Having thus briefly detailed the issue of the engagement, it may appear almost superfluous to state how we were affected by the anticipation of its occurrence. We knew well that a mere handful of our fellow-soldiers were unavoidably thrown into such a position that, let their case be what it might, no succour could be afforded them. We saw, by the dense and lengthened mass which was moving down, and by the guns and horses which accompanied it, that this little corps was about to sustain an assault from a force capable of overwhelming it by their bodily weight; and feeling that we could render no other aid than that which empty wishes supply, we cast no imputation upon the bravery of our comrades when we trembled for their safety. All eyes were directed to the sand-hills; scarce a word was spoken by the spectators; and the greater number held their breath till the shock was given.
The battery of eighteen-pounders, of which I have already spoken, failed not to salute the enemy's column as it passed. The range was a long one; but our gunners were skilful, and it was consolatory to see, from the occasional checks and disorders in various parts of the advancing corps, that its salute was more than honorary. But what was become of our own people? They had all disappeared; and it seemed as if the French troops might march without molestation to the margin of the sea. The problem was speedily solved; and the first discharge, given as I have described above, decided the business. It was followed, as such a fire generally is in the British service, by a charge with the bayonet; and we who, but a moment before, had been breathless with apprehension, now shouted in triumph, as we beheld the mass, of late so formidable, scattered and put to flight by a single battalion.
Darkness was by this time setting in, and with the approach of night came the gradual cessation of military movements on both sides. One more attack upon the Spanish and Portuguese posts, supported as heretofore by demonstrations of which we were the objects, wound up for that day the warlike operations of the enemy. It succeeded, as others had done, to a certain extent; but no results arose out of it. The enemy did not try to keep the ground which they had taken; but, falling back within their proper line, left us to establish our pickets where directions had already been given to plant them. Meanwhile the corps to which I was attached lay down to rest upon the brow of the hill which it had maintained throughout the day. There, after nightfall, a Spanish corps arrived to relieve us; whereupon we stood to our arms, and moved away, taking a direction towards the extreme left of the Allied line, though inclining all the while to the front, and so drawing nearer to the river and the sand-hills that overlook it.
Whether it was the intention of Sir John Hope to carry us farther towards his left this night, I cannot tell; but on arriving in rear of Anglete, we were by no means displeased at being told that we were destined to remain there till the morrow. The roads were all choked up with tumbrils, ammunition-waggons, baggage, and troops filing to different points, apparently not in the best possible order. Around the village, in particular, a vast bivouac, chiefly of Spanish infantry and muleteers, had been formed, insomuch that it was not without some difficulty that we made our way into the street; and there the sounds which saluted us as we passed—the Babel-like confounding of all languages—the laugh, the cry, the oath, and here and there the low moan or wild shriek of the wounded—formed altogether a species of concert which certainly gave no evidence of strict discipline or accurate arrangement. It was, however, a wild and striking scene; and a sort of wavering and dull light, which the fires of the bivouac shed over it, added not a little to its sublimity.
At length we reached the houses which were set apart for our accommodation; and truly they were far from being over-commodious. About three hundred men were ushered into a cottage consisting of two apartments, or, as they say in the north, of "a but and a ben;" and here, upon the earthen floor, we were fain to cast ourselves down in order to obtain in sleep an escape from the cravings of hunger, which for several hours past had been somewhat urgent. We had eaten nothing since three o'clock in the morning, nor had any supply of provisions arrived. The poor cottage was, as may be imagined, wholly unfurnished with viands; indeed, we were as much surprised as pleased when the peasant to whom it belonged, and who had remained to keep possession, produced a bottle of very bad brandy, called, in the language of the country, aquadente. This we divided among us as far as it would go; and having wished in vain for the arrival of the quartermaster and commissary, we wrapped our cloaks about us and lay down. Sleep soon came to our relief.
CHAPTER XXI.
The night of the 23d passed by in quiet; and long before dawn on the 24th we stood as usual in our ranks, and under arms. So passed about half an hour, when orders were given to form into marching order, and to file towards the left, in the direction of the Adour. We were glad to be put in motion, and, after a journey of about a league, halted upon a sandy plain, at the distance of perhaps a couple of miles from the walls of Bayonne, and half that distance, or something less, from the outworks. Though thus placed within easy range of the enemy's advanced batteries, we were nevertheless well protected from their fire; for a little sand-hill stood in our immediate front, of height sufficient to shut out not only the soldiers, but the tops of the tents, from the gaze of the besieged.
Though we reached our ground at an early hour in the morning, a considerable space of time elapsed ere the baggage and provisions came up. The reader will therefore imagine that the setting forth of a substantial breakfast, which immediately ensued, proved a source of no trifling gratification to men who had fasted for upwards of forty hours, and whose appetite, though stifled by sleep, had revived of late in a very troublesome degree. It consisted, I well recollect, of slices of beef hastily and imperfectly broiled, with mouldy biscuit and indifferent tea; but the coarsest viands are sweet to the hungry, and we were in no humour that day to find fault with the quality of ours.
We were yet busy with our meal, and the baggage and tents, though removed from the backs of the animals, lay packed and ready for another move, when the intelligence, not at that moment unacceptable, reached us, that for the present we were to remain stationary, that our position in the line was taken up. Immediately the camp was marked out in due form; sundry ruinous dwellings in its vicinity were taken possession of, chiefly as stables for the horses; guns, fishing-rods, and greyhounds were desired to be put in serviceable order; and every disposition was made to secure comfort. The sole subject of complaint, indeed, was found to be in the unfavourable state of the weather, which had become since yesterday boisterous, with heavy showers of rain and hail. But this very circumstance, at which we were disposed to murmur, chanced to be, of all others, the most favourable to the operations of the army. By the help of these squalls, the boats and chasse-marées, which had hovered about the mouth of the Adour for several days, were enabled to pass the bar, and the groundwork of the floating bridge (if such an Iricism be admissible) was laid.
As the passage of the bar was an operation of considerable difficulty, and as I was fortunate enough to be an eyewitness of the daring intrepidity and nautical skill of those who effected it, I shall take the liberty of describing the occurrence more at length.