We continued our march over the plain of Fuente de Guinaldo, and within half a league of that place took up our ground in a wood, where we encamped, that is to say, cut down branches of trees, and constructed huts; and although the canopy of heaven, or a rudely formed hut, for months in succession, was the only shelter for the troops, the bivouac resounded with merriment, and afforded frequent good cheer. For my own part, I felt perfectly happy; my eyes and inclinations were directed towards the front; I felt myself securely lodged on _terra firma_, and no longer a sort of amphibious animal. I had escaped the dreadful fever and mortality of Walcheren, nor could I well call to mind the having ever experienced a day's serious illness. This was about the period of the year when the sickly season commenced; but I flattered myself that any impression on my unimpaired constitution was quite out of the question; in fact, I never troubled myself with gloomy thoughts: a wide field was now open, to which I looked forward with great anticipation, little dreaming of the example that was about to be visited, in the space of a short week, on my active limbs. What situation is superior to the camp? and what period of a soldier's life is called to mind in such glowing colours as the days of youth, when he was reclining under the shady branches of a forest oak, surrounded by young companions in arms, with light pockets and still lighter hearts, cheerfully talking to each other of glittering and moving armies, and all the imposing grandeur and pomp of war?—or fancy him nourishing the fonder feelings, and expatiating on the beauty of some foreign damsel, by whose wit and graces all hearts are captivated; while many another, more constant, indulges the fond hope of once more clasping the native mistress of all his thoughts to his arms, on his return to his own shores.