hout any thing in the shape
of bread, and meat without it, after a time, becomes almost
loathsome. Hearing that we were not likely to march quite so early as
usual this morning, I started, before daylight, to a village about two
miles off, in the face of the Sierra D'Estrella, in the hopes of being
able to purchase something, as it lay out of the hostile line of
movements. On my arrival there, I found some nuns who had fled from a
neighbouring convent, waiting outside the building of the village-oven
for some Indian-corn-leaven, which they had carried there to be baked,
and, when I explained my pressing wants, two of them, very kindly,
transferred me their shares, for which I gave each a kiss and a dollar
between. They took the former as an unusual favour; but looked at the
latter, as much as to say, "our poverty, and not our will, consents."
I ran off with my half-baked dough, and joined my comrades, just as
they were getting under arms.

March 21st.--We, this day, reached the town of Mello, and had so far
outmarched our commissary that we found it necessary to wait for him;
and, in stopping to get a sight of our friends, we lost sight of our
foes, a circumstance which I was by no means sorry for, as it enabled
my shoulders, once more, to rejoice under the load of a couple of
biscuits, and made me no longer ashamed to look a cow or a sheep in
the face, now that they were not required to furnish more than their
regulated proportions of my daily food.

March 30th.--We had no difficulty in tracing the enemy, by the wrecks
of houses and the butchered peasantry; and overtook their rear-guard,
this day, busy grinding corn, in some windmills, near the village of
Frexedas. As their situation offered a fair opportunity for us to reap
the fruits of their labours, we immediately attacked and drove them
from it, and, after securing what we wanted, we withdrew again, across
the valley, to the village of Alverca, where we were not without some
reasonable expectations that they would have returned the compliment,
as we had only a few squadrons of dragoons in addition to our
battalion, and we had seen them withdraw a much stronger force from
the opposite village; but, by keeping a number of our men all night
employed in making extensive fires on the hill above, it induced them
to think that our force was much greater than it really was; and we
remained unmolested.

The only person we had hit in this affair was our adjutant, Mr.
St