CHAPTER XIII.
Pursuit of the enemy after the battle of Vittoria—Curious spectacle and adventure in a French bivouac—Advance towards Pampeluna, and repulse of the French rear-guard—Retreat of the main body of the enemy into France—Reflections on the policy of King Joseph—Change of the British route, and encampment at Sanguessa—A casual dance—Return to Pampeluna—Expulsion of the French from the valley of Bastan—The Basque peasantry—Town of Bera—Position for covering Pampeluna and St. Sebastian—Preparations for the attack of the latter place—The command of the French assumed by the Duke of Dalmatia—A family scene—Position of the French army.
On the morning of the 22d the atmosphere was overcast, and, being without either cloaks or blankets to cover us, our uniforms were very damp, owing to the heavy dew which had fallen during the night; notwithstanding this, we arose from the ground exceedingly refreshed, and gazed around, in mute amazement, at the prodigious wreck of plundered Spain; for, beneath the French caissons, tumbrils, and brass cannon, lay scattered los doblones de oro, of the same virgin gold which had been extracted in former times from the peaceful Incas of the new world, by those vindictive Spanish adventurers, whose avaricious veins boiled at that epoch with the hot blood of the Moors.
At nine o'clock the rolling of the tenor and bass drums, and the clank of cymbals, beating the marching time, announced that the leading regiments of the division were in motion for the purpose of following the enemy. During the rest of the day we marched through a valley, enclosed by highlands, but did not overtake the enemy; the corn was trampled down in many places, which showed they had moved in three columns, whenever the ground would admit of it. Soon after dark, the division bivouacked in a wood, a drizzling rain began to fall, and we laid down under a tree to enjoy a nap, until the arrival of our sumpter mules, heavily laden with flour and live stock, which we had industriously scraped together from the refuse of Vittoria's field. At midnight we were awakened, with keen appetites, by the well-known neighing of the horses, and braying of donkeys; but none of the baggage animals came our way, and during our anxious and broken slumbers the night passed away, and the morning was ushered in by a sweeping rain, which thoroughly saturated the troops before they began their march. As I chanced to be for the duty of bringing up any stragglers who might happen to lag behind, and my hungry messmate being also for the baggage guard (of those who had come up), we journeyed together along the sloppy road, when the conversation naturally turned on the splendid victory gained over the French legions two days before, and we remarked how gladdened the people of England would be on the receipt of such a piece of glorious intelligence, while they would little imagine that the greater portion of the victors would willingly lay down half their laurels for a good breakfast.
At the close of the evening we came to the remains of a French bivouac, consisting of doors and window shutters torn from a neighbouring village by the enemy, and propped up to screen them from the inclemency of the weather. The sole person to be seen was a draggled-tailed old woman, with a ragged petticoat, who, without noticing us, or once raising her eyes, continued to pursue her interesting employment of stirring up with a stick the mud (which was interspersed with fragments of books and French novels,) or handling the broken fragments of earthenware pots. Our curiosity was so much excited, that we reined in our steeds to watch the progress of the wrinkled and copper-coloured old dame, who, stretching out her bronzed and shrivelled arm, at last laid hold of a whole utensil, and as she hastily splashed off, I caught a glimpse of a chicken, resting on one leg, behind a shutter, which somehow or other had escaped the ramrod of the enemy, and the hawk-eyed soldiers of the pursuing column. Unsheathing my sabre, I jumped to the ground, and sprang forward either to grasp or maim the destined prize; however, the ground was in such a slimy state, that my speed availed not; on the contrary it hastened my fall. My companion, disdaining to take warning at my mishap, must needs himself begin a hot pursuit; however, the practical experience convinced him of the slippery obstacles; he soon lay sprawling on his face, plastered with mire: suffice it, the bird escaped, and we resumed our wet saddles, in a condition and appearance nowise enviable.—Soon after dark we came to a river, but as the enemy had not sufficient time to blow up the bridge, they had set fire to many of the houses in the main street of the town, (which were still in flames,) in hopes of blocking up the way with the burning rafters, which they had hurled from the roofs of the houses, in expectation of preventing our artillery from passing through, and thus harassing our retreat. The rain still falling in torrents, by degrees extinguished the red embers of the smoking ruins, and prevented the place from being entirely consumed to ashes. The soldiers of the division crowded the houses, and huddled under cover wherever they could find shelter. We were obliged to content ourselves by squeezing into a small hovel, where the smoke found egress through the broken roof; the floor was composed of slabs of rocks, in some places rearing their primitive heads amid flints and loose stones. During the night a ration of meat and six ounces of mouldy biscuit were served out, which was greedily devoured by the victorious troops. It was in vain that we scraped into a heap the stones of this macadamized lodge, for the purpose of lying down; for bumps and holes only increased our difficulties, and we were forced to ascend a broken ladder into a wretched loft, swarming with vermin, to prick for a soft plank, whereon to stretch our chilly limbs.
At dawn, on the 24th, we were again on the road; the weather cleared up, and the cheerful rays of the sun sparkled in the crystal drops, which fell on our heads as we glided beneath the wet foliage. Having advanced a few miles, we found the enemy's rear-guard posted at a bare and steep pass, which covered the highroad, two leagues from Pampeluna. The column having closed up, two battalions of the rifle corps (supported by the horse artillery[51]) pushed forward, and, after a sharp skirmish, they succeeded in pushing back the French rear-guard; the guns then galloped up the road, and plied the round shot with such effect, that they succeeded in dismounting one of the only two cannon which the enemy had extricated from Vittoria's entangled field. They had rolled the gun over a steep bank on the right of the paved causeway, on which were regular league stones, and the first I had noticed in Spain. One round shot had struck down seven of the enemy on the left of the road; some of them were dead; others still alive, with either legs or arms knocked off, or otherwise horribly mutilated, and were crying out in extreme anguish, and imploring the soldiers to shoot them, to put an end to their dreadful sufferings. A German hussar, in our service, assured them that they would be kindly treated by our medical officers. "No! no!" they vociferated, "we cannot bear to live. Countryman, we are Germans, pray kill us, and shorten our miseries."
Continuing onwards, we soon after drew up on the slope of a hill, within sight of Pampeluna, the capital of Navarre; it is well fortified, with a strong citadel, and situated near the banks of the river Arga, in a fertile plain abounding with wheat, the ears of which we rubbed between our hands to satisfy the cravings of hunger. Just before our arrival, the enemy's scattered army had clustered beneath the ramparts of the fortress, where they were in hopes of entering to obtain rest and provisions; but the place was so scantily supplied, that the gates were ordered to be barred against all intruders. From this place an excellent road branches off in a north-westerly direction to Tolosa; but as General Graham, with his corps, was marching direct on that town, by the great road to France, it was of no avail to the main body of the enemy, who were obliged to continue their retreat into France, by Roncesvalles and other roads, merely leaving a rear-guard in the valley of Bastan.
The following morning we filed over a rugged and flinty mountain, south-west of Pampeluna, from the summit of which we almost commanded a bird's-eye view into the very heart of the town, garrisoned by four thousand of the enemy. This place, well provisioned, should have been fixed on for the grand base of Joseph's defensive and offensive movements; for, had he made it the pivot of his operations, and opened his line on Aragon, (and the strong holds in Catalonia, held by the Duke of Albufera), his flanks would have been secured by the Ebro and the Pyrenees, and would have thrown our army on two sides of a square, and entangled it between two strong fortresses, and the labyrinths of the Pyrenees. Most probably such a movement would have kept the war from the immediate frontier of France, whence fresh troops, under favourable circumstances, could debouch and attack our left face. From political reasons, the time had not arrived for the decided invasion of that country; besides, if it had, such an invasion could not have been executed, so long as the enemy hovered in force on our right flank.