bitter anguish and regret told more than volumes could have related, of the grief they had known, of the anguish which they had endured.” 66 Enough-enough of Badajos," said Monsieur Le Blanc. "What you have heard, Philip, will perhaps suffice to teach you that war is an evil-that it is not that which should be coveted, however brilliantly alluring its trophies may appear to a youthful eye." 66 But, national honour, sir, think of that!" said Philip. "I do," replied the father; "and am very much tempted to identify it with national happiness. A great nation, where all the useful arts are successfully cultivated, has more to gain from science than from battles. War, at the end of a quarter of a century, left France weak and humbled; peace, during a quarter of a century, has rendered her mighty, and placed her among the greatest nations of the earth." "Nay," said the invalid, "all I have told of Badajos, though shocking, falls short of what I have witnessed elsewhere. It was my lot to serve in the grand army, when Napoleon invaded Russia; for you must know, the English were so busy in looking after booty, that they somewhat neglected their prisoners. I took advantage of this; and when, as I have told, the disorders had risen to such a pitch that Lord Wellington flogged some of his men, and threatened others with a halter, I managed to make my escape. At nightfall I picked up a red jacket, which had belonged to an English soldier who had fallen. I passed near the English camp without being challenged. It had been reported that the Duke of Dalmatia was coming from Seville to retake Badajos, and I determined to try to meet him, though I did not know a step of the way. "I had made a bundle of my own coat, and filled my pockets with bread, before I left the town. As soon as I believed myself secure from observation, I began to run in the direction which, from some information afforded by a Spanish peasant, I concluded was that in which Soult would march to avenge the disgrace which had fallen on the eagles of France. All night long I continued to journey, and it was not till daylight returned, that I ventured to lie down in a thicket to get a little rest. I had fortunately been able to slake my thirst as I advanced; and having eaten a crust, I stretched myself out and soon fell asleep. It was about noon when I awoke; and, as I thought it would be losing too much time to remain in the wood where I was till it should be dark, on I determined to go. To avoid being seen, this period of the day was perhaps the best for me, as the heat was so great, being a fine day, that but few people were stirring. So I marched forward as fast as I well could. 66 My road lay through a valley, enclosed between huge mountains. Their savage grandeur, which presented huge masses of a reddish-coloured stone, irregularly piled on each other, and seemed almost to reach the sky, and in some places shrouded the valley below in darkness, I contemplated with awe. A lonely directing stone at their enormous bases, announcing how many leagues it was thence to some distant town, was often the only evidence afforded, save, indeed, a rude and imperfect effort at levelling part of the road, that ever a human being had visited that spot. "It was the next day but one after I commenced my flight, and in the afternoon, when I was beginning to think myself secure, that a musket-shot whizzed by me. I heard English voices, thought I had been fired at, and expected the next moment would bring me a fatal message. There was a stream of water on my left hand: I dashed through it, and crouched down behind a fragment of a rock, jutting out at the foot of an enormous pile, which, on that side, it was impossible to ascend. I heard other shots; but the sound was evidently retiring; and it was only a sporting party, which had fallen in with some wild pigs or birds, that had disturbed me. Satisfied that I was in no immediate danger, after about half an hour, I ventured to start from my hiding-place. That moment a piercing shriek rang in my ear: I looked, to ascertain from whom it came, and saw an elderly female. On my offering to approach her the shriek was renewed, and she attempted to fly it immediately struck me that I was mistaken, from the red coat I wore, for an English soldier. By assuming an air of commiseration, I partly succeeded in dismissing her apprehensions, and stepping respectfully up to her, I apologised for my intrusion, when I recognised her countenance as one I had recently seen: it was no other than the poor lady I had beheld weeping over her dying husband at Badajos. : "I told you that she had been snatched away from her expiring husband by some ruffianly marauders: it gave me pleasure to find that she was not in their hands. Having mentioned to her what I had seen-By what happy chance, madame,' said I, 'did you escape from the English camp? Your daughter, I hope, is safe?' 'Safe!' she repeated, in a tone that thrilled me, and with a deep sigh; 'yes, she is safe!' And then she pointed to a low tent further on among some brush-wood, which I had not before noticed; and there, on the cold ground, with nothing but an old cloak spread out as a couch, I saw the unhappy fair one. The hardships she had known were too much for her delicate frame; and though one man, more compassionate than the rest of his fellows, had enabled them to get away from the English, the sufferings she had experienced, and the terror which oppressed her, lest their retreat should be discovered, crushed the last spark of life, and she had that hour expired. "I condoled with the mourner. She knew that her husband was no more; and I had the sad satisfaction of informing her that his remains had been decently consigned to the earth : I it was all my pity could accomplish had assisted in making his grave. She told me she had found means of communicating to some friends where she had concealed herself, and they proposed, on the next day, removing her to the home from which she had been so rudely expelled. "I bade the sufferer farewell, after consoling her as far as this could be done by soothing language. My red coat I now discarded, having first emptied the pockets of the bread which I had carried in them, and which had been spoiled by the water when I leaped in the stream: that which was in my French jacket, and which I had held over my head while swimming, was fortunately uninjured. With a view of drying my clothes, I ran as fast as I could, and, fearful of the consequences of pausing while any of the enemy were so near, I again—though by this time I had become sore-footed, and was very weary-continued to walk on during the night; but, with every exertion to which I was now equal, I made but little progress. From want of rest and needful refreshment my strength began rapidly to fail; and when the sun had risen, looking on a little hillock which two tall poplars seemed like sentinels to guard, I threw myself down with a sort of reckless resignation, hardly caring whether I should ever rise again or not, or whether I should be recaptured by the English. "I soon slept, but not soundly. From extreme fatigue, I felt uneasy sensations: I fancied-perhaps I may say I dreamed that I was awake. After an hour or two, I thought something moved near me, and started up, but saw nothing. Feeling myself hungry, I put my hand in my pocket for a piece of bread: there was none there. An examination of another pocket horrified me with the same result. While I was asleep, a rat, or some other animal, had eaten all my provisions, and gnawed a hole in one of my pockets. This fretted me, but there was no help for it. Sleep was again fast stealing over me-my eyes were just closing when the trampling of horses caused me to start from my green couch. Where I was I could be seen from the road: it was, however, too late to retreat, for the horsemen were close at hand. They came in sight before I had time to conceal myself, and I instantly saw they were two French foragers. long in making them know who I was, and how I came there. One of them, taking me up behind him, without further adventure I soon found myself in the Duke of Dalmatia's camp. "We were now marched into Andalusia. I should have admired the bold romantic scenery which everywhere met the eye, but that the presence of imminent danger forbade us to gaze on it. The guerrillas were scattered about in all directions behind a rock, in the centre of a bush, and by the side of a tree, they were constantly found; and a deadly bullet I was not |