A/N Thank you all for your kind and encouraging reviews. I can't tell you how appreciated they are and how they serve to help me continue to write this story. (And to kb who left me a recent review. Thanks and I'll try and be more aware of those pesky homonyms sneaking past spell check.)
John and company are still on the ship…but I promise I'll get everyone off it in the next chapter.
As usual none of the Downton characters are mine.
Hope you enjoy.
"I said, try me"…Bates words echoed through the room.
Mick looked down and shook his head. He sighed audibly and then began…
"It's not what you think Sarge." Mick's voice dropped to a hoarse whisper
"What do you mean by that, Mick? Not what I think? How do you know what I think? John's voice sounded harsh…even to him. He glowered at Doogan indicating that he wasn't happy being second guessed by the private.
"I mean, I know you think it has to do with Ireland and her winning her independence from Great Britain, that I must be part of some radical group who wants Home rule. Tis true that's what I want, with all me heart, but it's not why I done what I done. I'm not part of some grand plan to break the old country away from England. My reasons are personal and my actions are moral."
"Moral?" Bates shook his head. "How can you speak of morality, when you tried to kill a fellow soldier in Smythe? Murder is hardly a moral action, Mick, nor is giving the names and descriptions of the members of your squad to the enemy. You might as well have shot each one of us in the head and have been done with it. We all would have been walking into a death trap"
"They said they'd only keep you in a prison camp, Sergeant Bates. They wouldn't just shoot you in cold blood. I had their word. They wanted you as hostages not corpses," Mick answered earnestly.
Bates looked at Doogan totally bewildered. Did the man hear himself? Did he truly believe they were fighting an altruistic enemy?
"Their word? Really Mick, how could you be so naïve? You know how the Boer militias fight. It's guerilla warfare. Do you really think they'd want to be moving around the countryside dragging a group of enemy soldiers about with them? Not exactly the most efficient way to maintain their effectiveness and mobility. And do you think they'd share their rations with their captives when food got short?"
"I guess I'd not thought that part through, I admit sergeant," Doogan paused. "But sometimes the rights and privileges of the few must be sacrificed for the greater good. That's why I did it…The greater good…the lesser of two evils. Do you understand now?"
Bates stared into Doogan's eyes. He saw them light up with an unresolved fervor. Whatever Mick's reasons and frankly, John still did not have a clue what those reasons were, Mick had in his head…he had no doubt that he had done the right thing. To private Doogan, his actions were justified and should be praised as noble and moral rather than disparaged or denigrated.
"I must admit, from what you've said so far, I do not have any idea what your motives or what strongly held beliefs you have that justified you going on the side of the enemy. I am stumped, Mick. I'm not a learned man, but I'm not stupid either. I must inform you that what you've told me so far makes no sense and frankly muddies the waters further. So I'm asking you in plain English, soldier to soldier, for Christ sake man explain yourself in a manner that will make clear exactly what your motives were and who put you up to it. It will go easier for you, if you do." Bates stated the latter as a fact, not as a threat towards the private.
Doogan took in another deep breath and exhaled slowly. He looked at his sergeant and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out… he tried again with the same result.
John couldn't help thinking that Mick looked like a fish he'd seen in the Fish House at the London Zoo. Trapped in it's glass prison, staring out at the people who came to gawk at it... given up because there was no place or way to escape. Just staring…motionless…barely breathing.
Finally, Mick found his voice and spoke to John with a faraway look in his eyes
"You've been to the front, right Sarge?
"You know I have Mick. As Colonel Crawley's batman I was at his side at all times. And Robert was not one to run away from a fight. We were in the thick of the battle more often than not."
"And when you were relieved from your posts…when you got some time away from the front line, where did you go?"
John wasn't sure where Doogan was trying to take him, but he answered honestly.
"Well, being assigned to the Colonel, we went back to the officers' bivouac behind the lines. But not for long, as I said, the colonel wanted to be at the head of every offensive charge if they'd let him. "
"Ah..." Mick nodded his head. "Then perhaps you never saw them…never knew they existed."
"What existed?" John still didn't know what Doogan was referring to.
"The camps…" Mick's voice cracked
John finally understood what Doogan was referring to. Bates knew that the refugee camps existed. At last count there were over 40 of them scattered within the two South African states of the Transvaal and the Free Orange State. And he was very aware that they were unpopular with an ever increasing, extremely vocal group of protestors back home. But he'd never seen them and as a trained soldier he was taught to believe the fact coming from his commanding officers as the truth, in direct opposition over the propaganda of non-military citizenry and sensationalist newspapers. He was, however disturbed by the news that the M.P Lloyd George had recently attacked the British government concerning the camps. While George was a bit of a radical, John found himself agreeing more and more with the liberal's causes.
"Aye, I've heard about them, but never seen one up close," Bates responded. "But camps to hold the enemy are part of any war. At least we're not murdering them when they surrender. The Boers have their camps also. We've men kept captive by them also. Neither side is guiltless of having such camps to keep enemy combatants that have been captured or surrendered." Bates couldn't believe that the simple issue of refugee or POW camps was what drove Mick to become a traitor.
"Beggin' your pardon, Sergeant Bates, but if you'd seen them up close, you'd have changed your opinion. I was assigned guard duty at one located in the Transvaal, named Brandfort. There were over 500 so-called "refugees" assigned to the camp…80% were women and children, the families of Boer militia men. You see we'd burned down their houses, set fires to their fields, slaughtered their animals, salted the earth and poisoned the wells, all in an effort to cut the supplies to the Boer commandos. The families left behind had no choice but to take our offer of staying at the camps. They'd no place else to go. We'd been told that the militia men would surrender in order to free their wives and children from the camps. But it didn't work out that way."
"The camp was overcrowded and the health of the families became increasingly poor. Food became scarce throughout the camp and then the word came down from the high command, Lord Kitchner and his lot… to cut down to half rations any woman or child whose husband or father was a member of the Boer militia or commandos. We were purposefully using women and children's suffering and death to win this war. And, for what? To free the native Africans? To bring South Africa and the Free Orange State into the loving arms of Mother Britain? Do you truly know why this war is being fought, Sergeant?" Doogan was glaring at Bates now.
John thought he knew, but now after hearing Mick's impassioned story, he wasn't sure. He was taught it was to put down an insurrection of anti-British partisans who sought to prevent the UK from annexing the Transvaal and Free Orange State. He'd been indoctrinated that such an annexation would have benefited South Africa and Great Britain equally. Bates started to repeat what he'd been told by Colonel Crawley and other officers since the war started, but was abruptly cut off by Mick.
"Bloody Gold… we are capturing,starving and killing women and children for the love of gold. Don't it make you feel proud, sergeant?" The taunt in Mick's words was not lost on John.
"We are fighting this bloody war for profit not ideals, not for defeating evil men, but rather filling the pockets of profiteers at home. I don't know about you, Sarge, but that's not why I volunteered to fight for King and Country."
" I was serving as a guard initially, but then they started dying, you see… just a few at first, the frail, the elderly, then the children, and suddenly I was needed for burial duty as there were less and less of them to "guard". Dysentery swept through the camp on top of it all and being on only half rations they had no strength to fight the disease. A good day was when only 1 or 2 infants or children died. Typically it was between 5 and 6. "
"They'd send me to pick up the dead little ones. It became part of me daily routine. More often than not I'd have to tear the babies out of the arms of their weeping mothers and the next week, I'd be tasked to bury the mother. It weren't right, Sargeant Bates. It weren't right and I couldn't do it no more."
Bates watched as Mick's eyes filled with unshed tears. Doogan roughly rubbed his eyes to keep the tears from falling, and continued.
"One day I was approached by one of the mothers in the camp. I guess she could see how much I hated what were going on. She gave me a note and whispered to me to follow the directions to a meeting place... that if I wanted to make conditions better at the camps I'd keep the meeting.' When I arrived at the designated location, I met with some Irish blokes what had been working as miners in the Transvaal. They were sickened by the horrible conditions at the camps and sided with the Boer's efforts to stay free from Britain's control. So they formed into a commando group. They knew something big was going to happen, and it didn't take much for them to convince me to help them and their cause."
"It's why I volunteered for the mission. I was to keep them aware as to what was planned and once put into play supply them with the names and descriptions of our squad. They swore they'd just take you as hostages. Bargain for food and medical supplies for the camps and once the families were back up to full strength, they'd further bargain for the release of the families… It sounded good and fair and no one was to get hurt. That is, until Jamie saw that note fall out of me locker. I knew he wouldn't keep quiet about it. So, I had to try and silence him before our plan was exposed. I ain't proud of trying to kill Jamie, Sarge. We were good mates, but some things are worth fighting for and dying for and even killing for. I wouldn't be able to live with me self any more if I did nothing and watched the slaughter of them innocents continue."
"Sarge?" Mick looked at Bates with some concern.
John was sitting across from him his fists clenched on top of the table. He was looking down, staring at his tightly closed hands with a look suggesting he'd been moved by Doogan's story. But even then, he was obviously battling within himself. Doogan watched the muscles in his sergeant's jaw tighten and relax and tighten again. This new "truth" from the mouth of Mick versus what he'd been trained to believe throughout his military career was tearing John up inside. Bates considered himself a man of honor, who bore the responsibility seriously of serving as a role model to his fellow soldiers while on duty. But if what Mick was telling him was true… then where was the honor in starving and killing women and children?
John continued to stare at his hands on the table. They were open now, palms down on the cold table top. He blinked several times and then spoke in a low choked off voice.
"I don't expect you to tell me if there are more of your compatriots in our squad, Mick. Am I right in assuming that you wouldn't tell me if there were?"
"Aye, Sergeant, I will not. Not even if you were to set them thugs what beat me this morning. I'll not speak anymore."
Bates nodded his head and then raised it to look Doogan in the eyes. He was shocked to see his own distressed face mirrored in Mick's eyes. The truth was he felt slightly sick to his stomach, coupled with feelings of anger and shock. His beliefs in his government and the necessity of war were badly shaken and he shuddered in response as these new feelings about the War began to overwhelm him.
John knew Doogan had said all that he intended to say, and that the interrogation was over. He rose from his chair and wearily headed to the door to signal the guard to open it and return Mick to his cell.
Before the guard took him away, and despite already knowing what Doogan's answer would be, John just had to make one last offer, a chance at redemption to his former comrade. "Your court martial will be held at Cape Town, Mick. I'm sure you know the sentence for treason is death by hanging. If you're willing to cooperate, and give us information as to the location of any other spies, I promise you I'll try to get your sentence commuted to life. You don't have to die, private."
Doogan looked at John and a slightly bitter smile crossed his lips.
"Aye, I'm afraid I do, Sarge… I'm afraid I do."
John didn't know it then, but that was the last time he'd see Mick alive.