The desperate Portuguese did not deny having perpetrated these murders. He seemed, on the contrary, wound up to a pitch of frenzy. "They murdered my father, they cut my mother's throat, and they ravished my sister," said he; "and I vowed at the time that I would put to death the first French family that fell into my hands. You may hang me, if you will, but I have kept my oath, and I don't care for dying." It is unnecessary to add that the man was hanged; indeed, not fewer than eighteen Spanish and Portuguese soldiers were tucked up, in the course of this and the following days, to the branches of trees. But I could not at the time avoid thinking that if any shadow of excuse for murder can be framed, the unfortunate Portuguese who butchered this French family deserves the benefit of it.
I have said that the greater part of the left column spent this night in no very comfortable plight, upon the wet ground. For ourselves, we were moved into what had once been a grass field, just at the base of the hill of Bidart, but which, with the tread of men's feet and horses' hoofs, was now battered into mud. Here, with the utmost difficulty, we succeeded in lighting fires, round which we crowded as we best might. But the rain still came down in torrents; and though our lad arrived shortly after with the cloaks, and rations of beef and biscuit and rum were served out to us, I cannot enumerate this among the nights of pure enjoyment which my life as a soldier has frequently brought in my way.
CHAPTER X.
When I awoke next morning, I found myself lying in a perfect puddle beside the decaying embers of a fire. The rain had come down so incessantly and with such violence during the night, that my cloak, though excellent of its kind, stood not out against it, and I was now as thoroughly saturated with water as if I had been dragged through the Nivelle. Of course my sensations were not of a very pleasant nature; but I considered that I was far from singular in my condition, and, like my comrades, I laughed at an evil for which there was no remedy.
Having remained under arms till day had fully dawned, we began to make ready for a further advance. When we lay down on the preceding evening, several brigades of French troops were in possession of Bidart. These we naturally laid our account with attacking; but on sending forward a patrol, it was found that the village had been abandoned, and that Soult had fallen back to his intrenched camp in front of Bayonne. Our parade was accordingly dismissed; and we remained in the same situation for about four hours, when the arrival of the tents and baggage invited us to make ourselves somewhat more comfortable. For this purpose the brigade was moved about a quarter of a mile to the left of the main road; and there, on a skirt of turf comparatively sound and unbroken, the camp was pitched.
In the immediate vicinity of the tents stood a small farmhouse, or rather a large cottage, containing three rooms and a kitchen. Thither a good many of the officers, and myself among the number, removed their canteens and portmanteaus, till no fewer than forty-five individuals, including servants as well as masters, found a temporary shelter under its roof. I am sure, after all, that I was not more comfortable there than I should have been in my tent; but I fancied that to sleep upon a bed once more, even though it was a French one, would prove a luxury; and I made the experiment. It is needless to add that the bed contained whole hordes of living occupants besides myself, and that I did not venture again to dispute with them the possession of their ancient domain.
From the 12th to the 17th November nothing occurred to myself, nor were any movements made by the left of the British army worthy of being related. The rain continued, with hardly any intermission, during the whole of that time, rendering the cross-roads utterly impassable for artillery, and holding out no prospect of fresh battles or fresh adventures. It was indeed manifest that the troops could not be kept much longer in the field without material injury to their health, which began already to be threatened with dysentery and ague. Nor is it surprising that the case should be so; for the tents were not proof against showers so heavy and incessant as fell, and canvas, when once completely soaked, allows water to pass through it like a sieve. The consequence was that our men were never dry, and many began to exhibit symptoms of the complaints above alluded to.
Under these circumstances, we received with sincere rejoicing an order in the evening of the 17th to strike our tents at dawn next morning, and to march into winter quarters. The rain descended, however, in such torrents, that though a temporary inconvenience promised to lead to permanent comfort, it was deemed prudent to delay fulfilling that order for at least some hours. We accordingly remained quiet till about one o'clock in the afternoon of the 18th, when, the weather breaking up, and the sun shining out, our camp was struck, and we turned our faces towards the cantonments which had been allotted to us.
Having cleared the few fields which intervened between the situation of the camp and the highroad, we left Bidart behind, and took a retrograde direction towards St Jean de Luz. We had not, however, proceeded above five or six miles, and were still a full league distant from the town, when, on reaching a cross-road which ran in a direction to the left, we filed off and made for a piece of elevated country, over which some half-dozen farmhouses were scattered. These were assigned to the corps to which I belonged. We accordingly halted on a sort of common near the centre of them, and having cast lots as to which house should fall to the share of the different companies, Grey, myself, and two others, with about a hundred men, took possession of one, with which we were perfectly satisfied.
It would be difficult for an ordinary reader to form any adequate notion of the extreme satisfaction which soldiers experience when first they establish themselves in winter quarters. As long as the weather continues fine, and summer suns shed their influence over it, there are indeed few places more agreeable than a camp. But it is not so after the summer has departed. I have already hinted that against heavy and continued rains a tent supplies but an inadequate shelter. A tent is, moreover, but a narrow chamber, in which it is not easy so much as to stand upright, excepting in one spot, and where all opportunity of locomotion is denied. It furnishes, moreover, little protection against cold—to light a fire within being impossible on account of the smoke; and hence the only means of keeping yourself warm is to wrap your cloak or a blanket about you, and to lie down. Occasionally, indeed, I have seen red-hot shot employed as heaters; but the kind of warmth which arises from heated iron is, at least to me, hardly more agreeable than that which is produced by charcoal. In a word, however enthusiastic a man may be in his profession, he begins, about the end of October or the beginning of November, to grow heartily tired of campaigning, and looks forward to a few weeks' rest, and a substantial protection against cold and damps, with almost as much pleasure as he experiences when the return of spring calls him once more into the field.