en fighting is expected, struck
Jack very forcibly.

"They would make grand soldiers if properly trained, these grave,
earnest looking men," he said to himself. "They look as if they could
endure any amount of fatigue and hardship; and although they don't take
things in the same cheerful light our men do, no one can doubt their
courage. I can quite understand now the fact that the Spanish infantry
was once considered the finest in Europe. If they only had leaders and
discipline Spain would not want any foreign aid; her own people would be
more than a match for any army the French could send across the northern
frontier."

The meal was scarcely finished when, at the end of the valley, some
three miles away, a cloud of dust was seen to rise with the sparkle of
the sun on arms and accouterments.

"There are Tesse's cavalry!" the count exclaimed. "Another half hour
will cause a transformation in this quiet valley."

The head of the column came on but slowly, the cavalry regiment forming
it accommodating their pace to that of the infantry and baggage wagons
in the rear. Slowly they moved on, until the bottom of the valley
appeared covered with a moving mass extending from the end, three
miles away, to within half a mile of the foot of the hill on which the
Spaniards were posted. Suddenly from the hillsides on the left puffs of
smoke darted out, and instantly a similar fire was opened on the right.

"They are at work at last," Jack exclaimed as the rattle of musketry
sounded loud and continuous. "I wondered when they were going to begin."

"I told them to let the column pass nearly to the head of the valley
before they opened fire," the count said. "Had they begun soon after the
enemy entered the valley, they would have left all their baggage behind
under a guard, and the infantry would have been free to attack the hills
at once. Now they are all crowded up in the valley--horse, foot, and
baggage. The wounded horses will become unmanageable, and there is sure
to be confusion, though perhaps not panic. See, they are answering our
fire! They might as well save their powder, for they are only throwing
away ammunition by firing away at the hillside."

This indeed was the case; for Jack, although in the course of the
morning he had frequently watched the hillside for signs of the other
parties, had not made out the slightest movement, so completely were the
men hidden behind rocks and bushes.

Strong bodies of infantry we