While quartering off the soldiers, I observed a very pretty young lady looking out of a casement, which occasioned her house to be selected for our quarter. In the evening, myself and messmate were invited to take chocolate and sweetmeats with the family; and, before retiring, the good old _Senhora_ remarked our youthful appearance, and begged that, should either of us be wounded, we would come to her house. My companion was subsequently shot through the body, and, being conveyed back to Elvas, the mother and daughter kindly watched over him until he was perfectly recovered. [Footnote 14: Now Major General Sir John Colborne.] [Footnote 15: During the siege, the enemy threw a vast quantity of shells. One night two mortars kept up an incessant discharge; and the soldiers called out "Here comes a shell from _big Tom_; and here comes another from _little Tom_." All the cannon shot that flew over our trenches lodged on a hill one mile north of the town, at the base of which was a _spring_, where I saw a soldier killed while stooping down to fill his canteen with water. This hill, owing to its being so ploughed up with balls, was familiarly named by the soldiers _plumb-pudding hill_.] [Footnote 16: Lieutenant Gurwood took the governor of the fortress prisoner.] [Footnote 17: He died in excruciating agony.] CHAPTER VIII. March from Elvas to Badajoz—Defences of that city—The investment—A sortie—Operations of the batteries—Capture of fort Picurina—Preparations for the grand assault—Advance of the "forlorn hope"—Desperate encounter at the breaches—Loss of life experienced by the British—The mode of attack changed to escalade with success—The city sacked by the British troops—Reflections respecting the conduct of the siege—Incidental anecdotes. On the morning of the 17th of March we formed contiguous columns, outside the walls of Elvas, and entering a spacious plain, passed the river Guadiana by a pontoon bridge, a few miles below Badajoz, which was garrisoned by nearly five thousand French soldiers. It is situated on the margin of the left bank of the Guadiana, in the province of Estremadura, in Spain, and encompassed by an open country, without a tree, a shrub, or even a hut to be seen without its walls. The ramparts are about two miles in circumference, and were protected by the forts San Cristoval, Napoleon, and the _Tête de Pont_, at the head of the fine stone bridge, which communicates with the right bank of the Guadiana. The fort Picurina, the outworks of Pardalaras, and the _lunette_ of Saint Roque, constituted the general outworks of the city, on the left bank of the river. As we drew near the ramparts of the fortress, we saw the flag of _three colours_ majestically waving on the top of the great lofty square tower, in the centre of the old castle, which stands on the summit of a hill, whose frowning battlements overhang the town, and overlook the adjacent plains for a considerable distance.