recover, and not having either the one or the
other to spare, the remainder of us, who had voted ourselves into a
sort of board of survey, thought it most prudent to find him dead;
and, carrying him a little off the road to the edge of a ravine, we
scraped a hole in the sand with our swords, and placed him in it. We
covered him but very lightly, and left his head and arms at perfect
liberty; so that, although he might be said to have had both feet in
the grave, yet he might still have scrambled out of it, if he could.

CHAP. XII.

Reach Salamanca. Retreat from it. Pig Hunting, an Enemy to
Sleep-Hunting. Putting one's Foot in it. Affair on the 17th of
November. Bad Legs sometimes last longer than good ones. A Wet
Birth. Prospectus of a Day's Work. A lost _dejune_ better than a
found one. Advantages not taken. A disagreeable Amusement. End of
the Campaign of 1812. Winter Quarters. Orders and Disorders
treated. Farewell Opinion of Ancient Allies. My House.

November 7th.--Halted this night at Alba de Tormes, and next day
marched into quarters in Salamanca, where we rejoined Lord Wellington
with the army from Burgos.

On the 14th, the British army concentrated on the field of their
former glory, in consequence of a part of the French army having
effected the passage of the river, above Alba de Tormes. On the 15th,
the whole of the enemy's force having passed the river, a cannonade
commenced early in the day; and it was the general belief that, ere
night, a second battle of Salamanca would be recorded. But, as all the
French armies in Spain were now united in our front, and out-numbered
us so far, Lord Wellington, seeing no decided advantage to be gained
by risking a battle, at length ordered a retreat, which we commenced
about three in the afternoon. Our division halted for the night at the
entrance of a forest about four miles from Salamanca.

The heavy rains which usually precede the Spanish winter had set in
the day before; and, as the roads in that part of the country cease to
be roads for the remainder of the season, we were now walking nearly
knee deep, in a stiff mud, into which no man could thrust his foot,
with the certainty of having a shoe at the end of it when he pulled it
out again; and, that we might not be miserable by halves, we had, this
evening, to regale our chops with the last morsel of biscuit that
they were destined to grind during the retreat.

We cut