ight,
Marmont had no longer an object in remaining there, and fell back,
behind the Douro, occupying the line of Toro and Torodesillas.

By the accidental discharge of a musket, one day last year, the ramrod
entered the belly, passed through the body, and the end of it stuck in
the back-bone of one of the soldiers of our division, from whence it
was actually hammered out with a stone. The poor fellow recovered, and
joined his regiment, as well as ever he had been, and was, last night,
unfortunately drowned, while bathing in the Tormes.

When the enemy retired, our division advanced and occupied Rueda, a
handsome little town, on the left bank of the Douro.

It abounded in excellent wines, and our usual evening dances began
there to be graced by a superior class of females to what they had
hitherto been accustomed. I remember that, in passing the house of the
sexton, one evening, I saw his daughter baking a loaf of bread; and,
falling desperately in love with both her and the loaf, I carried the
one to the ball and the other to my quarters. A woman was a woman in
those days; and every officer made it a point of duty to marshal as
many as he could to the general assembly, no matter whether they were
countesses or _sextonesses_; and although we, in consequence,
frequently incurred the most indelible disgrace among the better
orders of our indiscriminate collection, some of whom would retire in
disgust; yet, as a sufficient number generally remained for our
evening's amusement, and we were only birds of passage, it was a
matter of the most perfect indifference to us what they thought; we
followed the same course wherever we went.

The French army having, in the mean time, been largely reinforced;
and, as they commanded the passage of the Douro, we were in hourly
expectation of an offensive movement from them. As a precautionary
measure, one-half of our division bivouacked, every night, in front of
the town. On the evening of the 16th of July, it was our turn to be
in quarters, and we were in the full enjoyment of our usual evening's
amusement, when the bugles sounded to arms.

As we had previously experienced two false alarms in the same
quarters, we thought it more than probable that this might prove one
also; and, therefore, prevailed upon the ladies to enjoy themselves,
until our return, upon the good things which we had provided for their
refreshment, and out of which I hope they drew enough of consolation
for our