and the goose hanging in his own
larder! He looked serious for a moment, but, on receiving an
explanation, and after the row he had made about them, the thing was
too ridiculous, and he burst out laughing. It is due to all concerned
to state that they had, at last, been honestly come by, for I, as one
of his messmates, had purchased the goose from the proper quarter, and
another had done the same by the calf.

Not anticipating this day's fight, I had given my pay-serjeant
twenty-five guineas, the day before, to distribute among the company;
and I did not discover, until too late, that he had neglected to do
it, as he disappeared in the course of the action, and was never
afterwards heard of. If he was killed, or taken prisoner, he must have
been a prize to somebody, though he left me a blank.

Among other incidents of the day, one of our men had a son and heir
presented to him by his Portuguese wife, soon after the action. She
had been taken in labour while ascending the mountain; but it did not
seem to interfere with her proceedings in the least, for she, and her
child, and her donkey, came all three screeching into the camp,
immediately after, telling the news, as if it had been something very
extraordinary, and none of them a bit the worse.

On the morning of the 9th, we turned out, as usual, an hour before
daylight. The sound of musketry, to our right, in our own hemisphere,
announced that the French and Spaniards had resumed their unfinished
argument of last night, relative to the occupation of La Rhune; while,
at the same time, "from our throne of clouds," we had an opportunity
of contemplating, with some astonishment, the proceedings of the
nether world. A French ship of war, considering St. Jean de Luz no
longer a free port, had endeavoured, under cover of the night, to
steal alongshore to Bayonne; and, when daylight broke, they had an
opportunity of seeing that they were not only within sight of their
port, but within sight of a British gun-brig, and, if they entertained
any doubts as to which of the two was nearest, their minds were
quickly relieved, on that point, by finding that they were not within
reach of their port, and strictly within reach of the _guns_ of the
brig, while two British frigates were bearing down with a press of
canvass. The Frenchman returned a few broadsides; he was double the
size of the one opposed to him, but, conceiving his case to be
hopeless, he at length set fire to the ship,