第 40 页

armies of Aragon and Catalonia, numbering 60,000 men.

After spending a few days in organizing the army, Soult moved forward

to relieve Pampeluna, and then in the heart of the Pyrenees were

fought those desperate combats at Maya, Roncevalles, Buenza, Sauroren,

and Dona Maria, which are known in history as the battles of the

Pyrenees. In these terrible nine days' fighting there were ten serious

combats, in which the allies lost 7300 men, the French, including

prisoners, over 15,000, and Soult fell back baffled and beaten across

the frontier.

Throughout this account of the short and sanguinary campaign by which

in two short months Wellington shattered the power of the French and

drove them headlong from the Peninsula, but little has been said

respecting the doings of the Scudamores. Their duties had been heavy,

but devoid of any personal achievements or events. Wellington, the

incarnation of activity himself, spared no one around him, and from

early dawn until late at night they were on horseback, carrying orders

and bringing back reports. At night their quarters were sometimes

in a village hut, sometimes in a straggling chateau, which afforded

accommodation to the commander-in-chief and his whole staff.

Sam, a good horseman now, was in the highest of spirits at being able

to accompany his masters, and, although the Spanish women crossed

themselves in horror when they first saw his black face, the boys

would hear shouts of laughter arising before they had been a quarter

of an hour in fresh quarters. He was a capital cook, and a wonderful

hand at hunting up provisions.

There might not be a sign of a feathered creature in a village when

the staff came in, but in half an hour Sam would be sure to return

from foraging with a couple of fowls and his handkerchief full of

eggs. These were, of course, paid for, as the orders against pillaging

were of the strictest character, and the army paid, and paid

handsomely for everything it ate.

It was, however, difficult to persuade the peasants that payment was

intended, and they would hide everything away with vigilant care at

the approach of the troops. When by the display of money they were

really persuaded that payment was intended, they would produce all

that they had willingly enough, but the number of officers wanting

to purchase was so great and the amount of live stock so small in

the war-ravaged country, that few indeed could obtain even for money

anything beside the tough rations of freshly-killed beef issued by the

commissariat.

Let the supply be ever so short, however, Sam never returned

empty-handed, and the fowls were quickly plucked and on the fire

before any one else had succeeded in discovering that there was a bird

in the village.

Sam's foraging powers passed into a joke with the staff, and the

Scudamores became so curious to discover the reason of his success,

that after repeated questioning they persuaded him to tell them.

"Well, massa, de matter berry simple--just easy as fallin' off log.

Sam go along, look into yard ob de cottages, presently see feather

here, feather there. Dat sign ob fowl. Den knock at door. Woman open

always, gib little squeak when she see dis gentleman's colored face.

Den she say, 'What you want? Dis house full. Quarter-master take him

up for three, four officer.' Den Sam say, 'Illustrious madam, me want

to buy two fowls and eggs for master,' and Sam show money in hand. Den

she hesitate a little, and not believe Sam mean to pay. Den she say,

'No fowls here.' Den Sam point to de feathers. Den she get in rage and

tell lie and say, 'Dem birds all stole yesterday.' Den Sam see it time

to talk to de birds--he know dem shut up somewhere in de dark, and Sam

he begin to crow berry loud; Sam berry good at dat. He crow for all

de world like de cock. Dis wake dem up, and a minute one, two, three,

half a dozen cock begin to answer eider from a loft ober house, or

from shed, or from somewhere. Den de woman in terrible fright, she

say, 'Me sell you two quick, if you will go away and swear you tell no

one.' Den Sam swear. Den she run away, come back wid de fowls and some

eggs, and always berry much astonished when Sam pay for dem. After dat

she lose her fear, she see me pay, and she sells de chickens to oders

when they come till all gone. Dat how dis chile manage de affairs,

Massa Tom."

The Scudamores had a hearty laugh, and were well pleased to find that

Sam's method was one to which not even the strictest disciplinarian

could object, a matter concerning which they had previously had grave

doubts.

While the battles of the Pyrenees were being fought, the siege of

St. Sebastian had continued, and once again the British troops had

suffered a terrible loss, from the attempt to carry a fortress with

an insufficient siege-train, and without the time necessary to drive

the trenches forward in regular form. St. Sebastian stood upon a

peninsula. In front of the neck of this peninsula was the hill of San

Bartholomeo, on which stood the convent of that name. At the narrowest

part of the neck stood a redoubt, which was called the Cask Redoubt,

because it was constructed of casks filled with stand. Behind this

came the horn-work and other fortifications. Then came the town, while

at the end of the peninsula rose a steep rock, called Mount Orgullo,

on which stood the citadel. Upon its left side this neck of land was

separated from the mainland by the River Urumea; and upon the heights

of Mount Olia and the Chofres, across the Urumea, were placed the

British batteries, which breached the fortifications facing the river.

General Graham commanded the allied forces, which were detached to

undertake the siege, and on the 10th of July batteries were commenced

against the convent of San Bartholomeo, which had been fortified by

the French. On the 17th the convent was in ruins, and an assault was

made upon the position. The 9th Regiment took the place in gallant

style, but an attempt being made to carry the cask redoubt, with a

rush, the assault was repulsed, the British remaining possessors of

San Bartholomeo.

On the 24th the batteries on Mount Olia, having effected what was

believed to be a practicable breach, 2000 men of the fifth division,

consisting of the 3d battalion of the Royals, the 38th, and the 9th,

made an assault at night. To arrive at the breach they had to make

their way along the slippery rocks on the bed of the Urumea, exposed

to a flank-fire from the river-wall of the town. The breachers had

been isolated from the town, and guns placed to take the stormers in

flank. The confusion and slaughter were terrible, and at daybreak the

survivors fell back, with a loss of forty-nine officers and 520 men.

The whole arrangement of the siege was bad. The plan of Major Smith,

of the engineers, a most excellent officer, which had been approved

by Wellington, was not followed, and the assault, contrary to

Wellington's explicit order, took place at night, instead of by day,

the consequence being confusion, delay, and defeat. The total loss to

the allies of this first siege of St. Sebastian was 1300 men.

Neither of the Scudamores were present at the first siege, but both

witnessed the second assault, of the 31st of August, as Wellington

himself was present on the 30th, to see to the execution of the

preparation for attack, and they obtained leave to remain for the next

day to witness the assault. The siege had been resumed on the 5th of

that month, and on the 23d the batteries had opened fire in earnest,

and immense damage was done to the defenses and garrison. But upon

this occasion, as upon the former one, the proper precautions were not

taken; no lodgment had been effected in the horn-work, and, worst of

all, the blockade had been so negligently conducted by the fleet, that

large bodies of fresh troops, guns, and ammunition had been passed

in, and the defense was even stronger than it had been when the first

assault was delivered.

General Graham took up his position on the heights of the Chofres to

view the assault, and the Scudamores stationed themselves near him.

A dense mist hid the fortress from view, and it was not until eight

o'clock that the batteries were able to open. Then for three hours

they poured a storm of shot and shell upon the defences. The

Scudamores sat down in one of the trenches, where they were a little

sheltered from the blazing heat of the sun, and Sam took his place at

a short distance from them.

As the clock struck eleven the fire slackened, and at that moment Sam

exclaimed, "Grolly, Massa Tom, dere dey go." As he spoke Robinson's

brigade poured out from the trenches, and, passing through the

openings in the sea-wall, began to form on the beach.

It was known that the French had mined the angle of the wall

overhanging the beach, and a sergeant, followed by twelve men, dashed

gallantly forward to try to cut the train leading to the mine. He was

unsuccessful, but the suddenness of the rush startled the French, who

at once fired the mine, which exploded, destroying the brave sergeant

and his party, and thirty of the leading men of the column, but not

doing a tithe of the damage which it would have inflicted had the

column been fairly under it.

"Hurrah! dere dey go," Sam exclaimed as the column clambered over

the ruins and pursued its way unchecked along the beach. They had,

however, to make their way under a storm of fire.

The French, as before, lined the wall, and poured a tremendous

musketry fire into their flank, and the batteries of Mount Orgullo and

St. Elmo plied them with shot and shell, while two pieces of cannon on

the cavalier and one on the horn-work raked them with grape.

Still the column neither halted nor faltered, but dashed, like a wave,

up the breach. When, however, they reached the top they could go no

farther. A deep gulf separated them from the town, while from every

loop-hole and wall behind, the French musketry swept the breach. The

troops could not advance and would not retreat, but sullenly stood

their ground, heaping the breach with their dead. Fresh bodies of men

came up, and each time a crowd of brave men mounted the breach, only

to sink down beneath the storm of fire.

"This is awful, horrible, Tom!" Peter said in a choked voice. "Come

away, I can't look at this slaughter, it is a thousand times worse

than any battle."

Tom made no reply, his own eyes were dim with tears, and he rose to

go, taking one more look at the deadly breach, at whose foot the

survivors of the last attempt had sunk down, and whence the mass of

soldiers were keeping up a musketry fire against the guns and unseen

foes who were sweeping them away, when an officer ran up from General

Graham's side, and in a minute fifty guns from the Chofres batteries

opened a storm of fire upon the curtain and the traverses behind the

breach.

It was a terrible trial to the nerves of the assaulting columns when

this terrific fire was poured upon a spot only twenty feet above them;

but they were not men to shrink, and the men of the light division

seized the opportunity to pull up the broken masonry and make a

breastwork, known in military terms as a lodgment.

For half an hour the iron storm poured overhead unchecked, smashing

the traverse, knocking down the loop-holed walls, and killing numbers

of the defenders. Then it ceased, and the troops leapt to their feet,

and again rushed up the breach, while the 13th Portuguese Regiment,

followed by a detachment of the 24th, waded across the Urumea under a

heavy fire from the castle, and attacked the third breach.

But still no entry could be effected. The French fire was as heavy as

ever, and the stormers again sank baffled to the foot of the great

breach. The assault seemed hopeless, the tide was rising, the reserves

were all engaged, and the men had done all that the most desperate

courage could do. For five hours the battle had raged, when, just as

all appeared lost, one of those circumstances occurred which upset all

calculations and decide the fate of battles.

Behind the traverses the French had accumulated a great store of

powder barrels, shells, and other combustibles. Just at this moment

these caught fire. A bright flame wrapped the whole wall, followed by

a succession of loud explosions; hundreds of French grenadiers were

destroyed, and before the smoke had cleared away, the British burst

like a flood through the first traverse.

Although bewildered by this sudden disaster, the French rallied, and

fought desperately; but the British, desperate with the long agony

of the last five hours, would not be denied; the light division

penetrated on the left, the Portuguese on the right. The French, still

resisting obstinately, were driven through the town to the line of

defense at the foot of Mount Orgullo, and the town of St. Sebastian

was won.

"Will you go across, Peter, and enter the town?"

"No, no, Tom; the sight of that horrible breach is enough for me.

Let us mount, and ride off at once. I am quite sick after this awful

suspense."

It was as well that the Scudamores did not enter the town, as, had

they done so, they might have shared the fate of several other

officers, who were shot down while trying to stop the troops in their

wild excesses. No more disgraceful atrocities were ever committed by

the most barbarous nations of antiquity than those which disgraced the

British name at the storming of St. Sebastian. Shameful, monstrous as

had been the conduct of the troops at the storming of Ciudad Rodrigo

and at Badajos, it was infinitely worse at St. Sebastian. As Rapin

says, hell seemed to have broken loose.

The castle held out until the 9th, when it surrendered, and the

governor and his heroic garrison marched out with the honors of war.

The British loss in the second siege exceeded 2500 men and officers.

There was a pause of two months after the fall of St. Sebastian,

and it was not until the 10th of November that Wellington hurled