"He retired, having delivered his orders; and then, as a pleasant sequel to them, I heard the rain—the heavy rain of Castile, where every drop is the size of a walnut—pattering on the long range of palace windows which faced the east. No man ever left a warm down bed more unwillingly than did I the hard tiled floor of the sala. I rolled up my cloak and blanket, slung them with my haversack and canteen, and then groped about for a small portmanteau which contained all my goods and gear; and, without disturbing my two comrades to bid them 'good-bye'—for, poor fellows! after so long a march as that of yesterday, to have done so would have been positive inhumanity—with half-closed eyes, I hurried along, stumbling over the sleeping soldiers, muskets, knapsacks, and broken furniture with which the vast halls and suites of chambers were encumbered. After losing myself for a time in that famous apartment of mirrors, where Godoy and the Queen were wont to perform fandangos, I reached the bridge of Toledo, as it is named from the road which crosses it; and there I found the convalescents assembling, in the dark of a cold and rainy morning, for daylight was yet an hour distant, and I heard the heavy drops battering the tarred canvas covers of the wretched caissons, wherein the sick and wounded lay. I heard the rain also lashing on the parapets of the bridge, and raising bubbles on the rapid stream which swept below its arches.
"There were not less than thirty waggons or bullock-cars filled by officers alone, many of them sick, or suffering from diseases produced by hardship and starvation; others from wounds, and the amputation of legs and arms, by the stupid apothecaries' boys, who composed almost wholly our medical staff in the Peninsula. In rags and misery, almost shirtless and shoeless, they lay closely packed in the caissons among a little straw; and one—the weakest and most reduced—was the famous Irish assistant-surgeon, Maurice Quill, of the 31st Regiment. I had one officer of the 1st Dragoon Guards, who, being mad as a March hare, had an entire waggon to himself, and I heard him bellowing like a wild bull, above the rushing rain and the howling wind as I approached this mournful assemblage on the old bridge of Toledo.
"I received the lists and commissariat papers, &c., in the dark, from the brigade-major, who carried a lantern under his cloak, and, in bidding me adieu, bade me beware of Barba Roxa, or Red-bearded Sancho, a thief, whose exploits were then making some noise in Toledo and La Mancha. The few soldiers who accompanied me were also convalescents, on their way home to be discharged, and, consequently, were barely able to carry their arms. I had a French troop horse, captured in the scramble at Arroyo del Molino, and by my side rode the only effective man in the detachment, my orderly dragoon; who, for the good service he rendered me by his inborn bravery and fidelity, I shall ever remember with gratitude, Darby Crogan, a private of the 4th, or Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, and when I say he was every inch a true Irish soldier, further comment is needless.
"Though we had enough and to spare of fighting, I own that it was with no ordinary feeling of dissatisfaction I departed on this duty, leaving my comrades to push on towards the south, to fight and win the great battle of Vittoria, and drive the French from Spain; while I had the foreknowledge that there was never an instance known of an officer leaving the army, in charge of convalescents, without being involved in the most serious quarrels with the Spanish authorities, both civil and military. But there was no alternative for me; so, muffling myself in my cloak, after sharing with Darby Crogan a glass of brandy from a certain convenient flask, which hung at my waist-belt, and after a good deal of galloping to and fro, swearing at muleteers and bullock-drivers, the cars were put in motion, and the march began just as the first streak of dawn glimmered dimly above the distant sierras.
"A company of Les Chasseurs Brittaniques (who, though French deserters and ragamuffins of every kind, wore the red British uniform), under a Captain H——, marched also for Ciudad Real, and nearly at the same time, but were ordered to pursue a route apart from mine, by Santa Cruz de la Zarza, and down the other side of the mountains, by Corral de Almuguer and Madridejos.
"The morning had broken clear and cloudless, when, passing through an open tract of country, we reached Yepes, and the summer sun of Castile came up in all his burning glory. I generally rode about fifty yards in front of my party to avoid the incessant complaints and cries of the sick and wounded, whose ailments or sores were exasperated by the increasing heat and pitiless jolting of the bullock-cars, which had neither springs nor iron axles. The day was cloudless and scorching; the plain hot, dry, and dusty, all vegetation being burned out of it. No breeze came from the distant mountains; but a vast swarm of black flies, which floated like a vapour about us, gave incredible annoyance.
"A poor young officer (lieutenant in an English light cavalry regiment) expired under the pain of his mortifying wounds and accumulated sufferings. This event caused a temporary halt. By the side of the mule-track, which crossed that arid plain, we hastily made a little grave, about a foot deep, and laid him down, yet warm, in his uniform, and coffinless. A little of the blood-stained straw from the waggons was spread over his face, and then we covered him up, heaping the dry dusty soil over him by our feet, by the butts of muskets, and blades of bayonets, to keep the wolves from disturbing his rest. Near this lonely grave there flowed a little fountain from a rude stone duct, which had been made in the days of old, 'en tiempo antique,' as a mule-driver told me. In twenty minutes after, we were all again en route, with the mule-bells jangling and the wheels jarring, as if nothing had happened; but his place in the waggon was soon supplied, as every hour some of my convalescent guard became unable to endure the weight of their trappings, and had to be placed among the sick. Thus our progress was so slow that night was closing before we entered La Guardia, a small town, about sixteen miles from Aranjuez.
"As we clambered and toiled up the rocky ridge which it crowns, on the right bank of the Cedron, Crogan and I, who rode in front, were surprised to find the little town almost deserted, and that a few of the inhabitants who had lingered until we were close at hand, were retiring from it on the other side, some on foot and others on mules, but all bearing away their goods and chattels, beds and furniture. Entering, we found it empty; and as there were neither alcalde nor alguazils to go through the farce of distributing billets, we quartered ourselves wherever we best could. After conveying all the wounded from the waggons into the great convent (I carried Dr. Quill on my back, for he was weak as a child), there we laid them, in rows, on the tiled floors; and, after filling their canteens with water, left them to warm themselves the best way they could, for we were wearied almost to death by the slow loitering march of the past day, under a scorching Castilian sun.
"La Guardia is surrounded by a strong but ruinous fortified wall, which was built in the olden time to defend the district from the incursions of the Moors; and at each end it had a gate, whereon I posted a guard of a corporal and three men; for as the whole country swarmed with thieves and guerilla deserters, I knew not what picaros might be lurking in the old gypsum quarries near the Cedron.
"Darby Crogan and I took possession of a deserted house in the main street. He lighted a fire, and being scarce of fuel, made pretty free use of the doors and shutters, chairs and tables; and we broiled on a ramrod, or boiled in a camp-kettle, our poor ration beef, sprinkling it with flour, and eating it without salt, for that was a commodity extremely scarce among us in Spain; hence, the flavour of our commissariat beef, after being carried in a canvas haversack, on a long day's march, under a burning sun, would have driven Soyer or his majesty of Oude into fits.