Under Wellington's Command: A Tale of the Peninsular War Page 2

  Chapter 1: A Detached Force.

  "Be jabers, Terence, we shall all die of weariness with doingnothing, if we don't move soon," said Captain O'Grady; who, withDick Ryan, had ridden over to spend the afternoon with TerenceO'Connor, whose regiment of Portuguese was encamped some six milesout of Abrantes, where the division to which the Mayo Fusiliersbelonged was stationed.

  "Here we are in June, and the sun getting hotter and hotter, andthe whisky just come to an end, though we have been mighty sparingover it, and nothing to eat but ration beef. Begorrah, if it wasn'tfor 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 lifein one place. At first there was something to do, for one couldforage for food dacent to eat; but now I don't believe there is asmuch as an old hen left within fifteen miles, and as for ducks andgeese, I have almost forgotten the taste of them."

  "It is not lively work, O'Grady, but it is worse for me here. Youhave got Dicky Ryan to stir you up and keep you alive, andO'Flaherty to look after your health and see that you don't exceedyour allowance; while practically I have no one but Herrara tospeak to, for though Bull and Macwitty are excellent fellows intheir way, they are not much as companions.

  "However, I think we must be nearly at the end of it. We have gotpretty well all the troops up here, except those who are to remainat Lisbon."

  "I see the men," O'Grady said, "but I don't see the victuals. Wecan't march until we get transport and food, and where they are tocome 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 theSpaniards are, and what wholesale lies they tell. Of course, he hadsome 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 offaith. Craddock learnt it after a bitter experience, and so didMoore. I have no doubt that the Spaniards have represented to SirArthur that they have large disciplined armies, that the Frenchhave been reduced to a mere handful, and that they are only waitingfor 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 aswell rely upon the assistance of an army of hares, commanded by apig-headed owl."

  "I can't make out, meself," O'Grady said, "what we want to haveanything to do with the Spaniards for, at all. If I were in SirArthur's place, I would just march straight against the French andthrash them."

  "That sounds well, O'Grady, but we know very little about where theFrench are, what they are doing, or what is their strength; and Ithink that you will allow that, though we have beaten them eachtime we have met them, they fought well. At Rolica we were three toone against them, and at Vimiera we had the advantage of a strongposition. At Corunna things were pretty well even, but we had ourbacks to the wall.

  "I am afraid, O'Grady, that just at present you are scarcelyqualified to take command of the army; except only on the onepoint, 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 outof temper to make it safe. Even the chief is dangerous. I would assoon think of playing a joke on a wandering tiger, as on him. Themajor is not a man to trifle with, at the best of times and, exceptO'Flaherty, there is not a man among them who has a good word tothrow at a dog. Faith, when one thinks of the good time one used tohave at Athlone, it is heartbreaking."

  "Well, come in and refresh yourselves. I have a bottle or two stillleft."

  "That is good news!" O'Grady said fervently. "It has been on thetip of me tongue to ask you, for me mouth is like an oven; but Iwas so afraid you would say it was gone that I dare n't open melips about it."

  "To tell you the truth, O'Grady, except when some of you fellowscome over, there is not any whisky touched in this camp. I havekept it strictly for your sergeants, who have been helping to teachmy men drill, and coaching the non-commissioned officers. It hasbeen hard work for them, but they have stuck to it well, and thethought of an allowance at the end of the day's work has donewonders with them.

  "We made a very fair show when we came in, but now I think the twobattalions could work with the best here, without doing themselvesdiscredit. The non-commissioned officers have always been our weakpoint, but now my fellows know their work very fairly, and they goat 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 doneas they are by our infantry; but in all useful work, I would backthem against any here. They are very fair shots, too. I have paidfor a lot of extra ammunition; which, I confess, we bought fromsome of the native levies. No doubt I should get into a row overit, if it were known; but as these fellows are not likely ever tofire a shot against the French, and it is of importance that mineshould be able to shoot well, I didn't hesitate to do it.Fortunately the regimental chest is not empty, and all the officershave given a third of their pay, to help. But it has certainly donea lot of good, and the shooting has greatly improved since we camehere."

  "I have been working steadily at Portuguese, Terence, ever sinceyou spoke to me about it. One has no end of time on one's handsand, really, I am getting on very fairly."

  "That is right, Dicky. If we win this campaign I will certainly askfor 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 triedhard for a week, and it is the fault of me tongue, and not ofmeself. I can't get it to twist itself to the outlandish words. Iam willing enough, but me tongue isn't; and I am afraid that, wereit a necessity that every officer in your corps should speak thebastely 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 noshadow 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 youhave said many a time, my superior officer in our army, and Ireally should not like to have to give you orders. Then again, Bulland Macwitty are still more your juniors, having only receivedtheir commissions a few months back; and they would feel just asuncomfortable as I should, at having you under them. I don't thinkthat it would do at all. Besides, you know, you are not fond ofwork by any means, and there would be more to do in a regiment likethis 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 ofsuperstition in the service that an adjutant should be always ableto walk straight to his tent, even after a warm night at mess. Now,although it seems to me that I have every other qualification, inthat respect I should be a failure; and I imagine that, in aPortuguese regiment, the thing would be looked at more seriouslythan 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 andwould not, as you say, be able to make the same allowance for ourweaknesses that Irish soldiers do; seeing that it is too common forour men to be either one way or the other.

  "However, Ryan, I do hope I shall be able to get you. I never hadmuch hopes of O'Grady; and this failure of his tongue to aid him,in his vigorous efforts to learn the language, seems to quitesettle 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 seeif any answer is required."

  Going into the tent, he opened the despatch.

  "Hooray!" he said, as he glanced at the contents, "here is amovement, at last."

  The let
ter 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 tothe south, and Bejar to the north. He will ascertain, as far aspossible, the position and movements of the French army underVictor. He will send a daily report of his observations toheadquarters. Twenty Portuguese cavalry, under a subaltern, will beattached to his command, and will furnish orderlies to carry hisreports.

  "It is desirable that Colonel O'Connor's troops should not come incontact with the enemy, except to check any reconnoitring partiesmoving towards Castello Branco and Villa Velha. It is mostnecessary to prevent the news of an advance of the army in thatdirection reaching the enemy, and to give the earliest possibleinformation of any hostile gathering that might menace the flank ofthe army, while on its march.

  "The passes of Banos and Periles will be held by the troops ofMarshal Beresford and General Del Parque, and it is to the countrybetween the mountains and Marshal Cuesta's force, at Almaraz, thatColonel O'Connor is directed to concentrate his attention. In caseof being attacked by superior forces, Colonel O'Connor will, ifpossible, retreat into the mountains on his left flank, maintainhimself there, and open communications with Lord Beresford's forcesat Banos or Bejar.

  "Colonel O'Connor is authorized to requisition six carts from thequartermaster's department, and to hand over his tents to them; todraw 50,000 rounds of ball cartridge, and such rations as he may beable to carry with him. The paymaster has received authority tohand over to him 500 pounds, for the payment of supplies for hismen. When this sum is exhausted, Colonel O'Connor is authorized toissue orders for supplies payable by the paymaster to the forces,exercising the strictest economy, and sending notification to thePaymaster 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 haveread the despatch out loud. However, I know you will keep thematter secret."

  "You may trust us for that, Terence, for it is a secret worthknowing. It is evident that Sir Arthur is going to join Cuesta, andmake a dash on Madrid. Well, he has been long enough in making uphis mind; but it is a satisfaction that we are likely to have hotwork, at last, though I wish we could have done it without thoseSpaniards. We have seen enough of them to know that nothing, beyondkind words, are to be expected of them and, when the time forfighting comes, I would rather that we depended upon ourselves thanhave to act with fellows on whom there is no reliance, whatever, tobe placed."

  "I agree with you there, heartily, O'Grady. However, thank goodnesswe are going to set out at last; and I am very glad that it fallsto us to act as the vanguard of the army, instead of being attachedto Beresford's command and kept stationary in the passes.

  "Now I must be at work. I daresay we shall meet again, beforelong."

  Terence wrote an acknowledgment of the receipt of the general'sorder, and handed it to the orderly who had brought it. A bugler atonce sounded the field-officers' call.

  "We are to march at once," he said, when Herrara, Bull, andMacwitty arrived. "Let the tents be struck, and handed over to thequartermaster'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 thequartermaster's department, to draw them. Tell off six men fromeach battalion to accompany me, and take charge of the carts. Eachbattalion will carry 25,000 rounds of spare ammunition, and a chestof 250 pounds. I will requisition from the commissariat as muchbiscuit as we can carry, and twenty bullocks for each battalion, tobe driven with the carts.

  "As soon as the carts are obtained, the men will drive them to theordnance stores for the ammunition, and to the commissariat storesto load up the food. You had better send an officer in charge ofthe men of each battalion.

  "I will myself draw the money from the paymaster. I will go thereat once. Send a couple of men with me, for of course it will bepaid in silver. Then I will go to the quartermaster's stores, andget the carts ready by the time that the men arrive. I want tomarch in an hour's time, at latest."

  In a few minutes the camp was a scene of bustle and activity. Thetents were struck and packed away in their bags, and piled in orderto be handed over to the quartermaster; and in a few minutes overan hour from the receipt of the order, the two battalions were inmotion.

  After a twenty-mile march, they halted for the night near thefrontier. An hour later they were joined by twenty troopers of aPortuguese regiment, under the command of a subaltern.

  The next day they marched through Plasencia, and halted for thenight on the slopes of the Sierra. An orderly was despatched, nextmorning, to the officer in command of any force that there might beat Banos, informing him of the position that they had taken up.

  Terence ordered two companies to remain at this spot, which was atthe head of a little stream running down into an affluent of theTagus; their position being now nearly due north of Almaraz, fromwhich they were distant some twenty miles. The rest of the forcedescended into the plain, and took post at various villages betweenthe Sierra and Oropesa, the most advanced party halting four milesfrom that town.

  The French forces under Victor had, in accordance with orders fromMadrid, fallen back from Plasencia a week before, and taken up hisquarters at Talavera.

  At the time when the regiment received its uniforms, Terence hadordered that twenty suits of the men's peasant clothes should beretained in store and, specially intelligent men being chosen,twenty of these were sent forward towards the river Alberche, todiscover Victor's position. They brought in news that he had placedhis troops behind the river, and that Cuesta, who had at one timean advanced guard at Oropesa, had recalled it to Almaraz. Partiesof Victor's cavalry were patrolling the country between Talaveraand Oropesa.

  Terence had sent Bull, with five hundred men, to occupy all thepasses across the Sierras, with orders to capture any orderlies ormessengers who might come along; and a day later four men broughtin a French officer, who had been captured on the road leadingsouth. He was the bearer of a letter from Soult to the king, andwas at once sent, under the escort of four troopers, toheadquarters.

  The men who had brought in the officer reported that they hadlearned that Wilson, with his command of four thousand men, was inthe mountains north of the Escurial; and that spies from thatofficer had ascertained that there was great alarm in Madrid, wherethe news of the British advance towards Plasencia was alreadyknown; and that it was feared that this force, with Cuesta's armyat Almaraz and Venegas' army in La Mancha, were about to combine inan 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 Venegasto keep aloof.

  On his arrival at Plasencia, the English general had learned atonce the hollowness of the Spanish promises. He had been assured ofan ample supply of food, mules, and carts for transport; and had,on the strength of these statements, advanced with but smallsupplies, for little food and but few animals could be obtained inPortugal. He found, on arriving, that no preparations whatever hadbeen made; and the army, thus early in the campaign, was put onhalf rations. Day after day passed without any of the promisedsupplies arriving, and Sir Arthur wrote to the Supreme Junta;saying that although, in accordance with his agreement, he wouldmarch to the Alberche, he would not cross that river unless thepromises that had been made were kept, to the letter.

  He had, by this time, learned that the French forces north of themountains were much more formidable than the Spanish reports hadled him to believe; but he still greatly underrated Soult's army,and was altogether ignorant that Ney had evacuated Galicia, and wasmarching south with all speed, with his command. Del Parque hadfailed in his promise to garrison Bejar and Banos, and these passeswere now only held by a few hundreds of Cuesta's Spaniards.

  A week after taking up his position north of Oropesa, Terencereceived ord
ers to move with his two battalions, and to take postto guard these passes; with his left resting on Bejar, and hisright in communication with Wilson's force. The detachments were atonce recalled. A thousand men were posted near Bejar, and the restdivided among the other passes by which a French army from thenorth could cross the Sierra.

  As soon as this arrangement was made, Terence rode to Wilson'sheadquarters. 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 amglad, indeed, to have your support. I sent a messenger off, onlythis morning, to Sir Arthur; telling him that, from the informationbrought in by my spies, I am convinced that Soult is much strongerthan has been supposed; and that, if he moves south, I shall scarcebe able to hold the passes of Arenas and San Pedro Barnardo; andthat I can certainly spare no men for the defence of the morewesterly 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 againstinfantry, I doubt whether they would be able to withstand an attackheralded by a heavy cannonade. With a couple of batteries ofartillery to sweep the passes, one might make a fair stand for atime against a greatly superior force; but with only infantry, onecould not hope to maintain one's position."

  "Quite so, and Sir Arthur could not expect it. My own opinion isthat we shall have fifty thousand men coming down from the north. Ihave told the chief as much; but naturally he will believe theassurances of the Spanish juntas, rather than reports gathered byour spies; and no doubt hopes to crush Victor altogether, beforeSoult makes any movement; and he trusts to Venegas' advance, fromthe south towards the upper Tagus, to cause Don Joseph to evacuateMadrid, as soon as he hears of Victor's defeat.

  "But I have, certainly, no faith whatever in either Venegas orCuesta. Cuesta is loyal enough, but he is obstinate and pig headedand, at present, he is furious because the Supreme Junta has beensending all the best troops to Venegas, instead of to him; and heknows, well enough, that that perpetual intriguer Frere is workingunderhand to get Albuquerque appointed to the supreme command. Asto Venegas, he is a mere tool of the Supreme Junta and, as likelyas not, they will order him to do nothing but keep his army intact.

  "Then again, the delay at Plasencia has upset all Sir Arthur'sarrangements. Had he pressed straight forward on the 28th of lastmonth, when he crossed the frontier, disregarding Cuestaaltogether, he could have been at Madrid long before this; for Iknow that at that time Victor's force had been so weakened that hehad but between fourteen and fifteen thousand men, and must havefallen back without fighting. Now he has again got the troops thathad been taken from him, and will be further reinforced before SirArthur arrives on the Alberche; and of course Soult has had plentyof time to get everything in readiness to cross the mountains, andfall upon the British rear, as soon as he hears that they arefairly on their way towards Madrid. Here we are at the 20th, andour forces will only reach Oropesa today.

  "Victor is evidently afraid that Sir Arthur will move from Oropesatowards the hills, pass the upper Alberche, and so place himselfbetween him and Madrid; for a strong force of cavalry reconnoitredin this direction, this morning."

  "Would it not be as well, sir," said Terence, "if we were toarrange some signals by which we could aid each other? That hilltop can be seen from the hill beyond which is the little villagewhere I have established myself. I noticed it this morning, beforeI started. If you would keep a lookout on your hill, I would haveone on mine. We might each get three bonfires, a hundred yardsapart, ready for lighting. If I hear of any great force approachingthe defiles I am watching, I could summon your aid either by day ornight by these fires; and in the same way, if Soult should advanceby the line that you are guarding, you could summon me. My men arereally well trained in this sort of work, and you could trust themto make an obstinate defence."

  "I think that your idea is a very good one, and will certainlycarry it out. You see, we are really both of us protecting the leftflank of our army, and can certainly do so more effectually if wework together.

  "We might, too, arrange another signal. One fire might mean that,for some reason or other, we are marching away. I may have ordersto move some distance towards Madrid, so as to compel Victor toweaken himself by detaching a force to check me; you may beordered, as the army advances, to leave your defiles in charge ofthe Spaniards, and to accompany the army. Two fires might mean,spies have reported a general advance of the French coming byseveral routes. Thus, you see, we should be in readiness for anyemergency.

  "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 relyupon them to do their best; but the other 3000 have been butrecently raised, and I don't think that any dependence can beplaced upon them, in case of hard fighting; but with your twobattalions, we ought to be able to hold any of these defiles for aconsiderable time."

  Two days later, Terence received orders to march instantly with hisforce down into the valley, to follow the foot of the hills untilhe reached the Alberche, when he was to report his arrival, waituntil he received orders, and check the advance of any French forceendeavouring to move round the left flank of the British. Theevening before, one signal fire had announced that Wilson was onthe move and, thinking that he, too, might be summoned, Terence hadcalled in all his outposts, and was able to march a quarter of anhour after he received the order.

  He had learned, on the evening he returned from his visit to SirRobert, from men sent down into the plain for the purpose, thatCuesta's army and that of Sir Arthur had advanced together fromOropesa. He was glad at the order to join the army, as he had feltthat, should Soult advance, his force, unprovided as it was withguns, would be able to offer but a very temporary resistance;especially if the French Marshal was at the head of a forceanything like as strong as was reported by the peasantry. As tothis, however, he had very strong doubts, having come to distrustthoroughly every report given by the Spaniards. He knew that theywere as ready, under the influence of fear, to exaggerate the forceof an enemy as they were, at other times, to magnify their ownnumbers. Sir Arthur must, he thought, be far better informed thanhe himself could be; for his men, being Portuguese, were viewedwith doubt and suspicion by the Spanish peasantry, who wouldprobably take a pleasure in misleading them altogether.

  The short stay in the mountains had braced up the men and, withonly a short halt, they made a forty-mile march to the Alberche bymidnight. Scarcely had they lit their fires, when an Hussar officerand some troopers rode up. They halted a hundred yards away, andthe 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, ColonelO'Connor."

  The officer at once rode forward.

  "I was not quite sure," he said, as he came close, "that myquestion would not be answered by a volley. By the direction fromwhich 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 downthrough the defiles. However, as soon as I saw you light yourfires, I made sure it was all right; for the Frenchmen would notlikely have ventured to do so unless, indeed, they were altogetherignorant of our advance."

  "At ten o'clock this morning I received orders from headquarters tomove to this point at once and, as we have marched from Banos, yousee we have lost very little time on the way."

  "Indeed, you have not. I suppose it is about forty miles; and thatdistance, in fourteen hours, is certainly first-rate marching. Iwill send off one of my men to report who you are. Two squadrons ofmy 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 beenin great force along the upper part of the river, for the last twodays. Victor has retired from Talavera, for I fancy that he wasafraid we might move round this way, and cut him off from Madrid.The Spaniards might have harassed him as he fell back, but theydared not even make a charge on his rear guard, though they had3000 cavalry.

  "We are not quite sure where the French are and, of course, we getno information from the people here; either their stupidity issomething astounding, or their sympathies are entirely with theFrench."

  "My experience is," Terence said, "that the best way is to get asmuch information as you can from them, and then to act with thecertainty that the real facts are just the reverse of thestatements made to you."

  As soon as the forces halted a picket had been sent out; andTerence, when the men finished their supper, established a cordonof advanced pickets, with strong supports, at a distance of a milefrom his front and flanks; so as to ensure himself againstsurprise, and to detect any movement upon the part of the enemy'scavalry, who might be pressing round to obtain information of theBritish position. At daybreak he mounted and rode to Talavera, andreported the arrival of his command, and the position where he hadhalted for the night.

  "You have wasted no time over it, Colonel O'Connor. You can onlyhave received the order yesterday morning, and I scarcely expectedthat you could be here till this evening."

  "My men are excellent marchers, sir. They did the forty miles infourteen hours, and might have done it an hour quicker, had theybeen pressed. Not a man fell out."

  "Your duty will now be to cover our left flank. I don't knowwhether you are aware that Wilson has moved forward, and will takepost on the slopes near the Escurial. He has been directed tospread his force as much as possible, so as to give an appearanceof greater strength than he has."

  "I knew that he had left his former position," Terence said. "Wehad arranged a code of smoke signals, by which we could ask eachother for assistance should the defiles be attacked; and I learnedyesterday morning, in this way, that he was marching away."

  "Have you any news of what is taking place on the other side of thehills, 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 putdown as being considerably larger than was supposed. I have deemedit my duty to state this in my reports, but the Spaniards are soinclined to exaggerate everything that I always receive statementsof this kind with great doubt."

  "All our news--from the juntas, from Mr. Frere, and from otherquarters--is quite the other way," the officer said. "We areassured that Soult has not fifteen thousand men in condition totake the field, and that he could not venture to move these, as heknows that the whole country would rise, did he do so.

  "I have no specific orders to give you. You will keep in touch withGeneral Hill's brigade, which forms our left and, as we moveforward, you will advance along the lower slopes of the Sierra andprevent any attempt, on the part of the French, to turn our flank.

  "I dare say you do not know exactly what is going on, ColonelO'Connor. It may be of assistance to you, in taking up yourposition, to know that the fighting is likely to take place on theline between Talavera and the mountains. Cuesta has fallen back, ingreat haste, to Talavera. We shall advance today and take up ourline with him.

  "The Spaniards will hold the low marshy ground near the town. Ourright will rest on an eminence on his left flank, and will extendto a group of hills, separated by a valley from the Sierra. Ourcavalry will probably check any attempt by the French to turn ourflank there, and you and the Spaniards will do your best to holdthe slope of the Sierra, should the French move a force alongthere.

  "I may say that Victor has been largely reinforced by Sebastiani,and is likely to take the offensive. Indeed, we hear that he isalready moving in this direction. We are not aware of his exactstrength, but we believe that it must approach, if not equal, thatof ourselves and Cuesta united.

  "Cuesta has, indeed, been already roughly handled by the French.Disregarding Sir Arthur's entreaties, and believing Victor to be infull retreat, he marched on alone, impelled by the desire to be thefirst to enter Madrid; but at two o'clock on the morning of the26th of July, the French suddenly fell upon him, drove the Spanishcavalry back from their advanced position, and chased them hotly.They fled in great disorder, and the panic would have spread to thewhole army, had not Albuquerque brought up 3000 fresh cavalry andheld the French in check, while Cuesta retreated in great disorderand, 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-strickenSpaniards, and then the French drew off.

  "Cuesta then yielded to Sir Arthur's entreaties, recrossed theAlberche, and took up his position near Talavera. Here, even theworst troops should be able to make a stand against the best. Theground is marshy and traversed by a rivulet. On its left is astrong redoubt, which is armed with Spanish artillery; on the rightis another very strong battery, on a rise close to Talavera; whileother batteries sweep the road to Madrid. Sir Arthur hasstrengthened the front by felling trees and forming abattis, sothat he has good reason to hope that, poor as the Spanish troopsmay be, they should be able to hold their part of the line.

  "Campbell's division forms the British right, Sherbrooke comesnext, the German legion are in the centre, Donkin is to take hisplace on the hill that rises two-thirds of the way across thevalley, while General Hill's division is to hold the face lookingnorth, and separated from the Sierra only by the comparativelynarrow 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 hadnow fallen back was covered with olive and cork trees. The wholeline from Talavera to the hill, which was to be held by Hill'sdivision, was two miles in length; and the valley between that andthe Sierra was half a mile in width, but extremely broken andrugged, and was intersected by a ravine, through which ran therivulet that fell into the Tagus at Talavera.