For two hours prostration had the upper hand. Then came a rally. Moore sat up, called for paper, and finding that the vessel was not yet under weigh, he wrote to Lord Castlereagh a rapid semi-confidential statement of affairs, in his terse easy modern English, always singularly free from the little tricks of expression peculiar to his time. His despatches might for the most part have been almost as well penned in the ninth decade as in the first decade of the century. Had Moore not devoted all his energies to soldiering, he might have become great in literature. This was the last despatch that he ever penned. Next day, the 14th, some cannonading took place; but there was no serious fighting. The French did not move. They were still concentrating their forces, having suffered greatly, like the English, in those terrible marches. In the evening at last the transports made their appearance; and all next day the embarkation of the sick and wounded, as well as of the cavalry, was going on. Moore had found that, in the country around Coruña, cavalry could be of little use. By noon on the 16th everything was in train. Unless they should be attacked by Soult, the whole English Army would be on board that night. Moore placed all arrangements for the embarkation in the hands of Colonel Anderson; and then again he went off to review his troops, finding them in excellent order and in the highest spirits. They to a man wished for nothing better than a fight. That question, however, was left to Soult to decide. No matter how intensely Moore might long for a victory over the enemy, he would not make the first move. He knew well that, in the then condition of Spain, even a battle won could do little practical good to the cause in hand. It might cover _his_ name with glory. But from first to last a higher aim than mere glory for self had been before Moore’s eyes. Between fourteen and fifteen thousand infantry now remained on land to oppose the twenty thousand already entrenched on the opposite heights; and further French reinforcements were constantly arriving. Moore’s cannon were far inferior to those of the French, alike in number and in weight of metal. The French guns, indeed, dominated the English position. At two o’clock, as Moore was on his way to the outposts, a messenger came from General Hope, to inform him that the enemy “was getting under arms.” The radiant delight which glowed in his face, when he found that a battle was to be forced upon him, was recorded later by one who saw it. He expressed his gladness, regretting only that the lateness of the hour, upon a short winter’s day, would hardly leave him time to make the most of the victory which he expected to gain. Then he spurred away, full gallop, to the field. Soon the roar of cannon told that action was begun; and in a little while, along the whole front, both Armies were hotly engaged.