It will readily be imagined that we watched the gradual fall of the river with intense anxiety, turning our glasses, from time to time, towards the French lines, throughout which all remained most unaccountably quiet. At length a movement could be distinguished among the troops which occupied Fontarabia. Their skirmishers began to emerge from under cover of the houses, and to approach the river, and then in a moment the three eighteen-pounders opened from the heights above us. This was the signal for a general advance. Our column likewise threw out its skirmishers, which, hastening towards the ford, were saluted by a sharp fire of musketry from the enemy's pickets, and from the garrison of the tête-de-pont. But the latter was speedily abandoned as our people pressed through the stream, and our artillery kept up an incessant discharge of round and grape shot upon it.
The French pickets were driven in, and our troops established on the opposite bank, with hardly any loss on our side, though those who crossed by Fontarabia were obliged to hold their firelocks and cartouch-boxes above their heads, to keep them dry; and the water beside the bridge reached considerably above the knee. The alarm had, however, been communicated to the columns in rear, which hastily formed upon the heights, and endeavoured, but in vain, to keep possession of Handaye. That village was carried in gallant style by a brigade of the fifth division; whilst the first, moving steadily along the road, dislodged from their post the garrison of the hills which commanded it, and crowned the heights almost without opposition. A general panic seemed to have seized the enemy. Instead of charging us, as we moved forward in column, they fired their pieces, and fled without pausing to reload them; nor was anything like a determined stand attempted, till all their works had fallen into our hands, and much of their artillery was taken. It was one of the most perfect and yet extraordinary surprises I ever saw!
There were not, however, wanting many brave fellows among the French officers, who exerted themselves to rally their terrified comrades, and to restore the battle. Among these I remarked one in particular. He was on horseback; and, riding among a flying battalion, he used every means, both of threat and entreaty, to stop them; and he succeeded. The battalion paused, its example was followed by others, and in five minutes a well-formed line occupied what looked like the last of a range of green hills, on the other side of a valley into which we were descending.
This sudden movement on the part of the enemy was met by a corresponding formation on ours; we wheeled into line and advanced. Not a word was spoken, nor a shot fired, till our troops had reached about half-way across the little hollow, when the French, raising one of their discordant yells—a sort of shout, in which every man halloos for himself, without regard to the tone or time of those about him—fired a volley. It was well directed, and did considerable execution; but it checked not our approach for a moment. Our men replied to it with a hearty British cheer, and, giving them back their fire, rushed on to the charge.
In this they were met with great spirit by the enemy. I remarked the same individual who had first stopped their flight ride along the front of his men, and animate them to their duty; nor was it without considerable difficulty, and after having exchanged with them several volleys, that we succeeded in getting within charging distance. Then, indeed, another cheer was given, and the French, without waiting for the rush, once more broke their ranks and fled. Their leader was still as active as before. He rode among the men, reproached, exhorted, and even struck those near him with his sword; and it seemed as if he were about once more to rally them, when he fell. In an instant, however, he rose again, and mounted another horse; but he had hardly done so when a ball took effect in his neck, and he dropped dead. The fall of that man decided the day upon the heights of Handaye. The French troops lost all order and discipline, and making their way to the rear, each by himself as he best could, they left us in undisputed possession of the field.
Meanwhile, on the right of our army, and the extreme left of the enemy, a much more determined struggle was going forward. There Soult had added to the natural strength of his position by throwing up redoubts and batteries upon every commanding point; and hence it was not without suffering considerable loss that the light division succeeded in turning it. All attempts, indeed, to carry the Hermitage failed, though they were renewed with the most daring resolution till a late hour in the night. But of the operations of the army in these quarters I could see nothing, and therefore I will not attempt to describe them.
The day was far spent when our troops, wearied as much with the pursuit as with fighting, were commanded to halt, and to lie down in brigades and divisions along the heights which the enemy had abandoned. With us all became in a short time perfectly quiet; but the roar of musketry and the thunder of cannon still sounded on our right. As the darkness set in, too, the flashes became every moment more and more conspicuous, and produced, on account of the great unevenness of the ground, a remarkably beautiful effect. Repeated assaults being still made upon the Hermitage rock, the whole side of that conical hill seemed in a blaze; whilst every valley and eminence around it sparkled from time to time like the hills and valleys of a tropical climate when the fire-flies are out in millions. Nor were other and stronger lights wanting. Our troops, in the hurry of the battle, had set fire to the huts of the French soldiers, which now burst forth, and cast a strong glare over the entire extent of the field. On the whole, it was a glorious scene, and tended much to keep up the degree of excitement which had pervaded our minds during the day.
Our loss—I mean the loss of the corps to which I was attached—chanced to be trifling. No particular companion, or intimate acquaintance, of mine at least, had fallen, consequently there was nothing to destroy the feeling of pure delight which the meanest individual in an army experiences when that army has triumphed; nor do I recollect many happier moments of my life than when I stretched myself this evening beside a fire, near my friend Grey, to chat over the occurrences of the day. The quartermaster coming up soon after with a supply of provisions and rum, added indeed not a little to my satisfaction; for the stock which I had provided in the morning was long ago disposed of among those who had been less provident; and my meal was followed by a sleep such as kings might envy, though the heavens were my canopy and the green turf was my bed.
CHAPTER VII.
About an hour after sunrise, on the following morning, the tents and baggage, which had been left on the Spanish side of the river, came up; and we were once more enabled to shelter ourselves against the inclemency of the weather. And it was well that their arrival was not longer deferred, for we had hardly time to pitch the former when a heavy storm of wind and rain began, which, lasting with little intermission during two entire days, rendered our situation the reverse of agreeable. The position which we occupied was, moreover, exceedingly exposed: our camp stretched along the ridge of a bleak hill, totally bare of wood; indeed, the only fuel within our reach consisted of furze, the green and prickly parts of which we chopped and gave as forage to our horses, whilst the stems and smaller branches supplied us with very indifferent material for our fires.