h can be so placed as to command it from
several points. We are very short of artillery, and the guns are
well nigh as old as the fortifications."

"We will do our best, Colonel, in any direction you may point out;
and I think that we could defend a breach against any reasonable
force brought against it. I may say that I have been ordered, if
the worst comes to the worst, to endeavour to make my way out of
the town before it surrenders."

For a fortnight the place was left unmolested. Crawford's division
still kept beyond the Coa, and his cavalry had had several
engagements with French reconnoitring parties. On the 2nd of July,
however, the news came that, after a most gallant resistance,
Ciudad Rodrigo had surrendered; and it was now certain that the
storm would roll westward, in a very short time. Massena, however,
delayed strangely; and it was not until daylight on the 24th that a
sudden roll of musketry, followed almost immediately by a heavy
artillery fire, told the garrison of Almeida that the light
division was suddenly attacked by the enemy.

Crawford had received the strictest orders not to fight beyond the
Coa; but he was an obstinate man, and had so long maintained his
position across the river that he believed that, if attacked, he
should be able to withdraw over the bridge before any very strong
force could be brought up to attack him. In this he was mistaken.
The country was wooded, and the French march was unsuspected until
they were close upon Crawford's force. The light division had,
however, been well trained; indeed, it was composed of veteran
regiments, and had been practised to get under arms with the least
possible delay. They were, therefore, already drawn up when the
French fell upon them and, fighting hard and sternly, repelled all
the efforts of the enemy's cavalry to cut them off from the bridge.
Driving back the French light infantry, the Light Division crossed
in safety, although with considerable loss; and repulsed, with
great slaughter, every attempt of the French to cross the bridge.

Almeida was now left to its fate. Again Massena delayed, and it was
not until the 18th of August that the siege was begun. On the 26th
sixty-five heavy guns, that had been used in the siege of Ciudad
Rodrigo, opened fire upon the town. The more Terence saw of the
place, the more convinced was he that it could not long be held,
after the French siege guns had been placed in position. Moreover,
there was