Under Wellington's Command: A Tale of the Peninsular War

by G. A. Henty

  Chapter 13: From Salamanca To Cadiz.

  "Now, let us talk about our journey," the muleteer said, when hehad taken two or three whiffs at his cigarette. "Nita tells me thatyou wish, if possible, to join your army near Badajoz. That suitsme well, for I have orders from a merchant here to fetch him twelvemule loads of sherry from Xeres; and Badajoz is, therefore, on myway. The merchant has a permit, signed by Marmont, for me to passunmolested by any French troops; saying that the wine is intendedfor his use, and that of his staff. If it were not for that, therewould be small chance, indeed, of his ever getting it. There is solittle trade, now, that it is scarce possible to buy a flask of thewhite wine of the south, here. Of course, the pass will be equallyuseful going down to fetch it for, without it, my mules would becertain to be impressed for service, by the French.

  "So you see, nothing could have happened more fortunately for,anywhere between the Tagus and Badajoz, we can turn off fromEstremadura into Portugal. It would not be safe to try nearBadajoz, for Soult's army is scattered all over there and, thoughthe pass would be doubtless respected by superior officers, if wefell in with foraging parties they would have no hesitation inshooting me, tearing up the pass, and carrying off my mules. Foryour sake as well as my own, therefore, I would turn off and crossthe mountains--say, to Portalegre--and go down to Elvas. There youwould be with your friends; and I could cross again, further south,and make my way down to Xeres."

  "They say that two of Marmont's divisions started south,yesterday."

  "That is unfortunate, for they will leave little behind them in theway of food and drink; and we shall find it better to travel byby-roads. I should not mind being impressed, if it were only forthe march down to Badajoz; but once with an army, there is nosaying how long one may be kept."

  "If we find any difficulty in crossing into Portugal this side ofBadajoz, I shall not mind going down to Cadiz. I should have nodifficulty, there, in getting a ship to Lisbon."

  "Well, we shall see," the muleteer said. "We will go the short way,if we can. I hate the Portuguese, and they are no fonder of us; butwith you with me, of course, I should not be afraid of interferencefrom them."

  "But the Portuguese are fighting on our side, and aiding us to helpyou."

  "Yes, because they think it is better that the war should becarried on here than in their own country. Besides, from what Ihear, it is with no goodwill that they fight under your Britishgeneral; but only because he tells them that, unless they furnishso many troops, he will have nothing more to do with them, but willsail away with his army to England."

  "That may be true, Garcia; but you know that when we were here--forI was with the British army that marched through Salamanca--theSpanish authorities were no more willing to assist than were thePortuguese; and not a single soldier--with the exception of two orthree thousand half-armed men under Romana--joined, from the day wecrossed the frontier to that on which we embarked to Corunna."

  "The authorities are all bad," Garcia said scornfully. "They onlythink of feathering their own nests, and of quarrelling amongthemselves. The people are patriots, but what can they do when theJuntas keep the arms the English have sent us in their magazines,and divide the money among themselves? Then our generals knownothing of their business, and have their own ambitions andrivalries. We are all ready to fight; and when the drum is beatenand we are called out, we go willingly enough. But what do we dowhen we go out? We are marched backwards and forwards withoutmotive; the officers are no good; and when at last we do see theFrench we are always beaten, and the generals and the officers arethe first to run away.

  "We ought in the first place to rise, not against the French, butagainst the Juntas, and the councillors, and the hidalgos. Then,when we have done with them, we ought to choose officers from amongourselves, men that have done good service as leaders of partisans.Then we could meet the French. We are brave enough, when we arewell led. See how the people fought at Saragossa, and since then atGerona, and many other places. We are not afraid of being killed,but we have no confidence in our chiefs."

  "I have no doubt that is so, Garcia; and that, if the regimentswere trained by British officers, as some of the Portuguese noware, you would fight well. Unfortunately, as you say, your generalsand officers are chosen, not for their merits, but from theirinfluence with the Juntas, whose object is to have the army filledwith men who will be subservient to their orders.

  "Then there is another thing against you: that is, the jealousy ofthe various provinces. There is no common effort. When Valencia isinvaded, for example, the Valencians fight; but they have no ideaof going out from their homes to assist Castile or Catalonia andso, one after another, the provinces are conquered by the French."

  "That is so," Garcia said thoughtfully. "If they were to rise hereI would fight, and take my chance of being killed; but I should notcare to risk my life in defence of Valencia, with which I havenothing whatever to do. I don't see how you are to get over that,so long as we are divided into provinces."

  "Nor do I, Garcia. In times of peace these various governments maywork well enough; but nothing could be worse than the system, whena country is invaded.

  "What time do you start, tomorrow?"

  "As soon as the gates are open. That will be at five o'clock. It iseleven now, so we had better get some sleep. In the morning I mustsee that your dress is all right. Nita has given me a bottle ofwalnut juice, to stain your face and hands.

  "Do you lie down on the bed, senor. I will wrap myself up in thiscloak. I am more accustomed to sleep on that than on the bed."

  Terence removed his outer garments and, in a few minutes, was soundasleep. At four o'clock Garcia roused him. The morning was breakingand, with the assistance of the muleteer, he made his toilet andstained his face, neck, and hands, and darkened his hair. Then theyeach ate a piece of bread with a bunch of grapes, took a drink ofred wine, and then sallied out; Garcia carrying his sheepskincloak, and Terence the three coloured blankets. A quarter of a milefarther, they came to an inn frequented by muleteers.

  "I have told my mate about you," Garcia said, "so you need not beafraid of him; nor indeed of any of us. There is not a muleteer whowould not do what he could to aid the escape of a British officer."

  Most of the mules were already saddled, and Garcia went up withTerence to a man who was buckling a strap.

  "Sanchez," he said, "this is our new comrade, Juan, who I told youwould accompany us this journey."

  The man nodded.

  "It will be all the better," he said. "Twelve mules are rather toomuch for two men to manage, when we get among the mountains."

  Garcia and Terence at once set to work to assist, and in tenminutes the cavalcade started. Garcia rode the leading mule, threeothers being tied in single file behind it. Terence came next, andSanchez brought up the rear. The animals were fine ones, and Garciawas evidently proud of them; showing their good points to Terence,and telling him their names. The mules were all very fond of theirmaster, turning their heads at once when addressed by name; andflapping their long ears in enjoyment, as he rubbed their heads orpatted their necks.

  The town was already astir and, as they reached the gates, countrycarts were pouring in, laden with fruits and vegetables for themarket. Garcia stopped for a moment, as an old man came along witha cart.

  "How are you, father?"

  "How are you, Garcia? Off again?"

  "Yes; I am going to Xeres for wine, for the French general."

  "I see that you have got a new comrade."

  "Yes; the journey is a long one, and I thought that it was as wellto have another mate."

  "Yes, it is dangerous travelling," the old man said. "Well,goodbye, and good fortune to you!"

  Garcia put his mules in motion again, and they passed through thegate and soon left Salamanca behind. There was little conversationon the way. The two Spaniards made and smoked cigarettescontinually; and Terence endeavoured to imitate them, by addressingthe endearing words they used to their animals, having learned t
henames of the four of which he was in charge. At first they did notrespond to this strange voice but, as they became accustomed to it,each answered, when its name was called, by quickening its pace andby a sharp whisk of the tail, that showed it understood that it wasaddressed.

  Terence knew that his escape would not be discovered until eighto'clock, when the doors were opened and the prisoners assembled inthe yard for the roll call. Should any pursuit be organized, whichwas unlikely, it would be in the direction of Ciudad; as it mightbe supposed that an escaped prisoner would naturally make for thenearest spot where he could join his friends. One prisoner more orless would, however, make but little difference; and theauthorities would probably content themselves with sending amessage by a trooper, to all the towns and villages on that road,to arrest any suspicious persons travelling without proper papers.

  On the line they were pursuing, the risk of interference was verysmall. The marshal's pass would be certainly respected by theofficers of the corps under his command; and it was not until theyfell in with parties of Soult's troops that any unpleasantness wasto be apprehended; though even here the worst that could be lookedfor, if they met any large body of troops, would be that the mulesmight be taken, for a time, for service in the army.

  After a long day's journey they halted, for the night, at avillage. Here they found that the troops marching south hadencamped close at hand for the night, and the resources of theplace had been completely exhausted. This mattered but little, asthey carried a week's store of bread, black sausage, cheese,onions, garlic, and capsicums. The landlord of the little innfurnished them with a cooking pot; and a sort of stew, whichTerence found by no means unpalatable, was concocted. The muleswere hobbled and turned out on to the plain to graze; for the wholeof the forage of the village had been requisitioned, for the use ofthe cavalry and baggage animals of the French column.

  On the following morning they struck off from the road they hadbeen following and, travelling for sixteen hours, came down on itagain at the foot of the pass of Bejar; and learned from somepeasants that they had got ahead of the French column, which wasencamped two or three miles down the road. Before daybreak theywere on their way again, and reached Banos in the afternoon. Therewere but few inhabitants remaining here; for the requisitions forfood and forage, made by the troops that had so frequently passedthrough the defiles, were such that the position of the inhabitantshad become intolerable and, when they learned from Garcia that twodivisions of French troops would most probably arrive that evening,and that Marmont's whole army would follow, most of the inhabitantswho remained hastily packed their most valuable belongings incarts, and drove away into the hills.

  The landlord of the largest inn, however, stood his ground. He wasdoing well; and the principal officers of troops passing throughalways took up their quarters with him, paid him fairly for theirmeals and saw that, whatever exactions were placed upon the town,he was exempted from them. Therefore the muleteers were able toobtain a comfortable meal and, after resting their animals forthree hours, and giving them a good feed of corn, went on a fewmiles farther; and then, turning off, encamped among the hills.They were about to wrap themselves in their cloaks and blankets,and to lie down for the night, when a number of armed men suddenlyappeared.

  "Who are you, and whither are you going?" one, who appeared to betheir leader, asked.

  "We are bound for Xeres," Garcia replied, rising to his feet. "Weare commissioned by Senor Moldeno, the well-known wine merchant ofSalamanca, to procure for him--as much good Xeres wine as our muleswill carry."

  "It is a pity that we did not meet you on the way back, instead ofon your journey there. We should appreciate the wine quite asthoroughly as his customers would do. But how do you propose tobring your wine back, when the whole country south swarms withSoult's cavalry?"

  "Don Moldeno obtained a pass for us from Marmont; who, I suppose,is one of his customers."

  "We could not think of allowing wine to pass for the use of aFrench marshal," the man said.

  "It is not likely that he will drink it for some time," Garciasaid, carelessly; "for he is marching in this direction himself.Two of his divisions have probably, by this time, reached Banos;and we heard at Salamanca that he himself, with the rest of them,will follow in a day or two."

  "That is bad news," the man said. "There will be no travellersalong here, while the army is on its march. Are your mules carryingnothing now?"

  "Nothing at all. The mules would have been requisitioned two daysago, as were most of the others in Salamanca; but Marmont's passsaved us."

  "Are you carrying the money to buy the wine with?"

  "No, Don Moldeno knew better than that. I have only a letter fromhim to the house of Simon Peron, at Xeres. He told me that thatwould be sufficient, and they would furnish me with the wine, atonce, on my handing the letter to them."

  "Well, comrades," the man said, to the others gathered round, "itis evident that we shall get no booty tonight; and may as well beoff to our own fires, where supper is waiting for us; and move awayfrom here at daybreak. The French may have parties of horse allover the hills, tomorrow, searching for provisions, cattle, andsheep."

  "That was a narrow escape," Garcia said, as the brigands moved off."I wonder they did not take our mules; but I suppose they had asmany as they want--three or four would be sufficient to carry theirfood, and anything they may have stolen--more than that would onlybe a hindrance to them in moving about, especially now they knowthat the French may be in the neighbourhood in a few hours, if theyhave not arrived already.

  "Well, senor, what is the next thing to be done?"

  Terence did not answer for some little time.

  "It is not easy to say," he replied at length. "Seeing that Marmontand Soult are practically united, there can be no doubt that ourtroops will have to fall back again to Portugal. The whole countryis covered with French cavalry and, in addition, we have to runrisks from these brigands; who may not always prove so easy to dealwith as the men who have just left us. What do you think yourself?You know the country, and can judge far better than I can as to ourchance of getting through."

  "I don't think it will be possible, senor, to carry out the plan oftrying to cross into Portugal, in this direction. It seems to me,now that Soult is engaged, and there can be no large bodies ofFrench near Seville, our best plan would be to make for that town;whence, so far as we know, the country is clear of the enemy downto Cadiz; and when we reach that port, you can take ship toLisbon."

  "But in that case I shall not be able to get the money to pay you,for I shall not be known; and although I could doubtless get apassage, I do not think that I could obtain any funds."

  "Do not speak of it, senor. The British will be in Salamanca one ofthese days, and then you will be able to pay me; or, if I shouldnot be there at the time, you can leave the money for me with Nita,or her father. It was for her sake that I undertook the business;and I have no doubt, whatever, that you will discharge the debtwhen you enter Salamanca."

  "That I certainly will, and to make it more certain I will ask oneof the officers of my old regiment to undertake to find her out,and to pay the money; in case I may be with my own men, in someother part of the country."

  "That will be quite enough, senor. Do not trouble yourself furtheron the matter. We will start for Seville at daybreak."

  Travelling rapidly, the little party kept along the range of thesierras; and then proceeded by the valley of the Tagus and crossedthe river at Talavera; and then, keeping nearly due south, struckthe Guadiana at Ciudad Real and, crossing La Mancha, gained theSierra Morena; held west for some distance along the southernslopes; and then turned south and struck the Guadalquivir betweenCordova and Seville, and arrived safely at the latter town. Theyhad been obliged to make a great number of detours, to avoid bodiesof the enemy; but the muleteer had no difficulty in obtaininginformation, from the peasants, as to the whereabouts of the Frenchand, after reaching the plains, always travelled at night. Theyfell in twice with lar
ge parties of guerillas; but these were notbrigands for, as the country was still unconquered, and the Frenchonly held the ground they occupied, the bands had not degeneratedinto brigandage; but were in communication with the localauthorities, and acted in conformity with their instructions, inconcert with the Spanish troops.

  It was, however, nearly a month from the date of their leavingSalamanca before they arrived at Cadiz. Terence had, during thejourney, greatly improved his knowledge of Spanish by hisconversation with the muleteers and, as the language was so similarto the Portuguese, he soon acquired facility in speaking it. Theyput up at a small fonda, or inn, frequented by muleteers; andTerence at once made his way to the house where he heard that theBritish agent resided. The latter, on hearing his story, wassurprised, indeed, that he should have made his way through Spainfrom a point so far away as Salamanca; and occupied, for thegreater portion of the distance, by the French.

  "A sloop-of-war is sailing tomorrow for the Tagus," he said, "and Iwill give you a letter to her captain; who will, of course, giveyou a passage."

  Terence informed him of the great services the muleteer hadrendered him, and asked him if he could advance him sufficientmoney to repay the man.

  "I certainly have no funds at my disposal for such a purpose,Captain O'Connor,"--for Terence had said nothing about hisPortuguese rank, finding that its announcement always caused acertain amount of doubt--"but I will strain a point, and grant youthirty pounds, on your bill upon your agent at Lisbon. I have nodoubt that it will be met on presentation. But should, for example,your vessel be wrecked or captured, which I am by no meanscontemplating as likely, the amount must go down among subsidies toSpaniards who have rendered good service."

  "Thank you, sir. That will be sufficient, not to reward the man forthe risk he has run and the fidelity that he has shown, but it willat least pay him for the service of his mules. I do not supposethat he would earn more, and it will be a satisfaction, to me, toknow that he is at least not out of pocket."

  The agent at once handed him a bag of silver, together with aletter to the officer in command of the Daphne. He hired a boat andwas rowed off to the ship; which was lying, with several othersmall British warships, in the port. When he ascended the side theofficer on duty asked him somewhat roughly, in bad Spanish, what hewanted.

  "I have a letter for Captain Fry," he replied in English, to thesurprise of the lieutenant. "I am a British officer, who was takenprisoner at the battle of Fuentes d'Onoro."

  "You must not blame me for having taken you for a Spaniard," thelieutenant said in surprise, as he handed the letter Terence heldout to the midshipman, with a request to deliver it to the captain."Your disguise is certainly excellent and, if you speak Spanish aswell as you look the part, I can quite understand your gettingsafely through the country."

  "Unfortunately, I do not. I speak it quite well enough for ordinarypurposes, but not well enough to pass as a native. I travelled witha muleteer, who did all the talking that was necessary. I have beena month on the journey, which has greatly improved my Spanish. Iknew little of it when I started, but I should not have got on soquickly had I not been thoroughly up in Portuguese; which, ofcourse, helped me immensely."

  The midshipman now came up and requested Terence to follow him tothe captain's cabin. The captain smiled as he entered.

  "It is well that Mr. Bromhead vouched for you, Captain O'Connor;for I certainly should have had difficulty in bringing myself tobelieve that you were a British officer. I shall, of course, bevery glad to give you a passage; and to hear the story of youradventures, which ought to be very interesting."

  "I have had very few adventures," Terence replied. "The muleteerknew the country perfectly; and had no difficulty in obtaining,from the peasants, news of the movements of the French. When Istarted I had no idea of making such a long journey; but hadintended to join Lord Beresford in front of Badajos, if I could notmanage to cross the frontier higher up; but Marmont's march southrendered that impossible, and I thought that the safer plan wouldbe to keep well away from the frontier; as of course things aremuch more settled in the interior, and two or three muleteers withtheir animals would excite little attention, even if we passedthrough a town with a large French garrison; except that the mulesmight have been impressed and, as I had no means of recompensing myguide in that case, I was anxious to avoid all risk.

  "When do you sail, sir?"

  "At eight o'clock tomorrow. You cannot very well go in thatattire," the captain said, smiling. "I shall be glad to advance anysum that you may require to procure clothes. You can, no doubt, payme on your arrival at Lisbon."

  Terence gladly accepted a loan of ten pounds and, with it, returnedto shore. On reaching the little inn, he at once handed thirtypounds to Garcia. The man, however, absolutely refused to acceptit.

  "No, senor; since you have got money, I will take fifty dollars topay for food and forage on my way back; although really you havecost me nothing, for I had to make the journey on business. Buteven did you owe me the money, I would not take it now. I may notbe so lucky on my way back as we have been in coming, and might beseized by brigands; therefore I would, in any case, rather that youleft the matter until you come to Salamanca."

  "But that may not be for a long time. It is quite as likely that wemay be obliged to quit Portugal, and embark for England, as that weshall ever get to Salamanca."

  "Who knows, senor! Luck may turn. However, I would rather that itwere so. I have had the pleasure of your having made the journeywith me, and I shall have pleased Nita. If you come, well and good.If not, it cannot be helped, and I shall not grieve over it. If Ihad money with me I might lose it, and it might cost me my life."

  Terence had again gone out, and purchased a suit of clothesbefitting a Spanish gentleman. He took the muleteer with him. Theyhad no longer any reason for concealing their identity and, shouldhe find it necessary to announce himself to be a British officer,it might be useful to have corroboration of his story. He also laidin a fresh stock of linen, of which he was greatly in need and,next morning, after a hearty farewell to Garcia, he went down tothe port in his new attire and, carrying a small valise containinghis purchases, took a boat to the ship.

  The evening before he had called in at the agent's, to thank himagain, when the latter told him that he had some urgent despatchesfrom the junta of Cadiz to that of Seville; and some despatches ofhis own to persons at Cordova, and others in Madrid, who were incommunication with the British government; and he offered a sum,for their safe delivery, that would recompense the muleteer for thewhole of his journey. This Garcia had gladly acceded to, oncondition that he might stop for a day, to get the wine at Xeres.

  The voyage to Lisbon lasted three days, and was a very pleasant oneto Terence. On his arrival there he at once repaid the captain theloan he had received from him, having over thirty pounds still inhand. He next saw the agent, and requested him to pay the bill whenpresented and, after waiting three days to obtain a fresh uniform,started up the country and rejoined Wellington, who had beencompelled to fall back again behind the Coa. He reported himself tothe adjutant general.

  "You have just arrived in time, Captain O'Connor," the latter said,"for your regiment is under orders to start, tomorrow, to join theforce of the guerilla Moras who, with two thousand men, is in themountains on our frontier near Miranda; and intends to threatenZamora, and so compel Marmont to draw off some of his troops facingus here. Your regiment is at present on the Douro, fifteen milesaway. How have you come here?"

  "I travelled by a country conveyance, sir. I am at present withouta horse, but no doubt I can pick one up, when I have obtained fundsfrom the paymaster."

  "I will give you an order on him for fifty pounds," the adjutantsaid. "Of course, there is a great deal more owing to you; but itwill save trouble to give you an order for that sum, on account. Idon't suppose you will want more. I will have inquiries made abouta horse. If you return here in an hour, I daresay I shall hear ofone for sale.

  "Your regime
nt has not done much fighting since you left it, but theybehaved well at Banos, where we had a very sharp fight. They came upjust at the critical moment, and they materially assisted us in beatingoff the attack of the French; who were in greatly superior force, andnearly succeeded in capturing, or exterminating, the light division."

  On his return, Terence found that one of the officers on theadjutant general's staff knew of a horse that had been captured, bya trooper, in a skirmish with French dragoons three days before. Itwas a serviceable animal and, as the soldier was glad to take tenpounds for it, Terence at once purchased it. The adjutant told himthat, on mentioning his return, Lord Wellington had requested himto dine with him; and to come half an hour before the usual time,as he wished to question him with reference to the state of thecountry he had passed through, and of the strength and probablemovements of the French troops in those districts.

  "I am glad to see you back again, Colonel O'Connor," the generalsaid, when he entered. "Of course, I heard how you had been captured,and have regretted your absence. Colonel Herrara is a good officerin many ways, and the regiment has maintained its state of efficiency;but he does not possess your energy and enterprise, nor the readinessto assume responsibilities and to act solely upon his own initiative--amost valuable quality," he said, with one of his rare smiles, "whencombined with sound judgment, for an officer commanding a partisancorps like your own; but which, if general, would in a very short timeput an end to all military combinations, and render the office of acommander-in-chief a sinecure.

  "Now, sir, will you be good enough to point out, on this map,exactly the line you followed in travelling from Salamanca toCadiz: and give me any information you gained concerning the roads,the disposition of the people, and the position and movements ofthe French troops."

  Terence had anticipated that such information would be required ofhim; and had, every evening when they halted, jotted down everyfact that he thought could be useful and, on the voyage to Lisbon,had written from them a full report, both of the matters which thegeneral now inquired about, and of the amount of supplies whichcould probably be obtained in each locality, the number of housesand accommodation available for troops, the state and strength ofthe passes, and the information that Garcia had obtained for him ofmountain tracks by which these passes could be turned, by infantryand cavalry in single file.

  "I have brought my report, sir," he said, producing it. "Iendeavoured to make the most of my opportunities, to gain all theinformation possible that might be useful to myself, or thecommander of any column moving across the same country. I fear thatit is far from being perfect but, as I wrote it from my notes, madeat the end of each day, I think it will answer its purpose, as faras it goes."

  Attached to each day's journey was a rough sketch map showing thecrossroads, rivers, bridges, and other particulars. The generaltook the bulky report, sat down and read a page here and there, andglanced at the maps. He looked up approvingly.

  "Very good, indeed, Colonel O'Connor. If all officers would takeadvantage of their opportunities, as you have done, the drudgery mystaff have to do would be very much lightened, and they would notbe constantly working in the dark."

  He handed the report to the adjutant general.

  "This may be of great utility when an advance begins," he said."You had better have two or three copies of it made. It will beuseful to the quartermaster's department, as well as to yourself;and of great assistance to the officers in command of any detachedparties that may be despatched to gather in supplies, or to keep incheck an enemy advancing on our flank. Some day, when I can findtime, I will read the whole report myself.

  "It will be well to have a dozen copies made of the first five orsix pages, and the maps, for the perusal of any officer sent outwith a detachment on scouting duty, as a model of the sort ofreport that an officer should send in of his work, when on suchduty."

  The party at dinner was a small one, consisting only of some fiveor six officers of the headquarter staff, and two generals ofdivisions. After dinner, Lord Wellington asked Terence how heescaped from Salamanca, and the latter briefly related theparticulars of his evasion.

  "This is the second time you have escaped from a French prison,"Lord Wellington said, when he had finished. "The last time, if Iremember rightly, you escaped from Bayonne in a boat."

  "But you did not get to England in that boat, surely, ColonelO'Connor?" one of the generals laughed.

  "No, sir; we were driven off shore by a gale, and picked up by aFrench privateer. We escaped from her as she was lying in port atBrest, made our way to the mouth of the river Sienne, about ninemiles north of Granville; and then, stealing another boat, startedfor Jersey. We were chased by a French privateer but, before shecame up to us, a Jersey privateer arrived and engaged her. Whilethe fight was going on we got on board the Jersey boat, whichfinally captured the Frenchman, and took her into port."

  "And from there, I suppose, you found your way to England, andenjoyed a short rest from your labours?"

  "No, sir. The captain of the privateer, who thought that we hadrendered him valuable assistance in the fight, sailed out with uson to the ship track, and put us on board a transport bound forLisbon."

  "Well, you are more heart and soul in it than I am," the generallaughed. "I should not have been able to deny myself a short run inEngland."

  "I was anxious to get back to my regiment, sir, as I was afraidthat, if I did not return before the next campaign opened, someother officer might be appointed to its command."

  "You need not trouble yourself on that score, in future, ColonelO'Connor," Lord Wellington said. "If you have the bad luck to becaptured again, I shall know that your absence will be temporaryand, if it became necessary to appoint anyone else to your command,it would only be until your return."

  On leaving the commander-in-chief's quarters, the adjutant generalasked Terence when he thought of rejoining his regiment.

  "I am going to start at once, sir. I ordered my horse to be saddledand in readiness, at ten o'clock."

  "You must not think of doing so," the adjutant said. "The road isvery bad, and not at all fit to be traversed on a dark night likethis. Besides, you would really gain nothing by it. If you leave atdaybreak, you will overtake your regiment before it has marchedmany miles."