On reaching the heights, the Gordons halted a minute to close up and take breath, and then, in open column of companies right in front, hurried along at the double till within two hundred yards of the 50th, when they formed line on the right centre company without halting. As soon as the four leading companies had filed far enough to the right for the centre one to have a clear front, Colonel Cameron placed himself on its left, and, telling the men to be steady and sure and to remember their country ("Socair chinnteach 'illean cuimhuichibh 'ur duthaich "), called to the piper to play "The Camerons' Gathering," and to the officer who led it, "Now push forward double quick and give it them sweetly!"

"During the advance," says the officer, "a dead silence reigned through the ranks, men's thoughts being employed in the business they were engaged in. Animated by the presence of the chief, and the warlike sounds of their favourite bagpipe, the men advanced with a front as firm as the rocks of their native mountains, to meet the foe flushed with a temporary success over their countrymen."

As they approached the 50th, the officers and men of that regiment joined in cheer after cheer, and the Highlanders arrived at the western brink of the ravine just as the French were ascending it. At once they poured down on them a shower of shot, then re-echoed the cheers of their friends, and rapidly loading, and being joined by the other companies, a second volley was sent into the thickest ranks of the enemy, making them fly precipitately down the brow, the living on their feet, the dead rolling over and over. This rapid move

ment secured a safe retreat to the 71st, who now slowly retired to a position on the right of the 92nd. But the enemy, determined if possible to gain the heights, made another trial; his beaten troops were moved round the western shoulder of the hill, and a fresh body of infantry carried round the southern, to renew the assault. During the interval, rather a remarkable incident took place, a public auction amidst the roar of musketry and artillery! A man named Walsh, whose character was so bad that not a soldier in the company would associate with him, had annoyed his comrades by the abominable language he used during the ascent, and

when they arrived near the 50th had shocked them by his blasphemous profanity, when, as the words were in his mouth, and before anyone had heard the sound of a bullet at that point, he fell, shot through the head. Prepared as they were for sudden but honourable death on the battlefield, his comrades were horrified at the idea of his being killed in the very act of uttering a torrent of blasphemy; but though they disliked the man, they felt for his widow and children, and while the battalion was resting after repulsing the French, the pay-sergeant of his company, a corporal and private, asked permission to bring the man's knapsack from the rear, and dispose of its contents for their behoof. The Colonel, pleased with the idea, sanctioned it; the auction began, the bidding was brisk, and £1, 11s. was added to his balance and remitted to the widow. The good feeling exhibited by this little interlude attracted the admiration of some officers of the 50th who witnessed it.

Shortly after, the head of the French column began to descend the opposite eminence; some skirmishers kept up a smart fire on them, the rest remained in line behind the brink, sitting down with arms sloped to the rear, the colonel explaining that they were to remain in that posture till the enemy were within twenty paces, then to stand up and give them pepper. His orders were admirably obeyed; not a whisper was heard while the enemy was crossing the ravine, till they arrived close up, when "the silence was broken on our lads resuming their standing position, and giving their first fire." The scene which followed was an animated one, and, after a rough encounter, in which the 50th, 71st, and 92nd took part, the French were driven back with considerable loss. A French colonel commanding part of the attack had dismounted before crossing the ravine; he was a very corpulent man, and when they retreated, his pace downhill was like the waddle of a duck, which could not be expected to carry him out of the clutches of a Highlander. He was taken, puffing, panting, and perspiring," and our lads were ill-mannered enough to indulge in a hearty laugh at his expense. Seeing he was the butt of the group, he good-humouredly joined in the laugh, saying to a 92nd officer as he surrendered his sword, Mon Dieu, mon

Dieu! what a fool I was to part with my horse! For want of it I am now your merryman.'

Again the fugitives were withdrawn, and a third column of attack was formed, in order to recover the position which they should never have lost. Although this column was even stronger than the others, masses of infantry being collected to support them, they did not show the same spirit as in the two former cases, their efforts were comparatively feeble, and they were soon repulsed. This the British attributed to the state of affairs in the centre, which had now begun to take an active part in the business of the day.

The efforts of the First Brigade and their Allies having been successful on the extreme right, where they now held undisputed possession, and where their presence had a material effect on the issue of the battle, they had leisure to look down on the magnificent panorama presented to their view not far below. They could clearly see every eminence bristling with the artillery on both sides vomiting fire and death; thousands of infantry marching against each other; they watched with excited confidence the lines of red coats cheering as they charged, the French firmly waiting with the cry of "Vive l'Empereur!" till the British steel was close, when they sometimes, but not always, gave way. They could see the curling smoke far away to the left, where Graham's Corps was slowly and with difficulty forcing back the French right, and hear the salvos of their distant guns; with the spy-glasses which some carried, they watched the hussars cross the river, and could distinguish the combatants and the flashing swords in the terrible charges of the heavy dragoons against the equally brilliant French horse. Gradually they observed, with pride and pleasure, the enemy giving way. The fields were intersected by ditches and hedges, behind which they extended their line. "Often," says the 92nd officer, "during that awful struggle did I witness the British soldiers walk up to the brink of a fence, behind which their opponents were arrayed, and in the most cool and determined manner cross their pieces with the latter before they gave their fire. On these occasions the combat invariably assumed a sanguinary aspect, for the ditches were generally too deep for our men to

cross, and the French kept up a smart fire till artillery and cavalry came to dislodge them."

In this manner they were spectators of the later battle raging beneath, till, between four and five o'clock, the French divisions whom they had driven back earlier in the day to a new position on the heights, seeing that their troops below were falling back, began a retrograde movement. The First Brigade and two brigades of Portuguese then stood to their arms and advanced, the enemy quickened their pace till it degenerated into a race downhill, the brigade firing and the men shouting to them to stop, as they gave chase; but so superior were the French at that game (for the Allies kept their knapsacks, while many Frenchmen threw theirs away), that in an hour and a half the pursuers entirely lost sight of them. As a French officer who was taken said to one of the 92nd, "I will back my countrymen against any soldiers in the world in a race of that kind.” *

The 92nd continued the pursuit past Vittoria till eleven o'clock at night, when they bivouacked in a wood near the road, four or five miles beyond the town. The question of supper is the most important one even at the end of so glorious a day. The road was covered with carriages, baggage waggons, and all the impedimenta of King Joseph's Court and army. Hams and provisions of all sorts were to be had for the taking, nor was good wine wanting for a sleeping draught, ere the weary Highlanders lay down that summer night to enjoy their well-earned repose.

Thus ended the great battle of Vittoria, and never was victory more complete. Never had such an enormous quantity of military stores and private wealth fallen to the lot of an army. The accumulated plunder of Spain during the five years the French had occupied the country was here collected, and its amount exceeded anything witnessed in modern times. More than five millions of dollars were taken in the military chest, but the amount of private wealth cannot be estimated, and Napier, who was present, says that for miles the pursuers

* 66

Français plus que hommes au venir, moins que femmes à la retraite " (the French, more than men in the advance, less than women in retreat), is an old French saying." 1815," by H. Houssaye.

may be almost said to have marched upon gold and silver without stooping to pick it up; but the regiments which followed, and were not so warmed in the fight, were less disinterested, and camp-followers and non-combatants, as well as many soldiers, took enormous spoil, a dishonourable action on their part, depriving others of their fair share of prize-money; and as a Gordon's journal remarks of a hussar who showed his boots full of gold coin-" He got it without much risk—a soldier should be able to say when he gets home, 'The wars are o'er and I'm returned, my hands unstained with plunder.'"

Vast numbers of carriages with ladies belonging to the French army, nuns, wives of the generals and officers, actresses-arrayed in the height of luxury and fashion, with their poodles, poll-parrots, and monkeys-filled the roads, which were blocked by guns and waggons, whose drivers had escaped with the horses. Laces and velvets, silks and satins, valuable pictures, jewels, gold and silver plate, cases of claret and champagne, lay scattered in all directions. Other vehicles were stuck fast in the fields, their occupants in helpless terror; but the British officers and soldiers were very considerate, and though they took a share of the provision baskets which most carriages contained, the ladies were treated with respect, many of them being next day forwarded under flag of truce to Pampeluna. King Joseph's carriage and sword of state, Marshal Jourdan's bâton, the papers and accounts of the army, were taken, with the whole of their artillery except two guns. They lost 6000 men killed and wounded, and nearly 1000 prisoners.

The Allies lost 5176 men in killed, wounded, and missing; of these the British were more than double the number of Spaniards and Portuguese put together. The loss of the 92nd was small, having regard to the very important effect of the part taken by their brigade on the issue of the battle. The Gordons had 4 privates killed and 1 sergeant and 15 rank and file wounded, of whom 2 privates died of their wounds.