On piquet. Two French soldiers entered a house in our front. Hopwood and myself with three men crawled from our post into an avenue of trees, which covered us from the immediate view of the French vedette posted on a little eminence to apprise his friends of any danger. We succeeded in entering the house unobserved, and surprised the two Frenchmen, who were filling some canteens with wine, but sprang to their arms. One of them snapped his firelock, but it did not go off. They were instantly taken from them. A moment after, one soldier offered me some brandy he had in a calabash slung across his shoulders. I gave both a large goblet of wine, sent a soldier to get all the canteens he could muster from the piquet and return, we keeping a good look-out. We filled sixty, then destroyed the hogshead, took our prisoners to the piquet, and sent an escort with them to the General. [Sidenote: 25th] Assisted, in conjunction with Lieutenant Strode, in depositing the remains of a poor old woman in a most splendid vault in the church at Arruda. I found her dead near the altar, where she had gone to offer up her prayers as a last effort, not being strong enough to fly with the inhabitants from the French, and had finished her mortal career. I looked round and saw a beautiful marble slab covered with armorial blazonry; it caught my eye, and I said to my friend, "The old woman little thought what good offices an English soldier would perform when she entered the church." "What are they?" says he. "Why, she shall be put under that stone, and you must assist." We found a large crow-bar, and soon finished the business to my satisfaction.[15] [Sidenote: 31st] Deserters now very frequently came in and informed us that the enemy were losing a number of men from disease, and that there was a great scarcity of provisions; that Colonel Trant had assembled the Portuguese Militia in large force and had entered Coimbra, and had taken a number of sick and wounded officers and men and stopped the communications with Spain, cutting off the supply of provisions. Massena begins to feel that entering a country with an army disposed to commit every description of brutal atrocity upon the unarmed inhabitants, and driving them like wild beasts to their fastnesses (which, from the nature of this country, abounds with such ground), has already kindled the spirit of revenge in their hearts. This has obliged the French to keep together, and they literally only have in possession the ground that their army for the moment occupies, and has also caused severe losses, for any straggler or sick man, unless he has an escort, is sure to be stabbed with the stiletto. [Sidenote: 1810 Nov. 2nd] English bell-tents arrived for the Light Division, to replace the poor and small Portuguese ones, which proved a great luxury. [Sidenote: 13th]