lted beside the Agueda while
company after company marched down into the water. A body of cavalry
had been drawn across the upper edge of the ford, four deep--the
horses' bodies forming a barrier against the swirling blocks of ice;
and under this shelter we crossed, the water rising to my small ribs
and touching my heart with a shiver that I recall as I write.
But the sergeant's hand was on my collar and steadied me over.

"How much farther?" I made bold to whisper to him as we groped our
way up the bank.

"Three miles, maybe: that's as the crow flies. But you mustn't
talk."

And not another word did I say. We plodded on--not straight for the
fortress, the distant lights of which seemed to be waiting for us,
but athwart and, for a mile and more, almost away from it. By and by
the road began to climb; and, a little later, we had left it and were
crossing the shoulder of a grassy hill behind which the lights of
Ciudad Rodrigo disappeared from view.

Here the dawn overtook us; and here at length, along the northern
slope of the hill and close under its summit, we were halted.

Sergeant Henderson gave a satisfied grunt. "Good for _The_
Division--the One and Only!" he remarked. "Now, for my part, I'm
ready for breakfast."

CHAPTER XXII.

ON THE GREATER TESSON.

I turned for a look behind us and below. At the foot of the slope,
where daylight had just begun to touch the dark shadows, stood a line
of mules--animals scarcely taller than the loads they carried, which
a crowd of Portuguese had already begun to unpack; and already, on
the plateau to the left of us half a dozen markers, with a
quartermaster, were mapping out a camp for the 52nd. They went to
work so deliberately, and took such careful measurements with their
long tapes, that even a tyro could no longer mistake this for an
ordinary halt.

I looked at Sergeant Henderson. Word had just been given to the
ranks to dismiss, and he returned my look with a humorous wink.

"That'll do, eh?" He nodded towards the markers.

"What does it mean?" I asked.

"It means that we've done with cold baths, my son, and may leave 'em
to the other divisions. What else it means you'll discover before
you sleep, maybe." He glanced up at the ridge, towards which at a
dozen different points our sentries were creeping--some of them
escorted by knots of officers--and ducking low as they neared the
sky-line.

"May I go down and watch?" I asked again, pointing