One day a Spanish soldier brought to our camp a pretty little fat pony for sale; and after a good deal of bargaining, he sold it to our mess for twelve dollars. The following morning a Spanish officer deliberately walked up to the tree, to which our animals were tied, and to our surprise demanded _his_ pony. We assured him we had purchased it; but as he declared it had been stolen from him, and had witnesses at hand to identify the animal, we were obliged to give it up, with the loss of our twelve dollars, for we knew not where to search for the _picaro_, or _dispensero mayór_, who had so completely jockied us. It behoved us to put up with the loss as philosophically as might be. While the heavy rains continued, in the beginning of November, we were obliged to construct wicker-work huts, to save the horses, mules, and milch goats from perishing during the inclemency of the weather; for days together our tents were pierced by the heavy rains, and often, being without candles and other little comforts, in self-defence, we had to lie down in our damp blankets, to endeavour to pass the tedious hours of the night. Two or three evenings before we broke up our camp for the grand invasion of France, we were much diverted by the doleful cries of an _owl_, which had perched itself in the deep recess of an adjacent valley, and, whenever imitated by us, failed not to return our mockery in her very best and most plaintive screeches! At this time the weather cleared up, and the three-pounders, mountain guns, passed through our wooded camp. The carriages, guns, ammunition boxes, and iron balls, were strapped separately on the backs of a string of powerful mules; and these guns could be, therefore, conveyed so as to bear on the enemy from cliffs, or craggy elevations. The sure-footed mules would ascend or descend steeps, dried water-courses, or crooked goat-tracks; and would pick their steps from rock to rock, planting their feet cautiously for a good foundation, or a firm hold. [Footnote 4: Our friend of the rifle corps was shot through the leg the next morning.] [Footnote 5: The troops always fought with their knapsacks on; and this is the only time I ever knew them left behind, except when storming breaches of fortresses, or escalading forts.] [Footnote 6: The French army wore very high cocked hats; the English quite the reverse; the latter was called the Wellington hat.] [Footnote 7: General Longa's corps were by far the most miserable of any I had ever seen in the Spanish service; but, considering they were doomed to inhabit a cheerless mass of rocks in such attire, I thought them worthy of description; some of the other Spanish corps were well dressed; but the whole of the army suffered more or less, owing to an indifferent supply of rations;—privations which they seemed to bear with unexampled patience.]