What situation is superior to the camp? and what period of a soldier's life is called to mind in such glowing colours as the days of youth, when he was reclining under the shady branches of a forest oak, surrounded by young companions in arms, with light pockets and still lighter hearts, cheerfully talking to each other of glittering and moving armies, and all the imposing grandeur and pomp of war?—or fancy him nourishing the fonder feelings, and expatiating on the beauty of some foreign damsel, by whose wit and graces all hearts are captivated; while many another, more constant, indulges the fond hope of once more clasping the native mistress of all his thoughts to his arms, on his return to his own shores.
Spain, of all countries, tends to produce in the mind the most romantic thoughts, from the salubrity of its climate, its diversified scenery, clear sky, and bright sun—a sun which shines throughout the summer from morning till night, so that to those who sleep under the canopy of heaven all days seem the same, and when summer closes and clouds darken the atmosphere, the preceding season appears to the imagination as one continued day. These and many other feelings are indelibly fixed on the mind of a soldier, who closes his eyes on the highest mountains, in the deepest vallies, in woods, in morasses, in dusty, parched, and arid plains, or amid orange groves, luxuriant gardens, and beneath the marble fountain; or amidst frost and snow—the inmate alike of the palace, or of the peasant's menial hut—one night reposing on a bed of down, enveloped by satin drapery, the next stretching his tired limbs on the ground, or on a miserable bed filled with vermin—one hour gazing on the sumptuous, light, flowing drapery and satin slipper of the graceful señora, the next on the ruddy healthy cheek of the more humble muchacha. All these opposite changes attend the soldiers' career in rapid succession.
But lo! dinner is served up and announced. A truce to reflections! While we were employed handling our knives and forks, displaying a hungry dexterity, and bolting morsels of unchewable ration beef, a smoke was observed issuing from a valley, in the direction of our outposts, a mile to the front, which continued to increase, and then burst into a flame. A gentle wind blew towards our bivouac. The blaze increasing, and extending with great velocity, the cry of "fire," resounded from all quarters—"The camp's on fire." All was confusion; officers and soldiers seizing their baggage, ammunition, and horses. In the mean time, some tore large branches from the trees, and advanced to check the devouring element, the dried corn burning and whizzing towards us with the noise of a whirlwind; the heat was excessive; opposition was useless; the trees of the forest blazing away like a whisp of straw; and the whole brigade were en déroute, flying to save their lives, by reaching the road, where the second brigade had hastily formed, with boughs in their hands, as a last effort to endeavour to repel this vast conflagration. Fortunately the wood here ended, and the grass burnt itself out to the edge of the sandy road, which was one of great width, such as are frequently met with in the open parts of Spain. Had I not been an eye-witness to so quick and extensive a devastation made in a short time, I could hardly have pictured to my mind such a grand and awful spectacle.
Taking up fresh ground for the night, we descended in the morning the precipitous banks of the river Agueda, leading to the remote village of Martiago, nearly at the base of the Sierra de Gata. On the night we entered it, a pack of famished wolves devoured a donkey, and tore the hind quarters of a horse away. The poor animal was found in the morning, having crawled from his ferocious pursuers into the middle of the village for refuge, in that miserable condition.
Ciudad Rodrigo was to be reconnoitred. As convoys of stores and provisions were expected from Salamanca, through the great forest, of four days' march, between those places; and as Don Julien Sanches, with his Guerillas, hovered about ready to cut off all small parties, the French were under the necessity, with incalculable inconvenience, to assemble their army, stretched over a great extent of country, to keep the inhabitants under control, to protect their hospitals, levy contributions, and to make perpetual countermarches in order to keep open their line of communication.
On the 11th of August, before daylight, our division was bending its course over ravines, and almost impassable pathways, to show front during a reconnoissance made by Lord Wellington, who usually wore in the field, at this period, a small low-crowned cocked hat, a blue pelisse coat, and a Hussar sash.
The sun blazed forth as usual, (for not a drop of rain had fallen since I had put my foot into the country), and biscuit and rum were served out to refresh the exhausted soldiers; a humble refection which no one would think of grudging to those who had been under arms for ten hours, under a burning sun, and crowning the highest hills without a bush to shelter them, or a drop of water to refresh their parched lips.
With my rum in one hand, making a shallow appearance at the bottom of a soldier's tin, and my mouldy biscuit in the other, I beheld an officer approach me, in the act of drawing from his bosom an old ragged black silk neck-handkerchief worn out in the service, and now converted into a pocket-handkerchief. He fumbled it over for a whole corner to apply his nose to; and during this operation, his eyes were fixed on my tin. After a variety of hems, coughings, and such like indications, he took courage to beg that I would permit him to dip his dry biscuit into my shallow allowance of rum, to moisten his lips: his request being granted, and thanks returned for the given relief, he told me that, in the hurry to grasp his share, he had unfortunately upset it on the ground, and had the additional mortification to see it dry up in an instant.
We were spread out rank entire within sight of the garrison, for the governor to suppose our force stronger than it really was, so that he might inform the Duke of Ragusa, and oblige him to bring up and deploy his whole army, for the protection of his intended convoy.
Late in the evening we reached our cantonments in good spirits, though well tired, but not so much so as to prevent my making a good meal. Turning into a small recess, and getting into bed for the first time for weeks, after some hours I awoke rather feverish, went to the door in my shirt to cool myself, and found the air so refreshing that I continued stationary for a considerable time, certainly much longer than my prudence ought to have dictated; however, I did not feel any ill effects from it at the time.