The Young Buglers   By: George Alfred Henty (1832-1902)

by G.A. Henty

PREFACE

To my Young Readers.

I remember that, as a boy, I regarded any attempt to mix instruction with amusement as being as objectionable a practice as the administration of powder in jam; but I think that this feeling arose from the fact that in those days books contained a very small share of amusement and a very large share of instruction. I have endeavored to avoid this, and I hope that the accounts of battles and sieges, illustrated as they are by maps, will be found as interesting as the lighter parts of the story. As in my tale, " The Young Franc Tireurs ," I gave the outline of the Franco German war, so I have now endeavored to give the salient features of the great Peninsular struggle. The military facts, with the names of generals and regiments, the dates and places, are all strictly accurate, and any one who has read with care the story of "The Young Buglers" could pass an examination as to the leading events of the Peninsular war.

Yours truly,

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. A Coaching Adventure

CHAPTER II. The Young Pickles

CHAPTER III. Enlisted

CHAPTER IV. A Tough Customer

CHAPTER V. Overboard

CHAPTER VI. Portugal

CHAPTER VII. The Passage of the Douro Talavera

CHAPTER VIII. A Pause in Operations

CHAPTER IX. "With the Guerillas"

CHAPTER X. Madrid

CHAPTER XI. The Fight on the Coa

CHAPTER XII. Busaco and Torres Vedras

CHAPTER XIII. Albuera

CHAPTER XIV. Invalided Home

CHAPTER XV. Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos

CHAPTER XVI. Salamanca

CHAPTER XVII. Caught in a Trap

CHAPTER XVIII. Just in Time

CHAPTER XIX. Vittoria

CHAPTER XX. Toulouse

THE YOUNG BUGLERS.

CHAPTER I.

A COACHING ADVENTURE.

Had any of the boys in the lower forms of Eton in the year 1808, been asked who were the most popular boys of their own age, they would have been almost sure to have answered, without the slightest hesitation, Tom and Peter Scudamore, and yet it is probable that no two boys were more often in disgrace. It was not that they were idle, upon the contrary, both were fairly up in their respective forms, but they were constantly getting into mischief of one sort or another; yet even with the masters they were favorites, there was never anything low, disgraceful, or ungentlemanly in their escapades, and they could be trusted never to attempt to screen themselves from the consequences by prevarication, much less by lying. If the masters heard that a party of youngsters had been seen far out of bounds, they were pretty sure that the Scudamores were among them; a farmer came in from a distance to complain that his favorite tree had been stripped of its apples for in those days apples were looked upon by boys as fair objects of sport, if the head master's favorite white poodle appeared dyed a deep blue, if Mr. Jones, the most unpopular master in the school, upon coming out of his door trod upon a quantity of tallow smeared all over the doorstep, and was laid up for a week in consequence, there was generally a strong suspicion that Tom and Peter Scudamore were concerned in the matter. One of their tricks actually came to the ears of the Provost himself, and caused quite a sensation in the place, but in this case, fortunately for them, they escaped undetected.