t he
was the next on the list; a joke which Capt. D. did not much relish,
and it was prophetic, as he soon afterwards fell at Tarbes.

The movements of the two or three days following placed the enemy
within their entrenchments at Bayonne, and the head-quarters of our
battalion in the Chateau D'Arcangues, with the outposts of the
division at the village of Bassasarry and its adjacents.

I now felt myself both in a humour and a place to enjoy an interval of
peace and quietness. The country was abundant in every comfort; the
chateau was large, well-furnished, and unoccupied, except by a
bed-ridden grandmother, and young Arcangues, a gay rattling young
fellow, who furnished us with plenty of good wine, (by our paying for
the same,) and made one of our mess.

On the 20th of November a strong reconnoitring party of the enemy
examined our chain of posts. They remained a considerable time within
half-musket-shot of one of our piquets, but we did not fire, and they
seemed at last as if they had all gone away. The place where they had
stood bounded our view in that direction, as it was a small sand-hill
with a mud-cottage at the end of it; after watching the spot intensely
for nearly an hour, and none shewing themselves, my curiosity would
keep no longer, and, desiring three men to follow, I rode forward to
ascertain the fact. When I cleared the end of the cottage, I found
myself within three yards of at least a dozen of them, who were seated
in a group behind a small hedge, with their arms laid against the wall
of the cottage, and a sentry with sloped arms, and his back towards
me, listening to their conversation.

My first impulse was to gallop in amongst them, and order them to
surrender; but my three men were still twenty or thirty yards behind,
and, as my only chance of success was by surprise, I thought the risk
of the delay too great, and, reining back my horse, I made a signal to
my men to retire, which, from the soil being a deep sand, we were
enabled to do without the slightest noise; but all the while I had my
ears pricked up, expecting every instant to find a ball whistling
through my body; however, as none of them afterwards shewed themselves
past the end of the cottage, I concluded that they had remained
ignorant of my visit.

We had an affair of some kind, once a week, while we remained there;
and as they were generally trifling, and we always found a good dinner
and a good bed in the chateau on our return,