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The Vicomte De Bragelonne
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The Vicomte De Bragelonne 78 at Prostate Health
which is called blood is a paramount necessity; theScotch, a poor and sober race, live upon a little barleycrushed between two stones, diluted with the water of thefountain, and cooked upon another stone, heated.The Scotch, their distribution of barley being made, caredvery little whether there was or was not any meat inColdstream. Monk, little accustomed to barley-cakes, washungry, and his staff, at least as hungry as himself, lookedwith anxiety right and left, to know what was being preparedfor supper.Monk ordered search to be made; his scouts had on arrivingin the place found it deserted and the cupboards empty; uponbutchers and bakers it was of no use depending inColdstream. The smallest morsel of bread, then, could not befound for the generals table.As accounts succeeded each other, all equallyunsatisfactory, Monk, seeing terror and discouragement uponevery face, declared that he was not hungry; besides theyshould eat on the morrow, since Lambert was there probablywith the intention of giving battle, and consequently wouldgive up his provisions, if he were forced from Newcastle, orforever to relieve Monks soldiers from hunger if heconquered.This consolation was only efficacious upon a very smallnumber; but of what importance was it to Monk? for Monk wasvery absolute, under the appearance of the most perfectmildness. Every one, therefore, was obliged to be satisfied,or at least to appear so. Monk quite as hungry as hispeople, but affecting perfect indifference for the absentmutton, cut a fragment of tobacco, half an inch long, fromthe carotte of a sergeant who formed part of his suite, andbegan to masticate the said fragment, assuring hislieutenants that hunger was a chimera, and that, besides,people were never hungry when they had anything to chew.This joke satisfied some of those who had resisted Monksfirst deduction drawn from the neighborhood of Lambertsarmy; the number of the dissentients diminished greatly; theguard took their posts, the patrols began, and the generalcontinued his frugal repast beneath his open tent.Between his camp and that of the enemy stood an old abbey,of which, at the present day, there only remain some ruins,but which then was in existence, and was called NewcastleAbbey. It was built upon a vast site, independent at once ofthe plain and of the river, because it was almost a marshfed by springs and kept up by rains. Nevertheless, in themidst of these pools of water, covered with long grass,rushes, and reeds, were seen solid spots of ground, formerlyused as the kitchen-garden, the park, the pleasure-gardens,and other dependencies of the abbey, looking like one ofthose great sea-spiders, whose body is round, whilst theclaws go diverging round from this circumference.The kitchen-garden, one of the longest claws of the abbey,extended to Monks camp. Unfortunately it was, as we havesaid, early in June, and the kitchen-garden, beingabandoned, offered no resources.Monk had ordered this spot to be guarded, as most subject tosurprises. The fires of the enemys general were plainly tobe perceived on the other side of the abbey. But betweenthese fires and the abbey extended the Tweed, unfolding itsluminous scales beneath the thick shade of tall green oaks.Monk was perfectly well acquainted with this position,Newcastle and its environs having already more than oncebeen his headquarters. He knew that by day his enemy mightwithout doubt throw a few scouts into these ruins andpromote a skirmish, but that by night he would take care toabstain from such a risk. He felt himself, therefore, insecurity.Thus his soldiers saw him, after what he boastingly calledhis supper -- that is to say, after the exercise ofmastication reported by us at the commencement of thischapter -- like Napoleon on the eve of Austerlitz, seatedasleep in his rush chair, half beneath the light of hislamp, half beneath the reflection of the moon, commencingits ascent in the heavens, which denoted that it was nearlyhalf past nine in the evening. All at once Monk was rousedfrom his half sleep, fictitious perhaps, by a troop ofsoldiers, who came with joyous cries, and kicked the polesof his tent with a humming noise as if on purpose to wakehim. There was no need of so much noise; the general openedhis eyes quickly."Well, my children, what is going on now?" asked thegeneral."General!" replied several voices at once, "General! youshall have some supper.""I have had my supper, gentlemen," replied he, quietly,
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