gathering chestnuts from a row of trees which lined
the opposite bank, I concluded that they were Spaniards, and kept
moving onwards; but, observing, at last, that I was an object of
greater curiosity than I ought to be, to people who had been in the
daily habit of seeing the uniform, it induced me to take a more
particular look at my neighbours; when, to my consternation, I saw the
French eagle ornamenting the front of every cap. I instantly wheeled
my horse to the right about; and seeing that I had a full quarter of a
mile to traverse at a walk, before I could get clear of them, I began
to whistle, with as much unconcern as I could muster, while my eye was
searching, like lightning, for the means of escape, in the event of
their trying to cut me off. I had soon the satisfaction of observing
that none of them had firelocks, which reduced my capture to the
chances of a race; for, though the hill on my right was inaccessible
to a horseman, it was not so to a dismounted Scotchman; and I,
therefore, determined, in case of necessity, to abandon my horse, and
shew them what I could do on my own bottom at a pinch. Fortunately,
they did not attempt it; and I could scarcely credit my good luck,
when I found myself once more in my own tent.

CHAP. XVI.

An Anniversary Dinner. Affair with the Enemy, and Fall of St.
Sebastian. A Building Speculation. A Fighting one, storming the
Heights of Bera. A Picture of France from the Pyrenees. Returns
after an Action. Sold by my Pay-Serjeant. A Recruit born at his
Post. Between Two Fires, a Sea and a Land one. Position of La
Rhune. My Picture taken in a Storm. Refreshing Invention for
wintry Weather.

The 25th of August, being our regimental anniversary, was observed by
the officers of our three battalions with all due conviviality. Two
trenches, calculated to accommodate seventy gentlemen's legs, were dug
in the green sward; the earth between them stood for a table, and
behind was our seat, and though the table could not boast of _all_
the delicacies of a civic entertainment, yet

"The worms they crept in, and the worms they crept out,"

As the earth almost quaked with the weight of the feast, and the enemy
certainly did, from the noise of it. For so many fellows holding such
precarious tenures of their lives could not meet together in
commemoration of such an event, without indulging in an occasional
cheer--not a whispering cheer, but one