reatest heroes of antiquity.

CHAPTER XII: IRREGULAR WARFARE

From the moment that the news of the loss of Barcelona had reached
Madrid, Philip of Anjou had labored strenuously to collect a force
sufficient to overwhelm his enemies. He had, moreover, written urgently
to Louis XIV for assistance, and although France was at the moment
obliged to make strenuous efforts to show a front to Marlborough and his
allies, who had already at Blenheim inflicted a disastrous defeat
upon her, Louis responded to the appeal. Formidable French armies were
assembled at Saragossa and Roussillon, while a fleet of twelve ships of
the line, under the command of the Count of Toulouse, sailed to blockade
Barcelona, and the Duke of Berwick, one of the ablest generals of the
day, was sent to head the southern army.

In January the French army of Catalonia, under Marshal Tesse, reached
Saragossa, where the arrogance and brutality of the marshal soon excited
a storm of hatred among the Aragonese. The towns resisted desperately
the entry of the French troops; assassinations of officers and men were
matters of daily occurrence, and the savage reprisals adopted by the
marshal, instead of subduing, excited the Spaniards to still fiercer
resistance. But savage and cruel as was the marshal, he was in no haste
to meet the enemy in the field, and Philip, who was with him, had the
greatest difficulty in getting him to move forward.

It was in the last week of February that the news reached the Earl of
Peterborough that Marshal Tesse had left Saragossa, and was marching
toward Lerida. This was two days after the unsuccessful attempt to
surprise the enemy's camp near Alcira; and, menaced as Valencia was by a
force greatly superior to his own, he could not leave the city, which in
his absence would speedily have succumbed to the attack of Las Torres.
He walked quickly up and down his room for some minutes and then said:

"Captain Stilwell, I cannot leave here myself, but I will send you
to the Marquis of Cifuentes. You have shown the greatest activity and
energy with me, and I do not doubt that you will do equally well when
acting independently. I will give you a letter to the marquis, saying
that you are one of my most trusted and valued officers, and begging him
to avail himself to the fullest of your energy and skill. I shall
tell him that at present I am tied here, but that when the enemy reach
Barcelona, I shall at all hazards march hence and t