shed bayonets and
musket-barrels of the pickets. The men were lying beside their piled
arms, or had crept under some neighbouring bush to indulge in the
universal _siesta_; and even the sentries seemed almost to sleep as
they paced lazily up and down, or stood leaning upon their muskets,
keeping but a drowsy watch and careless look-out for an enemy whose
proximity was neither to be anticipated nor dreaded by a force so
superior to any which he could get together.

Such was the scene that presented itself to one who, having approached
the valley from the south, and ascended the mountains that bound it on
that side, now contemplated from their summit the inactivity of its
occupants. He was a man of the middle height, but appearing rather
shorter, from a slight stoop in the shoulders; his age was between
forty and fifty years, his aspect grave and thoughtful. His features
were regular, his eyes clear and penetrating, a strong dark mustache
covered his upper lip and joined his whisker, which was allowed to
extend but little below the ear. His dress consisted of a plain blue
frock, girt at the waist by a belt of black leather, to which a sabre
was suspended, and his head was covered with a _boina_, or flat cap,
of the description commonly worn in the neighbourhood of the Pyrenees,
woven in one piece of fine scarlet wool, and decorated with a _borla_,
or tassel of gold cord, spreading like a star over the crown of the
head. In his hand he held a telescope, which he rested on the top of a
fragment of rock, and through which he attentively noted what passed
in the valley below. The case of the field-glass was slung across his
body by a strap, and, upon inspection, a name would have been found
stamped upon its leathern surface. It was that of Tomas
Zumalacarregui.

A short distance in rear of the Carlist leader, and so posted as not
to be visible from the valley, stood a little group of officers, and
persons in civilian garb, and a few orderlies, one of whom held the
general's horse. Behind, a battalion of infantry was drawn up--fine,
muscular, active fellows, inured to every hardship, and as indifferent
to the scorching heat to which they were now exposed, as they had been
to the bitter cold in the mountains amongst which they had passed the
preceding winter. Their appearance was not very uniform in its
details; short jackets, loose trousers, and sandals, composed the
dress of most of them--one well adapted to long marches an