"be jabers, terence, we shall all die of weariness with doing nothing, if we don't move soon," said captain o'grady; who, with dick ryan, had ridden over to spend the afternoon with terence o'connor, whose regiment of portuguese was encamped some six miles out of abrantes, where the division to which the mayo fusiliers belonged was stationed.
"here we are in june, and the sun getting hotter and hotter, and the whisky just come to an end, though we have been mighty sparing over it, and nothing to eat but ration beef. begorrah, if it wasn't for the bastely drill, i should forget that i was a soldier at all. i should take meself for a convict, condemned to stop all me life in one place. at first there was something to do, for one could forage for food dacent to eat; but now i don't believe there is as much as an old hen left within fifteen miles, and as for ducks and geese, i have almost forgotten the taste of them."
"it is not lively work, o'grady, but it is worse for me here. you have got dicky ryan to stir you up and keep you alive, and o'flaherty to look after your health and see that you don't exceed your allowance; while practically i have no one but herrara to speak to, for though bull and macwitty are excellent fellows in their way, they are not much as companions.
"however, i think we must be nearly at the end of it. we have got pretty well all the troops up here, except those who are to remain at lisbon."
"i see the men," o'grady said, "but i don't see the victuals. we can't march until we get transport and food, and where they are to come from no one seems to know."
"i am afraid we shall do badly for a time in that respect, o'grady. sir arthur has not had time, yet, to find out what humbugs the spaniards are, and what wholesale lies they tell. of course, he had some slight experience of it when we first landed, at the mondego; but it takes longer than that to get at the bottom of their want of faith. craddock learnt it after a bitter experience, and so did moore. i have no doubt that the spaniards have represented to sir arthur that they have large disciplined armies, that the french have been reduced to a mere handful, and that they are only waiting for his advance to drive them across the frontier. also, no doubt, they have promised to find any amount of transport and provisions, as soon as he enters spain. as to relying upon cuesta, you might as well rely upon the assistance of an army of hares, commanded by a pig-headed owl."
"i can't make out, meself," o'grady said, "what we want to have anything to do with the spaniards for, at all. if i were in sir arthur's place, i would just march straight against the french and thrash them."
"that sounds well, o'grady, but we know very little about where the french are, what they are doing, or what is their strength; and i think that you will allow that, though we have beaten them each time we have met them, they fought well. at rolica we were three to one against them, and at vimiera we had the advantage of a strong position. at corunna things were pretty well even, but we had our backs to the wall.
"i am afraid, o'grady, that just at present you are scarcely qualified to take command of the army; except only on the one point, that you thoroughly distrust the spaniards.
"well, dick, have you been having any fun lately?"
"it is not to be done, terence. everyone is too disgusted and out of temper to make it safe. even the chief is dangerous. i would as soon think of playing a joke on a wandering tiger, as on him. the major is not a man to trifle with, at the best of times and, except o'flaherty, there is not a man among them who has a good word to throw at a dog. faith, when one thinks of the good time one used to have at athlone, it is heartbreaking."
"well, come in and refresh yourselves. i have a bottle or two still left."
"that is good news!" o'grady said fervently. "it has been on the tip of me tongue to ask you, for me mouth is like an oven; but i was so afraid you would say it was gone that i dare n't open me lips about it."
"to tell you the truth, o'grady, except when some of you fellows come over, there is not any whisky touched in this camp. i have kept it strictly for your sergeants, who have been helping to teach my men drill, and coaching the non-commissioned officers. it has been hard work for them, but they have stuck to it well, and the thought of an allowance at the end of the day's work has done wonders with them.
"we made a very fair show when we came in, but now i think the two battalions could work with the best here, without doing themselves discredit. the non-commissioned officers have always been our weak point, but now my fellows know their work very fairly, and they go at it with a will. you see, they are all very proud of the corps, and have spared no pains to make themselves worthy of it.
"of course, what you may call purely parade movements are not done as they are by our infantry; but in all useful work, i would back them against any here. they are very fair shots, too. i have paid for a lot of extra ammunition; which, i confess, we bought from some of the native levies. no doubt i should get into a row over it, if it were known; but as these fellows are not likely ever to fire a shot against the french, and it is of importance that mine should be able to shoot well, i didn't hesitate to do it. fortunately the regimental chest is not empty, and all the officers have given a third of their pay, to help. but it has certainly done a lot of good, and the shooting has greatly improved since we came here."
"i have been working steadily at portuguese, terence, ever since you spoke to me about it. one has no end of time on one's hands and, really, i am getting on very fairly."
"that is right, dicky. if we win this campaign i will certainly ask for you as adjutant. i shall be awfully glad to have you with me, and i really do want an adjutant for each battalion.
"and you, o'grady?"
"well, i can't report favourably of meself at all, at all. i tried hard for a week, and it is the fault of me tongue, and not of meself. i can't get it to twist itself to the outlandish words. i am willing enough, but me tongue isn't; and i am afraid that, were it a necessity that every officer in your corps should speak the bastely language, i should have to stay at home."
"i am afraid that it is quite necessary, o'grady," terence laughed. "an adjutant who could not make himself understood would be of no shadow of use. you know how i should like to have you with me; but, upon the other hand, there would be inconveniences. you are, as you have said many a time, my superior officer in our army, and i really should not like to have to give you orders. then again, bull and macwitty are still more your juniors, having only received their commissions a few months back; and they would feel just as uncomfortable as i should, at having you under them. i don't think that it would do at all. besides, you know, you are not fond of work by any means, and there would be more to do in a regiment like this than in one of our own."
"i suppose that it must be so, terence," o'grady said resignedly, as he emptied his tumbler; "and besides, there is a sort of superstition in the service that an adjutant should be always able to walk straight to his tent, even after a warm night at mess. now, although it seems to me that i have every other qualification, in that respect i should be a failure; and i imagine that, in a portuguese regiment, the thing would be looked at more seriously than it is in an irish one; where such a matter occurs, occasionally, among men as well as officers."
"that is quite true, o'grady. the portuguese are a sober people and would not, as you say, be able to make the same allowance for our weaknesses that irish soldiers do; seeing that it is too common for our men to be either one way or the other.
"however, ryan, i do hope i shall be able to get you. i never had much hopes of o'grady; and this failure of his tongue to aid him, in his vigorous efforts to learn the language, seems to quite settle the matter as far as he is concerned."
at this moment an orderly rode up to the tent. terence went out.
"a despatch from headquarters, sir," the trooper said, saluting.
"all right, my man! you had better wait for five minutes, and see if any answer is required."
going into the tent, he opened the despatch.
"hooray!" he said, as he glanced at the contents, "here is a movement, at last."
the letter was as follows:
"colonel o'connor will at once march with his force to plasencia; and will reconnoitre the country between that town and the tagus to the south, and bejar to the north. he will ascertain, as far as possible, the position and movements of the french army under victor. he will send a daily report of his observations to headquarters. twenty portuguese cavalry, under a subaltern, will be attached to his command, and will furnish orderlies to carry his reports.
"it is desirable that colonel o'connor's troops should not come in contact with the enemy, except to check any reconnoitring parties moving towards castello branco and villa velha. it is most necessary to prevent the news of an advance of the army in that direction reaching the enemy, and to give the earliest possible information of any hostile gathering that might menace the flank of the army, while on its march.
"the passes of banos and periles will be held by the troops of marshal beresford and general del parque, and it is to the country between the mountains and marshal cuesta's force, at almaraz, that colonel o'connor is directed to concentrate his attention. in case of being attacked by superior forces, colonel o'connor will, if possible, retreat into the mountains on his left flank, maintain himself there, and open communications with lord beresford's forces at banos or bejar.
"colonel o'connor is authorized to requisition six carts from the quartermaster's department, and to hand over his tents to them; to draw 50,000 rounds of ball cartridge, and such rations as he may be able to carry with him. the paymaster has received authority to hand over to him 500 pounds, for the payment of supplies for his men. when this sum is exhausted, colonel o'connor is authorized to issue orders for supplies payable by the paymaster to the forces, exercising the strictest economy, and sending notification to the paymaster general of the issue of such orders.
"this despatch is confidential, and the direction of the route is, on no account, to be divulged."
"you hear that, o'grady; and you too, dicky. i ought not to have read the despatch out loud. however, i know you will keep the matter secret."
"you may trust us for that, terence, for it is a secret worth knowing. it is evident that sir arthur is going to join cuesta, and make a dash on madrid. well, he has been long enough in making up his mind; but it is a satisfaction that we are likely to have hot work, at last, though i wish we could have done it without those spaniards. we have seen enough of them to know that nothing, beyond kind words, are to be expected of them and, when the time for fighting comes, i would rather that we depended upon ourselves than have to act with fellows on whom there is no reliance, whatever, to be placed."
"i agree with you there, heartily, o'grady. however, thank goodness we are going to set out at last; and i am very glad that it falls to us to act as the vanguard of the army, instead of being attached to beresford's command and kept stationary in the passes.
"now i must be at work. i daresay we shall meet again, before long."
terence wrote an acknowledgment of the receipt of the general's order, and handed it to the orderly who had brought it. a bugler at once sounded the field-officers' call.
"we are to march at once," he said, when herrara, bull, and macwitty arrived. "let the tents be struck, and handed over to the quartermaster's department. see that the men have four days' biscuit in their haversacks.
"each battalion is to take three carts with it. i will go to the quartermaster's department, to draw them. tell off six men from each battalion to accompany me, and take charge of the carts. each battalion will carry 25,000 rounds of spare ammunition, and a chest of 250 pounds. i will requisition from the commissariat as much biscuit as we can carry, and twenty bullocks for each battalion, to be driven with the carts.
"as soon as the carts are obtained, the men will drive them to the ordnance stores for the ammunition, and to the commissariat stores to load up the food. you had better send an officer in charge of the men of each battalion.
"i will myself draw the money from the paymaster. i will go there at once. send a couple of men with me, for of course it will be paid in silver. then i will go to the quartermaster's stores, and get the carts ready by the time that the men arrive. i want to march in an hour's time, at latest."
in a few minutes the camp was a scene of bustle and activity. the tents were struck and packed away in their bags, and piled in order to be handed over to the quartermaster; and in a few minutes over an hour from the receipt of the order, the two battalions were in motion.
after a twenty-mile march, they halted for the night near the frontier. an hour later they were joined by twenty troopers of a portuguese regiment, under the command of a subaltern.
the next day they marched through plasencia, and halted for the night on the slopes of the sierra. an orderly was despatched, next morning, to the officer in command of any force that there might be at banos, informing him of the position that they had taken up.
terence ordered two companies to remain at this spot, which was at the head of a little stream running down into an affluent of the tagus; their position being now nearly due north of almaraz, from which they were distant some twenty miles. the rest of the force descended into the plain, and took post at various villages between the sierra and oropesa, the most advanced party halting four miles from that town.
the french forces under victor had, in accordance with orders from madrid, fallen back from plasencia a week before, and taken up his quarters at talavera.
at the time when the regiment received its uniforms, terence had ordered that twenty suits of the men's peasant clothes should be retained in store and, specially intelligent men being chosen, twenty of these were sent forward towards the river alberche, to discover victor's position. they brought in news that he had placed his troops behind the river, and that cuesta, who had at one time an advanced guard at oropesa, had recalled it to almaraz. parties of victor's cavalry were patrolling the country between talavera and oropesa.
terence had sent bull, with five hundred men, to occupy all the passes across the sierras, with orders to capture any orderlies or messengers who might come along; and a day later four men brought in a french officer, who had been captured on the road leading south. he was the bearer of a letter from soult to the king, and was at once sent, under the escort of four troopers, to headquarters.
the men who had brought in the officer reported that they had learned that wilson, with his command of four thousand men, was in the mountains north of the escurial; and that spies from that officer had ascertained that there was great alarm in madrid, where the news of the british advance towards plasencia was already known; and that it was feared that this force, with cuesta's army at almaraz and venegas' army in la mancha, were about to combine in an attack upon the capital. this, indeed, was sir arthur's plan, and had been arranged with the supreme junta. the junta, however, being jealous of cuesta, had given secret instructions to venegas to keep aloof.
on his arrival at plasencia, the english general had learned at once the hollowness of the spanish promises. he had been assured of an ample supply of food, mules, and carts for transport; and had, on the strength of these statements, advanced with but small supplies, for little food and but few animals could be obtained in portugal. he found, on arriving, that no preparations whatever had been made; and the army, thus early in the campaign, was put on half rations. day after day passed without any of the promised supplies arriving, and sir arthur wrote to the supreme junta; saying that although, in accordance with his agreement, he would march to the alberche, he would not cross that river unless the promises that had been made were kept, to the letter.
he had, by this time, learned that the french forces north of the mountains were much more formidable than the spanish reports had led him to believe; but he still greatly underrated soult's army, and was altogether ignorant that ney had evacuated galicia, and was marching south with all speed, with his command. del parque had failed in his promise to garrison bejar and banos, and these passes were now only held by a few hundreds of cuesta's spaniards.
a week after taking up his position north of oropesa, terence received orders to move with his two battalions, and to take post to guard these passes; with his left resting on bejar, and his right in communication with wilson's force. the detachments were at once recalled. a thousand men were posted near bejar, and the rest divided among the other passes by which a french army from the north could cross the sierra.
as soon as this arrangement was made, terence rode to wilson's headquarters. he was received very cordially by that officer.
"i am heartily glad to see you, colonel o'connor," the latter said. "of course, i have heard of the doings of your battalions; and am glad, indeed, to have your support. i sent a messenger off, only this morning, to sir arthur; telling him that, from the information brought in by my spies, i am convinced that soult is much stronger than has been supposed; and that, if he moves south, i shall scarce be able to hold the passes of arenas and san pedro barnardo; and that i can certainly spare no men for the defence of the more westerly ones, by which soult is likely to march from salamanca. however, now you are there, i shall feel safe."
"no doubt i could hinder an advance, sir robert," terence said, "but i certainly could not hope to bar the passes to a french army. i have no artillery and, though my men are steady enough against infantry, i doubt whether they would be able to withstand an attack heralded by a heavy cannonade. with a couple of batteries of artillery to sweep the passes, one might make a fair stand for a time against a greatly superior force; but with only infantry, one could not hope to maintain one's position."
"quite so, and sir arthur could not expect it. my own opinion is that we shall have fifty thousand men coming down from the north. i have told the chief as much; but naturally he will believe the assurances of the spanish juntas, rather than reports gathered by our spies; and no doubt hopes to crush victor altogether, before soult makes any movement; and he trusts to venegas' advance, from the south towards the upper tagus, to cause don joseph to evacuate madrid, as soon as he hears of victor's defeat.
"but i have, certainly, no faith whatever in either venegas or cuesta. cuesta is loyal enough, but he is obstinate and pig headed and, at present, he is furious because the supreme junta has been sending all the best troops to venegas, instead of to him; and he knows, well enough, that that perpetual intriguer frere is working underhand to get albuquerque appointed to the supreme command. as to venegas, he is a mere tool of the supreme junta and, as likely as not, they will order him to do nothing but keep his army intact.
"then again, the delay at plasencia has upset all sir arthur's arrangements. had he pressed straight forward on the 28th of last month, when he crossed the frontier, disregarding cuesta altogether, he could have been at madrid long before this; for i know that at that time victor's force had been so weakened that he had but between fourteen and fifteen thousand men, and must have fallen back without fighting. now he has again got the troops that had been taken from him, and will be further reinforced before sir arthur arrives on the alberche; and of course soult has had plenty of time to get everything in readiness to cross the mountains, and fall upon the british rear, as soon as he hears that they are fairly on their way towards madrid. here we are at the 20th, and our forces will only reach oropesa today.
"victor is evidently afraid that sir arthur will move from oropesa towards the hills, pass the upper alberche, and so place himself between him and madrid; for a strong force of cavalry reconnoitred in this direction, this morning."
"would it not be as well, sir," said terence, "if we were to arrange some signals by which we could aid each other? that hill top can be seen from the hill beyond which is the little village where i have established myself. i noticed it this morning, before i started. if you would keep a lookout on your hill, i would have one on mine. we might each get three bonfires, a hundred yards apart, ready for lighting. if i hear of any great force approaching the defiles i am watching, i could summon your aid either by day or night by these fires; and in the same way, if soult should advance by the line that you are guarding, you could summon me. my men are really well trained in this sort of work, and you could trust them to make an obstinate defence."
"i think that your idea is a very good one, and will certainly carry it out. you see, we are really both of us protecting the left flank of our army, and can certainly do so more effectually if we work together.
"we might, too, arrange another signal. one fire might mean that, for some reason or other, we are marching away. i may have orders to move some distance towards madrid, so as to compel victor to weaken himself by detaching a force to check me; you may be ordered, as the army advances, to leave your defiles in charge of the spaniards, and to accompany the army. two fires might mean, spies have reported a general advance of the french coming by several routes. thus, you see, we should be in readiness for any emergency.
"i should be extremely glad of your help, if soult comes this way. my own corps of 1200 men are fairly good soldiers, and i can rely upon them to do their best; but the other 3000 have been but recently raised, and i don't think that any dependence can be placed upon them, in case of hard fighting; but with your two battalions, we ought to be able to hold any of these defiles for a considerable time."
two days later, terence received orders to march instantly with his force down into the valley, to follow the foot of the hills until he reached the alberche, when he was to report his arrival, wait until he received orders, and check the advance of any french force endeavouring to move round the left flank of the british. the evening before, one signal fire had announced that wilson was on the move and, thinking that he, too, might be summoned, terence had called in all his outposts, and was able to march a quarter of an hour after he received the order.
he had learned, on the evening he returned from his visit to sir robert, from men sent down into the plain for the purpose, that cuesta's army and that of sir arthur had advanced together from oropesa. he was glad at the order to join the army, as he had felt that, should soult advance, his force, unprovided as it was with guns, would be able to offer but a very temporary resistance; especially if the french marshal was at the head of a force anything like as strong as was reported by the peasantry. as to this, however, he had very strong doubts, having come to distrust thoroughly every report given by the spaniards. he knew that they were as ready, under the influence of fear, to exaggerate the force of an enemy as they were, at other times, to magnify their own numbers. sir arthur must, he thought, be far better informed than he himself could be; for his men, being portuguese, were viewed with doubt and suspicion by the spanish peasantry, who would probably take a pleasure in misleading them altogether.
the short stay in the mountains had braced up the men and, with only a short halt, they made a forty-mile march to the alberche by midnight. scarcely had they lit their fires, when an hussar officer and some troopers rode up. they halted a hundred yards away, and the officer shouted in english:
"what corps is this?"
terence at once left the fire, and advanced towards them.
"two portuguese battalions," he answered, "under myself, colonel o'connor."
the officer at once rode forward.
"i was not quite sure," he said, as he came close, "that my question would not be answered by a volley. by the direction from which i saw you coming, i thought that you must be friends. still, you might have been an advanced party of a force that had come down through the defiles. however, as soon as i saw you light your fires, i made sure it was all right; for the frenchmen would not likely have ventured to do so unless, indeed, they were altogether ignorant of our advance."
"at ten o'clock this morning i received orders from headquarters to move to this point at once and, as we have marched from banos, you see we have lost very little time on the way."
"indeed, you have not. i suppose it is about forty miles; and that distance, in fourteen hours, is certainly first-rate marching. i will send off one of my men to report who you are. two squadrons of my regiment are a quarter of a mile away, awaiting my return."
"have you any reason to believe that the enemy are near?"
"no particular reason that i know of, but their cavalry have been in great force along the upper part of the river, for the last two days. victor has retired from talavera, for i fancy that he was afraid we might move round this way, and cut him off from madrid. the spaniards might have harassed him as he fell back, but they dared not even make a charge on his rear guard, though they had 3000 cavalry.
"we are not quite sure where the french are and, of course, we get no information from the people here; either their stupidity is something astounding, or their sympathies are entirely with the french."
"my experience is," terence said, "that the best way is to get as much information as you can from them, and then to act with the certainty that the real facts are just the reverse of the statements made to you."
as soon as the forces halted a picket had been sent out; and terence, when the men finished their supper, established a cordon of advanced pickets, with strong supports, at a distance of a mile from his front and flanks; so as to ensure himself against surprise, and to detect any movement upon the part of the enemy's cavalry, who might be pressing round to obtain information of the british position. at daybreak he mounted and rode to talavera, and reported the arrival of his command, and the position where he had halted for the night.
"you have wasted no time over it, colonel o'connor. you can only have received the order yesterday morning, and i scarcely expected that you could be here till this evening."
"my men are excellent marchers, sir. they did the forty miles in fourteen hours, and might have done it an hour quicker, had they been pressed. not a man fell out."
"your duty will now be to cover our left flank. i don't know whether you are aware that wilson has moved forward, and will take post on the slopes near the escurial. he has been directed to spread his force as much as possible, so as to give an appearance of greater strength than he has."
"i knew that he had left his former position," terence said. "we had arranged a code of smoke signals, by which we could ask each other for assistance should the defiles be attacked; and i learned yesterday morning, in this way, that he was marching away."
"have you any news of what is taking place on the other side of the hills, since you sent off word two days ago?"
"no, sir; at least, all we hear is of the same character as before. we don't hear that soult is moving, but his force is certainly put down as being considerably larger than was supposed. i have deemed it my duty to state this in my reports, but the spaniards are so inclined to exaggerate everything that i always receive statements of this kind with great doubt."
"all our news--from the juntas, from mr. frere, and from other quarters--is quite the other way," the officer said. "we are assured that soult has not fifteen thousand men in condition to take the field, and that he could not venture to move these, as he knows that the whole country would rise, did he do so.
"i have no specific orders to give you. you will keep in touch with general hill's brigade, which forms our left and, as we move forward, you will advance along the lower slopes of the sierra and prevent any attempt, on the part of the french, to turn our flank.
"i dare say you do not know exactly what is going on, colonel o'connor. it may be of assistance to you, in taking up your position, to know that the fighting is likely to take place on the line between talavera and the mountains. cuesta has fallen back, in great haste, to talavera. we shall advance today and take up our line with him.
"the spaniards will hold the low marshy ground near the town. our right will rest on an eminence on his left flank, and will extend to a group of hills, separated by a valley from the sierra. our cavalry will probably check any attempt by the french to turn our flank there, and you and the spaniards will do your best to hold the slope of the sierra, should the french move a force along there.
"i may say that victor has been largely reinforced by sebastiani, and is likely to take the offensive. indeed, we hear that he is already moving in this direction. we are not aware of his exact strength, but we believe that it must approach, if not equal, that of ourselves and cuesta united.
"cuesta has, indeed, been already roughly handled by the french. disregarding sir arthur's entreaties, and believing victor to be in full retreat, he marched on alone, impelled by the desire to be the first to enter madrid; but at two o'clock on the morning of the 26th of july, the french suddenly fell upon him, drove the spanish cavalry back from their advanced position, and chased them hotly. they fled in great disorder, and the panic would have spread to the whole army, had not albuquerque brought up 3000 fresh cavalry and held the french in check, while cuesta retreated in great disorder and, had the french pressed forward, would have fled in utter rout. sherbrooke's division, which was in advance of the british army, moved forward and took up its position in front of the panic-stricken spaniards, and then the french drew off.
"cuesta then yielded to sir arthur's entreaties, recrossed the alberche, and took up his position near talavera. here, even the worst troops should be able to make a stand against the best. the ground is marshy and traversed by a rivulet. on its left is a strong redoubt, which is armed with spanish artillery; on the right is another very strong battery, on a rise close to talavera; while other batteries sweep the road to madrid. sir arthur has strengthened the front by felling trees and forming abattis, so that he has good reason to hope that, poor as the spanish troops may be, they should be able to hold their part of the line.
"campbell's division forms the british right, sherbrooke comes next, the german legion are in the centre, donkin is to take his place on the hill that rises two-thirds of the way across the valley, while general hill's division is to hold the face looking north, and separated from the sierra only by the comparatively narrow valley in which you have bivouacked. at present, however, his troops and those of donkin have not taken up their position."
the country between the positions on which the allied armies had now fallen back was covered with olive and cork trees. the whole line from talavera to the hill, which was to be held by hill's division, was two miles in length; and the valley between that and the sierra was half a mile in width, but extremely broken and rugged, and was intersected by a ravine, through which ran the rivulet that fell into the tagus at talavera.