a VC twice over for what you did yesterday. But you won’t get one unless you cooperate, is that what they’re saying?’
‘Yes.’
‘And still you’re determined to speak out?’
‘I am.’
‘In the full knowledge that a VC would provide your career with an immeasurable boost?’
Not to mention a good deal of money, thought George. But Gossett knew nothing of his father’s bequest, so George simply nodded.
Gossett slowly shook his head. ‘I can see you’re determined to do it your way. Just promise me one thing.’
‘What?’
‘That you’ll return to Britain before you spill the beans about Durnford’s order. If you do that here, you’ll be at Chelmsford and Crealock’s mercy. They might even try to court-martial you.’
It irked George to think that he would have to hold his tongue until he was beyond Chelmsford’s reach, but Gossett had a point. ‘You might be right,’ he said at last. ‘He’s already hinted as much … All right. I promise. But in return you can do something for me.’
‘What’s that?’
‘See that a Native Contingent officer called Lieutenant James Hamer is reduced to the ranks. I lent him my horse on the retreat from Isandlwana on condition that he waited at the top of the next hill. He rode on, and if Emperor hadn’t thrown him I never would have made it to Rorke’s Drift.’
Gossett smiled. ‘It’ll be a pleasure.’
Military Hospital, Pietermaritzburg, 6 February 1879
A pretty blonde nurse with freckles poked her head round the door of George’s whitewashed hospital room. ‘You’ve a visitor, Lieutenant Hart. Shall I show her in?’
‘Yes, please,’ said George, putting down his copy of the
Natal Witness.
Since his transfer from Helpmekaar four days earlier he had devoured every newspaper he could get his hands on. Most were fiercely critical of Chelmsford’s conduct of the campaign thus far, and wondered at the unseemly haste with which he and his staff had abandoned the remnants of Glyn’s demoralized column on 24 January to return to Pietermaritzburg to confer with Frere. At the same time they were full of praise for Colonel Pearson, whose Southern Column had repulsed a heavy Zulu attack on the same day as Isandlwana, and positively lionized the heroic defenders of Rorke’s Drift who, they were quick to assert, had saved Natal from a Zulu invasion. As for apportioning blame for Isandlwana, they were only too happy to point the finger at Durnford, a man for whom few Natalians had had any sympathy since the disaster at Bushman’s River Pass. That day’s paper was typical, containing as it did a memorandum by Colonel Bellairs, deputy adjutant-general, on the recent court of inquiry that had sat at Helpmekaar. It read:
From the statements made before the court of inquiry it may
be
clearly gathered that the cause of the reverse sustained at
Isandlwana was that Lt Col Durnford, as senior officer, overruled
the
orders which Lt Col Pulleine had received to defend the
camp
and
directed that the troops should be moved into the open, in