"Before O'Connor begins," the colonel said, "you had better lay, on
the table in front of you, the pocket maps I got from Lisbon for
you last year, after O'Connor had lectured us on the advantages of
knowing the country.
"I can tell you, Terence, they have been of no small use to us
since we left Torres Vedras; and I think that even O'Grady could
pass an examination, as to the roads and positions along the
frontier, with credit to himself.
"I think, gentlemen, that you who have not got your maps with you
would do well to fetch them. You will then be able to follow
Colonel O'Connor's story, and get to know a good deal more about
the country where, I hope, we shall be fighting next spring, than
we should in any other way."
Several of the officers left the room, and soon returned with their
maps.
"I feel almost like a schoolmaster," Terence laughed. "But indeed,
as our work consisted almost entirely of rapid marching, which you
would scarcely be able to follow without maps, it may really be
useful, if we campaign across there, to know something of the
roads, and the position of the towns and villages."
Then he proceeded to relate all that had taken place, first
describing the incidents of the battle, and their work among the
mountains.
"You understand," he said, "that my orders were not so much to do
injury to the enemy, as to deceive him as to the amount of our
force, and to lead them to believe it to be very much stronger than
it really was. This could only be done by rapid marches and, as you
will see, the main object was to cut all his lines of communication,
and at the same time to show ourselves, in force, at points a
considerable distance apart. To effect this we, on several occasions,
marched upwards of sixty miles in a day; and upwards of forty,
several days in succession; a feat that could hardly be accomplished
except by men at once robust, and well accustomed to mountain work,
and trained to long marches; as those of my regiment have been, since
they were first raised."
Then taking out a copy of his report, he gave in much fuller detail
than in the report, itself, an account of the movements of the
various columns and flying parties, during the first ten days; and
then, more briefly, their operations between Burgos and Valladolid,
ending up by saying:
"You see, colonel, there was really nothing out of the way in all
this. We had the advantage of having a great number of men who knew
the country intimately; and the cutting of all their communications,
the exaggerated reports brought to them by the peasants, and the
maintenance of our posts round Salamanca and Zamora while we were
operating near Burgos and Valladolid, impressed the commanders of
these towns with such an idea of our strength, and such uneasiness
as to their communications that, after the reverse to their column,
none of them ever ventured to attack us in earnest."
"That is no doubt true," the colonel said, "but to have done all
this when--with the reinforcements sent up, and the very strong
garrison at four of the towns, to say nothing of the division of
Burgos--they had forty thousand men disposable, is a task that
wanted a head well screwed on. I can see how you did it; but that
would be a very different thing to doing it, oneself.
"However, you have taught us a great deal of the geography of the
country between the frontier and Burgos, and it ought to be useful.
If I had received an order, this afternoon, to march with the
regiment to Tordesillas, for example, I should have known no more
where the place stood, or by what road I was to go to it, than if
they had ordered me to march to Jericho. Now I should be able to go
straight for it, by the shortest line. I should cross the roads at
points at which we were not likely to be attacked, and throw out
strong parties to protect our flanks till we had passed; and should
feel that I was not stumbling along in the dark, and just trusting
to luck."
"Now, colonel, we must be off to our own quarters," Terence said.
"We have been too long away now and, if I had not known that
Herrara and the majors were to be trusted to do their work--and in
fact they did it well, without my assistance, all the time I was
away prisoner--I could not have left them, as I did, half an hour
after they had encamped."
The next morning Terence received a copy of the orders of the day
of the division, at present, under General Crawford's command;
together with the general orders of the whole army, from
headquarters. In the latter, to which Terence first turned, was a
paragraph:
"Lord Wellington expresses his great satisfaction at the
exceptional services rendered by the Minho Portuguese regiment,
under its commander Captain T. O'Connor, of the headquarter staff,
bearing the rank of colonel in the Portuguese army. He has had
great pleasure in recommending him to the commander-in-chief for
promotion in the British army. He has also to report very
favourably the conduct of Lieutenant Ryan, of the Mayo Fusiliers,
and Ensigns Bull and Macwitty, all attached for service to the
Minho regiment; and shall bring before General Lord Beresford that
of Lieutenant Colonel Herrara, of the same regiment."
In the divisional orders of the day appeared the words:
"In noticing the arrival of the Minho Portuguese regiment, under
the command of Colonel Terence O'Connor, to join the division
temporarily under his command, General Crawford takes this
opportunity of congratulating Colonel O'Connor on the most
brilliant services that his regiment has performed, in a series of
operations upon the Spanish side of the frontier."
Four days later, Terence received two letters from home. These were
written after the receipt of that sent off by him on his arrival at
Cadiz, narrating his escape. His father wrote:
"My dear Terence,
"Your letter, received this morning, has taken a heavy load off our
minds. Of course, we saw the despatches giving particulars of the
battle of Fuentes d'Onoro--which, by the way, seems to have been
rather a confused sort of affair, and the enemy must have blundered
into it just as we did; only as they were all there, and we only
came up piecemeal, they should have thrashed us handsomely, if they
had known their business. Well, luck is everything and, as you have
had a good deal more than your share of it since you joined, one
must not grumble if the jade has done you a bad turn this time.
"However, as you have got safely out of their hands, you have no
reason for complaint. Still, you had best not try the thing too
often. Next time you may not find a good-looking girl to help you
out. By the way, you don't tell us whether she was good looking.
Mention it in your next; Mary is very curious about it.
"We are getting on capitally here and, I can tell you, the old
place looks quite imposing, and I was never so comfortable in my
life. We have as much company as I care for, and scarce a day
passes but some young fellow or other rides over, on the pretence
of talking over the war news with me. But I am too old a soldier to
be taken in, and know well enough that Mary is the real attraction.
"My leg has now so far recovered that I can sit a horse; but though
I ride with your cousin, when the hounds meet anywhere near, I
cannot venture to follow; for if I got a spill, it might bring on
the old trouble again, and lay me up for a couple of years. I used
to hope that I should get well enough to be able to apply to be put
on full pay again. But I feel myself too comfortable, here, to
think of it; and indeed, until I have handed Mary to someone else's
keeping, it would of course be impossible, and I have quite made up
my mind to be moored here for the rest of my life. But to return.
"Of course, as soon as I saw you were missing, I wrote to an old
friend on the general staff at Dublin, and asked him to write to
the Horse Guards. The answer came back that it was known that you
had been taken prisoner, and that you were wounded, but not
severely. You were commanding the rear face of the square into
which your regiment had been thrown, when your horse, which was
probably hit by a bullet, ran away with you into the ranks of the
enemy's cavalry. After that we were, of course, more comfortable
about you, and Mary maintained that you would very soon be turning
up again, like a bad penny.
"I need not say that we are constantly talking about you. Now, take
care of yourself, Terence. Bear in mind that, if you get yourself
killed, there will be no more adventures for you--at least, none
over which you will have any control. Your cousin has just
expressed the opinion that she does not think you were born to be
shot; she thinks that a rope is more likely than a bullet to cut
short your career. She is writing to you herself; and as her tongue
runs a good deal faster than mine, I have no doubt that her pen
will do so, also. As you say, with your Portuguese pay and your
own, you are doing well; but if you should get pinched at any time,
be sure to draw on me, up to any reasonable amount.
"It seems to me that things are not going on very well, on the
frontier; and I should not be surprised to hear that Wellington is
in full retreat again, for Torres Vedras. Remember me to the
colonel, O'Driscoll, and all the others. I see, by the Gazette,
that Stokes, who was junior ensign when the regiment went into
action at Vimiera, has just got his step. That shows the changes
that have taken place, and how many good fellows have fallen out of
the ranks. Again I say, take care of yourself.
"Your affectionate Father."
His cousin's letter was, as usual, long and chatty; telling him
about his father, their pursuits and amusements, and their
neighbours.
"You don't deserve so long a letter," she said, when she was
approaching the conclusion, "for although I admit your letters are
long, you never seem to tell one just the things one wants to know.
For example, you tell us exactly the road you travelled down to
Cadiz, with the names of the villages and so on, just as if you
were writing an official report. Your father says it is very
interesting, and has been working it all out on the map. It is very
interesting to me to know that you have got safely to Cadiz but, as
there were no adventures by the way, I don't care a snap about the
names of the villages you passed through, or the exact road you
traversed.
"Now, on the other hand, I should like to know all about this young
woman who helped you to get out of prison. You don't say a word
about what she is like, whether she is pretty or plain. You don't
even mention her name, or say whether she fell in love with you, or
you with her; though I admit that you do say that she was engaged
to the muleteer Garcia. I think, if I had been in his place, I
should have managed to let you fall into the hands of the French
again. I should say a man was a great fool to help to rescue anyone
his girl had taken all sorts of pains to get out of prison.
"At any rate, sir, I expect you to give me a fair and honest
description of her the next time you write, for I consider your
silence about her to be, in the highest degree, suspicious.
However, I have the satisfaction of knowing that you are not likely
to be in Salamanca again, for a very long time. Your father says he
does not think anything will be done, until the present Ministry
are kicked out here; and Wellington hangs the principal members of
all the Juntas in Portugal, and all that he can get at, in Spain.
"He is the most bloodthirsty man that I have ever come across,
according to his own account, but in reality he would not hurt a
fly. He is always doing kind actions among the peasantry, and the
'Major' is quite the most popular man in this part of the country.
"I have not yet forgiven you for having gone straight back to
Spain, instead of running home for a short time when you were so
close to us, at Jersey. I told you when I wrote that I should never
forgive you, and I am still of the same opinion. It was too bad.
"Your father has just called to ask if I am going on writing all
night; and it is quite time to close, that it may go with his own
letter, which a boy is waiting to carry on horseback to the post
office, four miles away; so goodbye.
"Your very affectionate cousin, Mary."
The next two months passed quietly at Pinhel. Operations continued
to be carried on at various points but, although several encounters
of minor importance took place, the combatants were engaged rather
in endeavouring to feel each other's positions, and to divine each
other's intentions, than to bring about a serious battle. Marmont
believed Wellington to be stronger than he was, while the latter
rather underestimated the French strength. Thus there were, on both
sides, movements of advance and retirement.
During the time that had elapsed since the battles of Fuentes
d'Onoro and Albuera, Badajos had been again besieged by the
British, but ineffectually; and in August Wellington, taking
advantage of Marmont's absence in the south, advanced and
established a blockade of Ciudad Rodrigo. This had led to some
fighting. The activity of General Hill, and the serious menace to
the communications effected by Terence's Portuguese and the
guerillas, had prevented the French from gathering in sufficient
strength, either to drive the blockading force across the frontier
again, or from carrying out Napoleon's plans for the invasion of
Portugal. Wellington, on his part, was still unable to move; owing
to the absence of transport, and the manner in which the Portuguese
government thwarted him at every point: leaving all his demands
that the roads should be kept in good order, unattended to;
starving their own troops to such an extent that they were
altogether unfit for action; placing every obstacle to the calling
out of new levies; and in every way hindering his plans.
He obtained but little assistance or encouragement at home. His
military chest was empty. The muleteers, who kept up the supply of
food for the army, were six months in arrears of pay. The British
troops were also unpaid, badly supplied with clothes and shoes;
while money and stores were still being sent in unlimited
quantities to the Spanish Juntas, where they did no good whatever,
and might as well have been thrown into the sea. But in spite of
all these difficulties, the army was daily improving in efficiency.
The men were now inured to hardships of all kinds. They had, in
three pitched battles, proved themselves superior to the French;
and they had an absolute confidence in their commander.
Much was due to the efforts of Lord Fitzroy Somerset, Wellington's
military secretary who, by entering into communication with the
commanders of brigades and regiments, most of whom were quite young
men--for the greater part of the army was but of recent
creation--was enabled not only to learn something of the state of
discipline in each regiment, but greatly to encourage and stimulate
the efforts of its officers; who felt that the doings of their
regiment were observed at headquarters, that merit would be
recognized without favouritism, and that any failure in the
discipline or morale of those under their orders would be noted
against them. Twice, during the two months, Terence had been sent
for to headquarters, in order that he might give Lord Fitzroy
minute information concerning the various roads and localities,
point out natural obstacles where an obstinate defence might be
made by an enemy, or which could be turned to advantage by an
advancing army. The route maps that he had sent were frequently
turned to, and fully explained.
The second visit took place in the last week in November and, on
his arrival, the military secretary began the conversation by
handing a Gazette to him.
"This arrived yesterday, Colonel O'Connor; and I congratulate you
that, upon the very strong recommendation of Lord Wellington, you
are gazetted to a majority. Now that your position is so well
assured, there will be no longer occasion for you to remain
nominally attached to the headquarter staff. Of course, it was
before I came out that this was done; and I learned that the
intention was that you would not act upon the staff, but it was to
be merely an honorary position, without pay, in order to add to
your authority and independence, when you happen to come in contact
with Portuguese officers of a higher rank."
"That was so, sir. I was very grateful for the kindness that Lord
Wellington showed, in thus enabling me to wear the uniform of his
staff, which was of great assistance to me at the time; and indeed,
I am deeply conscious of the kindness with which he has, on every
occasion, treated me; and for his recommending me for promotion."
"I should have been personally glad," Lord Fitzroy went on, "to
have had you permanently attached to our staff; as your knowledge
of the country might, at times, be of great value, and of your zeal
and energy you have given more than ample proofs. I spoke of the
matter to the general, this morning. He agreed with me that you
would be a great addition to the staff but, upon the other hand,
such a step would very seriously diminish the efficiency of the
regiment that you raised, and have since commanded. The regiment
has lately rendered quite exceptional services and, under your
command, we reckon it to be as valuable in the fighting line as if
it were one of our own; which is more than can be said for any
other Portuguese battalion, although some of them have, of late,
fought remarkably well.
"I do not say that Colonel Herrara, aided by his three English
officers--who, by the way, are all promoted in this Gazette, the
two ensigns to the rank of lieutenants, and Mr. Ryan to that of
captain--would not keep the regiment in a state of efficiency, so
far as fighting is concerned; but without your leading, it could
not be relied upon to act for detached service such as it has
performed under you."
"Thank you, sir. Of course, it would be a great honour to me to be
on the general's staff, but I should be very sorry to leave the
regiment and, frankly, I do not think that it would get on well
without me. Colonel Herrara is ready to bestow infinite pains on
his work, but I do not think that he would do things on his own
responsibility. Bull and Macwitty have both proved themselves
zealous and active, and I can always rely upon them to carry out my
orders to the letter; but I doubt if they would get on as well,
with Herrara, as they do with me. I am very glad to hear that they
and Mr. Ryan have got their steps. The latter makes an admirable
adjutant, and if I had to choose one of the four for the command I
should select him; but he has not been very long with the regiment,
is not known personally, and would not, I think, have the same
influence with the Portuguese officers and men. Moreover I am
afraid that, having been in command so long, I should miss my
independence, if I had only to carry out the orders of others."
"I can quite understand that," the military secretary said, with a
smile. "I can quite realize the fascination of the life of a
partisan leader; especially when he has, which Trant and the others
have not, a body of men whom he has trained himself, and upon whom
he can absolutely rely. You can still, of course, wear the uniform
of a field officer on the general's staff, and so will have very
little alteration to make, save by adding the proper insignia of
your rank. I will write you a line, authorizing you to do so.
"Now, let us have a turn at your maps. I may tell you in confidence
that, if an opportunity offers, we shall at once convert the
blockade of Ciudad into a siege; and hope to carry it before the
enemy can march, with sufficient force, to its relief.
"To do so he would naturally collect all his available forces from
Salamanca, Zamora, and Valladolid, and would probably obtain
reinforcements from Madrid and Estremadura; and I want to
ascertain, as far as possible, the best means of checking the
advance of some of these troops, by the blowing up of bridges, or
the throwing forward of such a force as your regiment to seize any
defile, or other point, that could be held for a day or two, and an
enemy's column thus delayed. Even twenty-four hours might be of
importance."
"I understand, sir. Of course, the passes between Madrid and Avila
might be retained for some little time, especially if the defenders
had a few guns; but they would be liable to be taken in the rear by
a force at Avila, where there were, when I went down south, over
five thousand men. As to the troops coming from the north, they
would doubtless march on Salamanca. From that town they would cross
the Huebra and Yeltes so near their sources that no difficulty
would be caused by the blowing up of bridges, if any exist; but the
pass over the Sierra de Gatta, on the south of Ciudad, might be
defended by a small force, without difficulty."
The maps were now got out, and the matter gone into minutely. After
an hour's conversation, Lord Fitzroy said:
"Thank you, Colonel O'Connor. Some of the information that you have
given me will assuredly be very useful, if we besiege Ciudad. From
what we hear, there are a good many changes being made in the
French command. Napoleon seems about to engage in a campaign with
Russia, and is likely to draw off a certain portion of the forces
here and, while these changes are being made, it would seem to
offer a good opportunity for us to strike a blow."
On the last day of December, Terence received the following order:
"Colonel O'Connor will draw six days' rations from the commissariat
and, at daybreak tomorrow, march to the river Aqueda and, on the
following day, will ford that river and will post himself along the
line of the Yeltes, from its junction with the Huebra to the
mountains; and will prevent any person or parties crossing from
this side. It is of the highest importance that no intelligence of
the movements of the army should be sent, either by the garrison of
Ciudad or by the peasantry, to Salamanca. When his provisions are
exhausted, he is authorized to hire carts and send in to the army
round Ciudad but, if possible, he should obtain supplies from the
country near him, and is authorized to purchase provisions, and to
send in accounts and vouchers, for such purchases, to the
paymaster's department."
"Hurrah, Ryan," he exclaimed on reading the order, "things are
going to move, at last! This means, of course, that the army is
going to besiege Ciudad at once; and that we are to prevent the
French from getting any news of it, until it is too late for them
to relieve it. For the last month, guns and ammunition have been
arriving at Almeida; and I thought that this weary time of waiting
was drawing to an end."
"I am glad, indeed, Terence. I must say that I was afraid that we
should not be moving until the spring. Shall we go in and say
goodbye to our fellows?"
"Yes, we may as well; but mind, don't say where we are going to,
only that we are ordered away. I don't suppose that the regiments
will know anything about it, till within an hour of the time they
march. There can be no doubt that it is a serious business. Ciudad
held out for weeks against Massena; and with Marmont within a few
days' march, with an army at least as strong as ours, it will be a
tough business, indeed, to take it before he can come up to its
relief; and I can well understand that it is all important that he
shall know nothing about the siege, till it is too late for him to
arrive in time."
"We have come in to say goodbye, colonel," Terence said, as he and
Ryan entered the mess room of the Mayo Fusiliers that evening.
"And where are you off to, O'Connor?"
"Well, sir, I don't mind mentioning it in here, but it must go no
further. The chief, knowing what we are capable of, proposes that I
shall make a rapid march to Madrid, seize the city, and bring King
Joseph back a prisoner."
There was a roar of laughter.
"Terence, my boy," Captain O'Grady said, "that is hardly a mission
worthy of a fighting man like yourself. I expect that you are
hiding something from us, and that the real idea is that you should
traverse Spain and France, enter Germany, and seize Boney, and
carry him off with you to England."
"I dare not tell you whether you are right or not, O'Grady. Things
of this sort must not even be whispered about. It is a wonderfully
good guess that you have made and, when it is all over, you will be
able to take credit for having divined what was up; but for mercy's
sake don't talk about it. Keep as silent as the grave and, if
anyone should ask you what has become of us, pretend that you know
nothing about it."
"But you are going, O'Connor?" the colonel said, when the laughter
had subsided.
"Yes, colonel. We march tomorrow morning. I daresay you will hear
of us before many days are over; and may, perhaps, be able to make
even a closer guess than O'Grady as to what we are doing. I am
heartily glad that we are off. We are now at our full strength
again. Most of the wounded have rejoined, and I could have filled
up the vacancies a dozen times over. The Portuguese know that I
always manage to get food for my men, somehow; which is more than
can be said for the other Portuguese regiments, though those of
Trant and Pack are better off than Beresford's regulars. Then, too,
I think they like fighting, now that they feel that they are a
match for the French, man for man. They get a fair share of it, at
any rate. The three months that we have been idle have been useful,
as the new recruits know their work as well as the others."
"Then you don't know how much longer we are going to stop in this
bastely hole?" O'Grady asked.
"Well, I will tell you this much, O'Grady: I fancy that, before
this day week, you will all have work to do; and that it is likely
to be hot."
"That is a comfort, Terence. But, my dear boy, have a little pity
on us and don't finish off the business by yourselves. Remember
that we have come a long way, and that it will be mighty hard for
us if you were to clear the French out of Spain, and leave nothing
for us to do but to bury their dead and escort their army, as
prisoners, to the port."
"I will bear it in mind, O'Grady; but don't you forget the past.
You know how desperately you grumbled at Rolica, because the
regiment was not in it; and how you got your wish at Vimiera, and
lost an arm in consequence. So even if I do, as you say, push the
French out of Spain, you will have the consolation of knowing that
you will be able to go back to Ireland, without leaving any more
pieces of you behind."
"There is something in that, Terence," O'Grady said gravely. "I
think that when this is over I shall go on half pay, and there may
as well be as much of me left, as possible, to enjoy it. It's an
ungrateful country I am serving. In spite of all that I have done
for it, and the loss of my arm into the bargain; here am I, still a
captain, though maybe I am near the top of the list. Still, it is
but a captain I am, and here are two gossoons, like yourself and
Dick Ryan, the one of you marching about a field officer, and the
other a captain. It is heart-breaking entirely, and me one of the
most zealous officers in the service. But it is never any luck I
have had, from the day I was born."
"It will come some day, never fear, O'Grady; and perhaps it may not
be so far off as you fear.
"Well, colonel, we will just take a glass with you for luck, and
then say good night; for I have a good many things to see after,
and must be up very early, so as to get our tents packed and handed
over, to draw our rations, eat our breakfast, and be off by seven."
It was close upon that hour when the regiment marched. It was known
that there were no French troops west of the Huebra but, after
fording the Aqueda, the force halted until nightfall; and then
moved forward and reached the Huebra at midnight, lay down to sleep
until daybreak, and then extended along the bank of the Yeltes, as
far as its source among the mountains; thus cutting the roads from
Ciudad to Salamanca and the North. The distance to be watched was
some twenty miles but, as the river was in many places unfordable,
it was necessary only to place patrols here; while strong parties
were posted, not only on the main roads, but at all points where
by-roads or peasants' tracks led down to the bank.
On that day a bridge was thrown across the Aqueda, six miles below
Ciudad, for the passage of artillery but, owing to the difficulties
of carriage, it was five days later before the artillery and
ammunition could be brought over; and this was only done by the aid
of 800 carts, which Wellington had caused to be quietly constructed
during the preceding three months.
On the 8th, the light division and Pack's Portuguese contingent
forded the Aqueda three miles above Ciudad and, making a long
detour, took up their position behind a hill called the Great
Teson. They remained quiet during the day and, the garrison
believing that they had only arrived to enable the force that had
long blockaded the town to render the investment more complete, no
measures of defence were taken; but at night the light division
fell suddenly on the redoubt of San Francisco, on the Great Teson.
The assault was completely successful. The garrison was a small
one, and had not been reinforced. A few of them were killed, and
the remainder taken; with a loss, to the assailants, of only
twenty-four men and officers. A Portuguese regiment, commanded by
Colonel Elder, then set to work; and these--in spite of a heavy
fire, kept up all night by the French forts--completed a parallel,
600 yards in length, before day broke.