of his frying-pan, desired me to ride to General Alten for
orders. I found the general at a neighbouring tree; but he cut off all
hopes of my timely return, by desiring me to remain with him until he
received the report of an officer whom he had sent to ascertain the
progress of the other divisions.

While I was toasting myself at his fire, so sharply set that I could
have eaten one of my boots, I observed his German orderly dragoon, at
an adjoining fire, stirring up the contents of a camp-kettle, that
once more revived my departing hopes, and I presently had the
satisfaction of seeing him dipping in some basins, presenting one to
the general, one to the aide-de-camp, and a third to myself. The mess
which it contained I found, after swallowing the whole at a draught,
was neither more nor less than the produce of a piece of beef boiled
in plain water; and, though it would have been enough to have
physicked a dromedary at any other time, yet, as I could then have
made a good hole in the dromedary himself, it sufficiently satisfied
my cravings to make me equal to any thing for the remainder of the
day.

We were soon after ordered to stand to our arms, and, as day lit up, a
thick haze hung on the opposite hills, which prevented our seeing the
enemy; and, as they did not attempt to feel for us, we, contrary to
our expectations, commenced our retreat unmolested; nor could we quite
believe our good fortune when, towards the afternoon, we had passed
several places where they could have assailed us, in flank, with great
advantage, and caused us a severe loss, almost in spite of fate; but
it afterwards appeared that they were quite knocked up with their
exertions in overtaking us the day before, and were unable to follow
further. We halted on a swampy height, behind St. Espiritu, and
experienced another night of starvation and rain.

I now felt considerably more for my horse than myself, as he had been
three days and nights without a morsel of any kind to eat. Our
baggage-animals, too, we knew were equally ill off, and, as they
always preceded us a day's march, it was highly amusing, whenever we
found a dead horse, or a mule, lying on the road-side, to see the
anxiety with which every officer went up to reconnoitre him, each
fearing that he should have the misfortune to recognize it as his own.

On the 19th of November we arrived at the convent of Caridad, near
Ciudad Rodrigo, and once more experienced the comforts of our ba