te
driver. But once on the other side of the river and formed into line
we were up and at them in spite of a murderous fire which they kept up
from their cannon. We soon neared them, fired, and then charged, and
succeeded in driving the centre over the hill. A column of their body
still appeared on our right, and we immediately received orders to
wheel in that direction; but the sight of us, together with the play
of our artillery on them, was quite sufficient to make them follow
their centre over the hill, whither we pursued them, but were unable
to come up with them.

I came across a poor wounded Frenchman crying to us English not to
leave him, as he was afraid of the bloodthirsty Spaniards: the poor
fellow could not at most live more than two hours, as a cannon-ball
had completely carried off both thighs. He entreated me to stay with
him, but I only did so as long as I found it convenient: I saw, too,
that he could not last long, and very little sympathy could be
expected from me then; so I ransacked his pockets and knapsack, and
found a piece of pork ready cooked and three or four pounds of bread,
which I thought would be very acceptable. The poor fellow asked me to
leave him a portion, so I cut off a piece of bread and meat and
emptied the beans out of my haversack, which with the bread and meat I
left by his side. I then asked him if he had any money, to which he
replied no, but not feeling quite satisfied at that, I again went
through his pockets. I found ten rounds of ball cartridge which I
threw away, and likewise a clothes-brush and a roll of gold and silver
lace, but those I would not give carriage to. However, I found his
purse at last, which contained seven Spanish dollars and seven
shillings, all of which I put into my pocket except one shilling,
which I returned to the poor dying man, and continued on my way up the
hill.

There I saw a French officer come out of a low copse close by, and
instantly fired at him, but without doing him any mischief. He made
his way up the hill as quickly as possible, using his sword as a
walking-stick, but a German rifleman who had been on the look-out cut
off his communication and succeeded in taking him prisoner. I did not
take any further notice of him, therefore, but proceeded along with my
company still in pursuit of the French, who were retreating in all
directions in a very disorderly state.

We might have taken hundreds of them prisoners had it not been for
our