and on October 7,
Wellington pushed his left across the Bidassoa, the stream that marks
the boundaries of Spain and France. On the French side the hills rise
to a great height. One huge shoulder, called La Rhune, commands the
whole stream; another lofty ridge, called the "Boar's Back," offered
almost equal facilities for defence. The only road that crossed the
hills rose steeply, with sharp zigzags, and for weeks the French had
toiled to make the whole position impregnable. The British soldiers
had watched while the mountain sides were scarred with trenches, and
the road was blocked with abattis, and redoubt rose above redoubt like
a gigantic staircase climbing the sky. The Bidassoa at its mouth is
wide, and the tides rose sixteen feet.

But on the night of October 7--a night wild with rain and
sleet--Wellington's troops marched silently to their assigned posts on
the banks of the river. When day broke, at a signal-gun seven columns
could be seen moving at once in a line of five miles, and before Soult
could detect Wellington's plan the river was crossed, the French
entrenched camps on the Bidassoa won! The next morning the heights
were attacked. The Rifles carried the Boar's Back with a single
effort. The Bayonette Crest, a huge spur guarded by battery above
battery, and crowned by a great redoubt, was attacked by Colborne's
brigade and some Portuguese. The tale of how the hill was climbed, and
the batteries carried in swift succession, cannot be told here. It was
a warlike feat of the most splendid quality. Other columns moving
along the flanks of the great hill alarmed the French lest they should
be cut off, and they abandoned the redoubt on the summit. Colborne,
accompanied by only one of his staff and half-a-dozen files of
riflemen, came suddenly round a shoulder of the hill on the whole
garrison of the redoubt, 300 strong, in retreat. With great presence
of mind, he ordered them, in the sharpest tones of authority, to "lay
down their arms," and, believing themselves cut off, they obeyed!

A column of Spanish troops moving up the flanks of the great Rhune
found their way barred by a strong line of abattis and the fire of two
French regiments. The column halted, and their officers vainly strove
to get the Spaniards to attack. An officer of the 43rd named
Havelock--a name yet more famous in later wars--attached to Alten's
staff, was sent to see what caused the stoppage of the column. He
found the S