g
about the whole time, barking at the balls, and I saw him once
smelling at a live shell, which exploded in his face without hurting
him.

The strife had scarcely ended among mortals, when it was taken up by
the elements with terrific violence. The _Scotch mist_ of the morning
had now increased to torrents, enough to cool the fever of our late
excitement, and accompanied by thunder and lightning. As a compliment
for our exertions in the fight, we were sent into the town, and had
the advantage of whatever cover its dilapidated state afforded. While
those who had not had the chance of getting broken skins, had now the
benefit of sleeping in wet ones.

On the 5th of April we entered the frontiers of Spain, and slept in a
bed for the first time since I left the ship. Passing from the
Portuguese to the Spanish frontier is about equal to taking one step
from the coal-hole into the parlour, for the cottages on the former
are reared with filth, furnished with ditto, and peopled accordingly;
whereas, those of Spain, even within the same mile, are neatly
whitewashed, both without and within, and the poorest of them can
furnish a good bed, with clean linen, and the pillow-cases neatly
adorned with pink and sky-blue ribbons, while their dear little girls
look smiling and neat as their pillow-cases.

After the action at Sabugal, the enemy retired to the neighbourhood of
Ciudad Rodrigo, without our getting another look at them, and we took
up the line of the Agueda and Axava rivers, for the blockade of the
fortress of Almeida, in which they had left a garrison indifferently
provisioned.

The garrison had no means of providing for their cattle, but by
turning them out to graze upon the glacis; and we sent a few of our
rifles to practice against them, which very soon reduced them to salt
provisions.

Towards the end of April the French army began to assemble on the
opposite bank of the Agueda to attempt the relief of the garrison, while
ours began to assemble in position at Fuentes D'Onor to dispute it.

Our division still continued to hold the same line of outposts, and
had several sharp affairs between the piquets at the bridge of
Marialva.

As a general action seemed now to be inevitable, we anxiously longed
for the return of Lord Wellington, who had been suddenly called to the
corps of the army under Marshal Beresford, near Badajos, as we would
rather see his long nose in the fight than a reinforcement of ten
thousand m