The commanding officer conceiving that five of us who had accompanied
the detachment from Ireland, properly belonged to the 2nd battalion,
applied to Lord Wellington on our return to Portalegre, for permission
to send us home. Leave being granted, we, after mutual expressions
of regret, parted with our friends at Portalegre, on the 22nd day of
November, and proceeded to Gaffeta. Next day we moved to Gavao, but
finding an officer there taking quarters for Colonel O'Callagan, and
the first battalion, 39th regiment, we departed instantly for Villa
Franca, a small village two leagues from Abrantes. On approaching the
residence of the chief magistrate, in order to procure billets, that
worthy personage testified his joy at our arrival, by throwing the
door in our faces. Enraged at the insult offered us, it is possible we
might have adopted a summary mode of obtaining an interview with this
truly _amiable personage_, had not a most interesting and lady-like
woman introduced herself, and kindly offered us all the shelter of her
rural abode for the night. Having previously invoked a blessing upon
our _patrona_ and her interesting family, for her genuine hospitality,
we bade adieu on the following morning to the residence of this most
excellent woman, and proceeded to Abrantes.
After stowing away our baggage, and putting every thing in a fair train
for dinner, we strolled about the streets and ramparts of Abrantes for
a couple of hours, and then returned to head-quarters, where we fancied
a nice dish of soup and a beef-steak would greet our return. Our
disappointment therefore may be more easily conceived than described,
when I state, that instead of such excellent fare greeting our
entrance, we were welcomed by two servants with rueful countenances,
and each relating, in a plaintive strain, tales of woe, sufficient to
melt a heart of adamant. Moving as these were, however, they proved but
a poor substitute for dinner. To work, therefore, we went; and partly
by threats, and partly by entreaty, procured from the inmates a few
culinary articles, which they very _kindly_ had refused our servants.
Our disappointments, however, were not yet at an end, for when every
thing was ready, the amiable couple refused us even a single piece of
earthen-ware to put it on. Had _Cruickshank_ witnessed the infernal
pair standing sentry over their stone-ware, the wife at one cupboard,
and the husband at the other, he must have acknowledged that a finer
subject for his pencil was never afforded, for truly they had more
resemblance to the inhabitants of Pandæmonium, than of this world.
After disposing of our baggage animals, we embarked at Abrantes in a
small commissariat boat on the 26th, and with a gentle breeze, glided
down the surface of the majestic Tagus, till the shades of night made
it dangerous to proceed farther. On arriving at a point opposite to
the neat, clean village of Chamusca, we hauled our boat ashore, and
proceeded to the town, where we were treated with true hospitality. On
the following day we dropped down to Valada, where, on the 28th, we
embarked in a large boat, and after spending a rather uncomfortable
night, landed at day-break next morning, at the Black Horse Square in
Lisbon.
On the 2nd of December, thousands of hand-bills were circulated in
Lisbon, intimating that at one o'clock on the following day, a British
officer, accoutred in cork-boots, would walk across the Tagus, from
Fort Belem, to the nearest point of land on the opposite shore.
Conceiving this to be the project of some hair-brained or unfortunate
individual, who, tired of life, was about to solicit the assistance of
old Neptune to carry him into another world, I walked down to Belem
to view the sports of the day. By eleven o'clock, the various streets
leading from the city to Belem, were literally crammed with people
of all nations and conditions, from the peer to the peasant, hurrying
along to the starting-post, some on foot, and the rest on every kind
of conveyance, from the humble donkey, to the carriage-and-four. Being
admitted into Belem Fort, I had a fine view of almost every person,
place, and thing in the vicinity. The Fort was filled to an overflow
with officers and ladies. Belem Castle was crowded with Portuguese
nobility and gentry, and the whole space around, and between these
two places, was completely covered with carriages, equestrians, and
pedestrians. Of the former, I at one time counted four hundred and
fifty. The river, for a considerable distance around the spot whence
the hero was to start, was covered with hundreds of boats, carrying
immense numbers of ladies and gentlemen, a great proportion of the
latter wearing the naval and military uniforms of Old England. Six,
eight, and even ten dollars were given for the hire of a boat from
Lisbon, on this occasion--the ordinary fare of which was only about two
shillings.
As the hour of one was announced by the bell of an adjoining clock,
the dense masses on shore pushed and jolted each other so much, in
order to get a peep at the cork accoutred hero before he set out on his
perilous excursion, that the company of Portuguese militia stationed
to preserve an opening for the officer to get to the river, kept their
ground with great difficulty. Soon after one, a voice announced the
hero's approach, but the intimation was premature. Two o'clock was
chimed, still he was absent. Three o'clock was at length tolled, but he
was not forthcoming. Not long after this, the people, whose appetites
were getting a little keen, whetted, no doubt, by the fresh breeze from
the Tagus, began to steal slily away, and by four o'clock the greater
proportion of the immense multitude, between forty and fifty thousand,
had retired to their respective domiciles, fully satisfied that they
had been completely hoaxed, and vowing vengeance on the British officer
and his cork-boots.
Having received a letter of recal from my commanding-officer, I parted
with my friends of the second battalion on the evening of the 4th,
and early next morning embarked at Belem, with a detachment which
had just landed from England, and after spending an uncomfortable
night, we landed at Valada next day at noon. On the 7th we marched
to Santarem--on the 8th to Gallegao--9th to Punhete--the 10th to
Abrantes, where we halted the 11th and 12th. On the 13th we proceeded
to Gavao--the 14th to Gaffeta--and on the following morning bade our
companions in Portalegre all hail.