shortly; and I hope, long before the campaign opens, they will all
be served out. The British regiments are almost as badly off as the
native ones. However, I suppose matters will right themselves
before the spring; but they are almost as badly off, now, as they
were when they marched into Corunna. The absurdity of the whole
thing is that all the newly-raised Portuguese levies, who will
certainly not be called upon to cross the frontier until next year,
have got uniforms; while the men who have to do the work are almost
in rags."

Two or three of the officers of the Fusiliers rode over frequently,
to stop for a night or so with Terence; and the latter found time
pass much more pleasantly than he had done before Ryan had joined
him. During the day both their hands were full; but the evenings
were very pleasant, now that he had Dick as well as Herrara to talk
to. The feeling of the responsibility on his shoulders steadied
Ryan a good deal, and he was turning out a far more useful
assistant than Terence had expected; but when work was over, his
spirits were as high as ever, and the conversation in Terence's
tent seldom languished.

Spring came, but there was no movement on the part of the troops.
Ney, with 50,000 men, began the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo in earnest.
The Agueda had now become fordable; and Crawford, with his light
brigade, 2500 strong, was exposed to a sudden attack at any time.
On the 1st of June Terence received orders to march with his
regiment to Guarda, where Wellington was concentrating the greater
portion of his army; leaving Hill, with 12,000 men, to guard the
southern portion of the frontier.

Both the Spanish and Portuguese urged the general to relieve Ciudad
Rodrigo; but Wellington refused, steadily, to hazard the whole
fortune of the campaign on an enterprise which was unlikely to
succeed. His total force was but 56,000 men, of whom 20,000 were
untried Portuguese. Garrisons had to be placed at several points,
and 8000 Portuguese were posted at Thomar, a day's march from
Abrantes, as a reserve for Hill.

It was not only the 50,000 infantry and 8000 cavalry of Massena,
who now commanded in front of Ciudad Rodrigo, that he had to reckon
with. Regnier's division was at Coria; and could, in three easy
marches, reach Guarda; or in four fall on Hill at Abrantes; and
with but 26,000 men in line, it would have been a desperate
enterprise, indeed, to attack 60,000 veteran French soldiers merely
for t