Lord Wellesley
Chapter 5
It was past six o’clock in the afternoon and there were still new casualties being brought in.
“How are the doctors holding out?” Elizabeth asked Rose when she called out to her, to help her put pressure on the bleeding stomach of a French soldier.
“They are all very tired but ploughing through” Rose said grimly. “Do you think he will make it?” she asked looking down at the ashen face of the poor wounded soldier they were attending to. “Oh, God. He looks like he is not older than sixteen. His beard has not yet come out properly.”
“I have seen many like him, on both sides unfortunately” Elizabeth said grimly as she applied a tourniquet around the half-severed arm of the lad. “It is heart wrenching. This one will need to be seen soon by one of the doctors” she muttered. “Do you know what time it is?”
“Not sure. Why?” Rose asked.
“Dr. Murphy said that it is important to not have a tourniquet on for too long. It might damage the limb. Although I am afraid it will not do much of a difference for this boy’s arm.”
“At least I heard that we won” Rose said through gritted teeth, plying rags over the soldier’s stomach and bandaging it tightly. “The French fled a couple of hours ago and retreated towards Torres Vedras.”
“Thank God” Elizabeth breathed in relief. “This means that these should be among the last arrivals.”
---$---
Unfortunately, Elizabeth was wrong in her prediction. It was past ten o’clock in the evening and the wounded were still being brought in. Fortunately however, they were now becoming fewer and fewer.
She was kneeling, busy stanching the profuse bleeding of the headwound of a French soldier when she heard a stern voice calling out at her.
“You girl! This man needs medical attention. Come and tend to him immediately.”
Elizabeth looked up and saw a stern looking officer of imposing stature, supporting a slightly shorter one who was holding a blood soaked rag to his left arm. She stood up and walked to them. She moved the wounded man’s hand away, so that she could look at the wound.
“You are fortunate that it is but a flesh wound, sir” she said soothingly. “Just keep on the pressure to stop it from bleeding. Someone will bandage it as soon as the more severely wounded are taken care of.”
“Is that not a French soldier whom you were attending to just now?” the taller of the officers sneered. “ Our men need to be cared for first” he snarled.
“In front of God or of a bullet there is no difference in what language someone cries for help” she said, her eyes shooting daggers at the arrogant officer. “Your friend shall live with nary a scar to show for his bravery. That lad however” she pointed to the unconscious French soldier, “will not live to see tomorrow if he is not immediately attended to.”
“Do you know who I am?” the officer demanded.
“I do not know, nor do I care” she answered with superb disdain. “I am here to help the wounded to the best of my ability and that is exactly what I am doing. You can go and order your soldiers around all you like, but I am not one of them. If you have any complaints, I suggest you go and take them up with himself” she glared at the arrogant officer and turning on her heels she returned to the wounded French boy. Without another word or even another look at the two English officers, she knelt by him and grimly resumed her bandaging.
To her surprise, both officers started to chuckle, which made her look up again and glare at them fiercely.
“What is your name Miss?” the taller officer asked in a much gentler tone.
“I am Miss Elizabeth Bennet of Longbourn, Hertfordshire and not ‘you girl’ to you” she spat, her chin raised high.
Grinning widely, the officer gave her a perfect bow. “Arthur Wellesley at your service, Miss Bennet.”
---$---
“You have quite a little amazon out there” laughed, shaking Dr. Porter and Dr. Murphy’s hands.
“Ah…! You must have met our Senhorita Bella” Dr. Murphy grinned. “She is a feisty one, all right.”
“Would that be the same lady as Miss Elizabeth Bennet of Longbourn?” asked.
“The very same” Dr. Murphy nodded.
“That gal has her heart in the right place” laughed. “ And her tongue too, as it seems. For a moment I feared she will flay me alive with it.”
“Just give her time, she will do it without fail if provoked enough” Dr. Porter chortled. “She is on her way of becoming a damn fine nurse and she is no traitor, mind you. She is only very passionate about saving any creature which needs saving. And she does have a temper when provoked.”
“I did not take her for a traitor, I assure you” nodded. “In fact, I found her attitude rather refreshing and quite inspirational. How long has she been with the troops? She looks awfully young.”
“She came over with us about four months ago. This is her first assignment. I think she is seventeen or maybe just turning eighteen” Dr. Murphy said.
whistled in admiration. “That young? What about this ‘Senhorita Bella’ thing?”
“The Portuguese call her Bella as short of Isabella, their own version of Elizabeth.”
“Charismatic?”
“You have no idea” Dr. Porter smiled. “I never saw aught like it, nor do I think that anyone else did ever since our Queen Bess. It is her innate goodness which I think attracts them most, but it is also her cheerful personality and her zest for life which is quite contagious.”
“We very much need people like her” said pensively. “I am very sorry that I antagonized her.”
“She will not hold it against you, or at least not for too long” Dr. Murphy chuckled, “even though she is quite passionate and has a quick temper” he grinned.
“That much I already apprehended” grinned back.
“Fortunately for all of us, she is not one to hold a grudge” Dr. Porter chuckled.
---$---
decided not to chase Delaborde and his remaining troops to Torres Vedras. Instead, he decided to go to meet and protect the four thousand British troops who just arrived on the coasts. He positioned his troops at Vimeiro, covering the beachhead at Maceira Bay. Most of the nurses and the doctors followed, leaving behind only a handful of nurses to tend to the wounded who could not be easily moved.
The General’s foresight proved right when, on the 21 st of August they have been set upon by the troops of General Junot. While the French were still outnumbered, this time the balance was more even than it had been at Rolica.
Very soon the wounded started pouring in and Elizabeth, on triage duty again, barely had time to catch her breath as she ran from one wounded soldier to another, fighting with her wish to tend to their wounds immediately, but Dr. Murphy told her that she must not lose too much time with any one soldier, in order to be able to triage them properly and ensure that the most severe wounded receive the help they need.
“Carlos!” she exclaimed in anguish as she caught sight of her friend who was pressing a bloodied handkerchief to his thigh.
“N?o é nada 9 Senhorita Bella” he smiled wanly. “Caught a bullet but it is a flesh wound only.”
“Let me see” she demanded.
Carlos obediently removed his hand, allowing her to examine the wound.
“The bullet is still in” she frowned as she gently pushed on the flesh around the wound, “but you are right, it did not hit the bone. Unfortunately all the doctors are overly busy right now” she sighed, “and there are many wounded waiting for their immediate attention.”
Carlos gave her a reassuring smile. “I can wait. Others are worse.”
“Are you sure?” she searched his face.
“Absolutamente 10 Senhorita.”
“All right then, please go and join those men there” she handed him a fresh rag to press to his wound and directed him to the group of lightly wounded men sitting on the ground, waiting for the doctors to get through the more severe cases before seeing to them.
who had observed the interaction from some thirty yards away, came up to Elizabeth. “That man is one of your close friends?” he inquired.
“He is” she admitted, looking at the great commander warily, still slightly embarrassed by their first encounter.
“Is he badly wounded?”
“He has a bullet in his thigh.”
“Should he not be seen by a doctor immediately?” Wellesley lifted an eyebrow.
“He is not worse than all those others he is now sitting with, and thank God, he is much better than those whom the doctors are currently busy attending to. He can wait” she said curtly.
’s lips twitched slightly. “Should he not get your special attention if he is your friend?”
“He does have my special attention. As do all the wounded in this camp, which means that I am trying to ensure that they all get the appropriate medical care they need. But they too understand that some wounds are more life threatening than others. They would not feel good being given priority treatment over a more severely injured or a dying soldier, knowing that someday they might be the ones in need of such urgent attention. Friendship has nothing to do with it.”
nodded in agreement, looking at her pensively. “You are a very singular young lady Miss Bennet” he said seriously.
“Miss Elizabeth” Elizabeth said softly, blushing at the great compliment delivered by the great man. “Miss Bennet is my elder sister.”
---$---
Dr. Murphy found Elizabeth sitting alone in the middle of the mess tent, staring into the nothing, hugging her knees to her chest and rocking gently.
“What happened Elizabeth?” he asked gently.
“I…” she sobbed involuntarily, “I am no good at this. I am… I am of no help, I am a… a hindrance to you” she sobbed even harder.
“That is not true. You are one of the most promising nurses I have ever worked with. All you need is a bit of more time and…”
“I ran” she said tonelessly. “When I saw him, I could do nothing but run so I would not have to see him… see his…”
“Whom Elizabeth?” he put a steadying arm around her shoulders.
“The soldier. He was… he was split open by a bayonet… his insides were spilled out. I could not see to his care. I ran. I am a coward. I ran away from my post… Mrs. Harville had to take care of him… and he died.”
“There was nothing either you, Mrs. Harville or even I for that matter, could have done for him” he said soothingly. “This is part of our work Elizabeth. We cannot save them all. And it is always hard to see even the slightest wound, let alone the most gruesome ones. You have done well, truly you did” he lifted his eyes gratefully at his wife who had just joined them.
“Listen to me Lizzy” Mrs. Murphy gently took Elizabeth’s hands. “There is no shame in being weak at times. It only shows that you feel the pain they do. What is important is that you, and indeed all the nurses here, are doing your best to help these poor soldiers, and nobody can do better than that. You are helping these wounded boys enormously. A battlefield is not a ballroom where the most offending sight you would see would be someone wearing an outrageous gown. However, this is reality and it is not pretty. In all honesty, many times I wondered how we can still get some sleep after all we’ve seen.”
Elizabeth nodded thankfully and sniffled a few more times. “I promise to do better from now on” she gave her friends a watery smile. “I shall do my best not to run away next time.”
9 It is not hing
10 Absolu tely