Having performed the painful task of taking leave of my friends, I bade adieu to Cambo about four o'clock in the morning of the 9th of December, and proceeded towards Espalete. I had not proceeded far, however, before I fell in with a column of Portuguese infantry hastening to the place of rendezvous. Ashamed to meet them under such circumstances, I quitted the road, but had scarcely done so, when I popped into a ditch filled with water and clay. In a most uncomfortable state I jogged along till I reached Espalete; where meeting with an old acquaintance in the person of a commissary, I walked with him to his lodgings, and there spent a couple of hours, cracking the shells of a dozen of my friend's eggs, and exchanging the mid-night dress for one more comfortable and less offensive to the eye. On arriving at St Pe, we procured a little refreshment in a house which still bore numerous marks of the conflict of the 10th of November, some of the musket-balls being still in the wood of the partitions and windows. The worthy occupants having a son a prisoner of war in Scotland, they begged our acceptance of a few apples to carry with us to the Land of Cakes.
Arriving in St Jean-de-Luz about sun-set, we procured a billet upon a fifth-rate tavern. The entertainment was bad, and prices exorbitant. Next morning we quitted St Jean, and proceeded towards Passages, the place of embarkation. On a height on the right bank of the Bidassoa we remained half-an-hour, indulging ourselves with a distant view of the conflict between Sir John Hope's corps and the enemy near Bayonne. Crossing the river soon after, we passed through Irun, and halted for the night at Renteria. On the 11th we arrived in Passages, and next day embarked in the Britannia transport for England. Previous to going on board, we had the pleasure of seeing Colonel Kruse, at the head of the regiments of Frankfort and Nassau, march into Passages to embark. These two corps quitted the standards of the enemy during the action of the 10th near Bayonne. They were very fine looking fellows, and seemed quite delighted with the prospect of returning to their native country.
Early in the morning of the 17th December, our transport, and ten others, under convoy of a gun-brig, sailed from Passages. On clearing the harbour, we cast a wistful eye towards the spot whence we had come, and could not resist repeating, Farewell ye tented fields!—farewell ye plains and towering heights, stained with the blood of the best and dearest of our friends! For our native land we now leave thy shores, where in the bosom of our families we hope to spend a few days in peace and domestic felicity. Gallant companions,—of your heroic deeds we will read with delight, and in the fond expectation of again joining you at an early period to share in your dangers and your glory, we bid you all farewell!
At this time the sky was clear—not a cloud in the horizon, and scarce a ripple on the water. So beautiful indeed, and cheering were the rays of the Sun, that the mighty Leviathans themselves skipped and gamboled for joy. Two of these tremendous marine animals actually remained alongside of us for more than an hour. At sun-set the weather was equally promising, but soon after, the clouds,
Dispersed and wild, 'twixt earth and sky
Hung like a shattered canopy!
While
—— unheeded from the Bay
The vessel ploughed her mournful way.
At seven, P.M. the wind became foul, and blew fresh. An hour after,—the lightning flashed, and the thunder rolled,—at first like the long-roll of the muffled drum, but latterly like the salvo's of a numerous artillery. At three o'clock, A.M. on the 18th, the thunder ceased,—but from that hour down to four o'clock in the afternoon of the 20th, when we returned into port, the wind blew a perfect hurricane.
We again put to sea on the 27th of December, and after a very pleasant passage, landed at Plymouth on the 4th of January 1814. On the 6th we proceeded towards London, where we arrived on the evening of the 8th, after a tedious ride. On arriving in London, we quitted the stage-coach in the Haymarket, placed all our trunks in a street coach, under charge of Captain M'R—— of the 79th regiment, and walked to the Old Slaughter's Coffee-house, St Martin's Lane,—for many years the head-quarters of the officers of our regiment, when duty or curiosity led any of us to visit the metropolis. On the gallant Captain's arrival, a trunk of mine was found to be absent without leave, in which were deposited upwards of twenty letters from officers, and two orders for money, besides a number of valuable articles of wearing apparel. On perceiving my loss, I wished to advertise it as stolen, but Mr Reid of the Old Slaughter's strongly opposed this, and it was finally advertised as lost. The result showed the soundness of Mr Reid's advice, for by ten o'clock on the morning the advertisement appeared in the Times, the portmanteau was at the bar unopened. In London, gangs of depredators are constantly prowling the streets in search of plunder; and when they obtain it in the way they got hold of my baggage, they generally keep it past them for some time unopened, when, if advertised as lost, and a reward offered, as in my case, the thief then returns the property like an honest man, and receives the reward of his DISHONESTY.
At the end of a week I took leave of the metropolis, and after spending a few days with my friends on the way, I rejoined the second battalion of the regiment in Glasgow, in the end of January.