[Footnote 20: Near this spot, a few days before, some light companies of the third division had forded; but they had no sooner crossed than they were violently attacked by the enemy, and forced to repass it under a heavy fire, losing many brave soldiers killed and drowned, before a sufficient force could cross to their support.] [Footnote 21: Then Earl of March; he had been on Field-Marshal Wellington's staff for some time previously, and only joined his regiment a short time before this action.] CHAPTER VI. A wrong direction—An affair with the enemy's cavalry—Bivouac in a wood—A ludicrous mistake in the dark—Arrival at St. Sever—Welcome supply of bread—The Duke of Dalmatia leaves Bordeaux unprotected, to preserve the communication with Toulouse—Reception of the English at Mont de Marsan—A dancing scene and other amusements at the village of Brinquet—The disappointed purveyors—The author regains his corps—Adventure gained over the enemy by General Hill—Gascon peasantry—Various movements of the opposed armies—The French driven through the town of Vic Bigorre—An agreeable march. It was now eight o'clock in the morning, and finding little probability of gaining the requisite intelligence of the route of the light division, without seeing the adjutant-general, I made direct to his _maison_, and, being ushered up stairs, I found him in bed, comfortably reposing with the curtains drawn tightly round him. Whether he was half asleep from over-fatigue, or from some other cause, he gave me the route of the _fourth_ division, by the road leading towards the town of Sault de Navailles. On overtaking the tail of that division, we fell into a slow pace, owing to some obstacles and the broken bridges over the various tributary streams, which were very much swollen at this time of the year. On this day, our hussars had an affair beyond Sault de Navailles with the enemy's cavalry; and, in the afternoon, I saw one of their officers on horseback, deadly pale from a wound in the abdomen.