tion and
drew off his troops.

A portion of the Spanish army were cantoned in a village only some
two miles from Alcira, and a few days later Peterborough determined to
surprise it, and for that purpose marched out at night from Valencia
with an English force of a thousand men, and reached the spot intended
at daybreak as he had arranged. The Spanish garrison of Alcira, also
about a thousand strong, had orders to sally out and attack the village
at the same hour. The Spaniards also arrived punctually, but just as
they were preparing to burst upon the unconscious enemy, who were four
thousand strong, they happened to come upon a picket of twenty horse. An
unaccountable panic seized them; they broke their ranks and fled in such
utter confusion that many of the terror stricken soldiers killed each
other. The picket aroused the enemy, who quickly fell into their ranks,
and Peterborough, seeing that it would be madness to attack them with
his wearied and unsupported force, reluctantly ordered a retreat, which
he conducted in perfect order and without the loss of a man.

This was Peterborough's only failure; with this exception every one of
his plans had proved successful, and he only failed here from trusting
for once to the cooperation of his wholly unreliable Spanish allies.
After this nothing was done on either side for several weeks.

The campaign had been one of the most extraordinary ever accomplished,
and its success was due in no degree to chance, but solely to the
ability of Peterborough himself. Wild as many of his schemes appeared,
they were always planned with the greatest care. He calculated upon
almost every possible contingency, and prepared for it. He never
intrusted to others that which he could do himself, and he personally
commanded every expedition even of the most petty kind.

His extraordinary physical powers of endurance enabled him to support
fatigue and to carry out adventure, which would have prostrated most
other men. The highest praise, too, is due to the troops, who proved
themselves worthy of such a leader. Their confidence in their chief
inspired them with a valor equal to his own. They bore uncomplainingly
the greatest hardships and fatigues, and engaged unquestioningly
in adventures and exploits against odds which made success appear
absolutely hopeless. The hundred and fifty dragoons who followed the
Earl of Peterborough to the conquest of Valencia deserve a place side by
side with the g