and believing Victor to be in
full retreat, he marched on alone, impelled by the desire to be the
first to enter Madrid; but at two o'clock on the morning of the
26th of July, the French suddenly fell upon him, drove the Spanish
cavalry back from their advanced position, and chased them hotly.
They fled in great disorder, and the panic would have spread to the
whole army, had not Albuquerque brought up 3000 fresh cavalry and
held the French in check, while Cuesta retreated in great disorder
and, had the French pressed forward, would have fled in utter rout.
Sherbrooke's division, which was in advance of the British army,
moved forward and took up its position in front of the panic-stricken
Spaniards, and then the French drew off.

"Cuesta then yielded to Sir Arthur's entreaties, recrossed the
Alberche, and took up his position near Talavera. Here, even the
worst troops should be able to make a stand against the best. The
ground is marshy and traversed by a rivulet. On its left is a
strong redoubt, which is armed with Spanish artillery; on the right
is another very strong battery, on a rise close to Talavera; while
other batteries sweep the road to Madrid. Sir Arthur has
strengthened the front by felling trees and forming abattis, so
that he has good reason to hope that, poor as the Spanish troops
may be, they should be able to hold their part of the line.

"Campbell's division forms the British right, Sherbrooke comes
next, the German legion are in the centre, Donkin is to take his
place on the hill that rises two-thirds of the way across the
valley, while General Hill's division is to hold the face looking
north, and separated from the Sierra only by the comparatively
narrow valley in which you have bivouacked. At present, however,
his troops and those of Donkin have not taken up their position."

The country between the positions on which the allied armies had
now fallen back was covered with olive and cork trees. The whole
line from Talavera to the hill, which was to be held by Hill's
division, was two miles in length; and the valley between that and
the Sierra was half a mile in width, but extremely broken and
rugged, and was intersected by a ravine, through which ran the
rivulet that fell into the Tagus at Talavera.

Chapter 2: Talavera.

On leaving the Adjutant General, Terence--knowing that Mackenzie's
brigade was some two miles in advance on the Alberche river, and
that the enemy was not in sight--s