by, they were
both very nearly drowned.

It was late ere we halted for the night, on the side of the road, near
to Allenquer, and I got under cover in a small house, which looked as
if it had been honoured as the head-quarters of the tailor-general of
the French army, for the floor was strewed with variegated threads,
various complexioned buttons, with particles and remnants of
_cabbage_; and, if it could not boast of the flesh and fowl of Noah's
ark, there was an abundance of the creeping things which it were to be
wished that that commander had not left behind. We marched before
daylight next morning, leaving a _rousing_ fire in the chimney, which
shortly became too small to hold it; for we had not proceeded far
before we perceived that the well-dried thatched roof had joined in
the general blaze, a circumstance which caused us no little
uneasiness, for our general, the late Major-general Robert Crawford,
had brought us up in the fear of our master; and, as he was a sort of
person who would not see a fire, of that kind, in the same _light_
that we did, I was by no means satisfied that my commission lay snug
in my pocket, until we had fairly marched it out of sight, and in
which we were aided not a little by a slight fire of another kind,
which he was required to watch with the advanced guard.

On our arrival at Valle, on the 12th of Nov. we found the enemy behind
the Rio Maior, occupying the heights of Santarem, and exchanged some
shots with their advanced posts. In the course of the night we
experienced one of those tremendous thunderstorms which used to
precede the Wellington victories, and which induced us to expect a
general action on the following day. I had disposed myself to sleep in
a beautiful green hollow way, and, before I had time even to dream of
the effects of their heavy rains, I found myself floating most
majestically towards the river, in a fair way of becoming food for
the fishes. I ever after gave those inviting-looking spots a wide
birth, as I found that they were regular watercourses.

Next morning our division crossed the river, and commenced a false
attack on the enemy's left, with a view of making them show their
force; and it was to have been turned into a real attack, if their
position was found to be occupied by a rear guard only; but, after
keeping up a smart skirmishing-fire the greater part of the day, Lord
Wellington was satisfied that their whole army was present, we were
consequent