troops came up about daylight, but it was then too late, and the passage had been effected.[129] For this neglect and for the sacrifice of Cadoux and his gallant band General Skerrett has been greatly and deservedly blamed; in which censure Sir William Napier (though apparently not fully aware of Skerrett’s fault) concurs. [Illustration: ACTION NEAR VERA 7^{TH} OCTOBER 1813 _Drawn by Capt^n H. M. Moorsom, Rifle Brig^e_ _E. Weller, lith., London._ _London: Chatto & Windus._ ] Besides the great loss of Cadoux’s party at the bridge-house, Lieutenant Nicholas Travers, who commanded the company of the 3rd Battalion which came up at dawn, was also wounded; and 2 men of it were killed and 10 wounded. But if the Riflemen suffered, the loss they inflicted on their assailants was enormous. The bridge next morning was strewn with their bodies; and the river full of them; while many wounded had been removed. General Vandermaesen, who commanded the force, was killed. In the course of the following day the Regiment returned to their former encampment, and took up the line of picquets they had previously furnished. Here they remained in quiet until October 6, on which evening Barnard arrived from head-quarters with the welcome intelligence that they were to force the pass of Vera on the ensuing morning. Early in the night a thunderstorm set in; but it rolled away in the course of the night, and the morning was fine when the Regiment fell in. Leaving the tents standing to deceive the enemy as to the object of the movement, the three Battalions, with the other regiments of the Division, formed at the foot of the heights behind the town of Vera. A little to the right was an isolated hill, standing out in front of the great Pyrenean chain on the north of the valley of the Bidassoa, to which the soldiers had given the name of ‘the Boar’s back.’ This was to be occupied as a preliminary measure. And Colonel Ross, extending the 3rd Battalion, began to ascend it. Without firing a shot, though exposed to the fire of the enemy who crowned the crest, the Riflemen climbed to a pine-wood more than half-way up the mountain side; whence, after they had rested for a few minutes, they issued again. At this time the French crowded behind the crest; and it was thought by their brother Riflemen in the plain below, who could see the ground beyond, that the enemy would charge down the slope. But it was not so; for pursuing their way with all the steadiness of a field-day, Ross and his gallant Battalion gained the ridge. Then its defenders turned and fled; and then the Riflemen plied their rifles, which they had not before discharged, and poured a fire into them as they hurriedly descended the reverse slope. This exploit and the manner in which it was executed excited the admiration not only of their own comrades still standing in the plain below, but of the whole 4th Division, which had been moved up as a support to the Light Division.