In the midst of March, Crauford lined the banks of the Agueda with his hussars for a distance of twenty-five miles, following the course of the river. The infantry were disposed in small parties in the villages between Almeida and the lower Agueda. Two battalions of Portuguese cacadores (riflemen) soon afterwards arriving, made a total of four thousand men and six guns. While, therefore, 93the hussars kept a good watch at the two distant bridges, the troops could always concentrate under Almeida before the enemy could reach them on that side; and on the side of Barba del Puerco the ravine was so profound that a few companies of the 95th were considered capable of opposing any numbers. This arrangement was suitable while the Agueda was swollen; but that river was capricious, often falling many feet in a night without visible cause. When it was fordable, Crauford always withdrew his outposts, and concentrated his division; and his situation demanded a quickness and intelligence in his troops, the like of which has never been surpassed. Seven minutes sufficed for the division to get under arms in the middle of the night; and a quarter of an hour, night or day, to bring it in order of battle to the alarm-posts, with the baggage loaded and assembled at a convenient distance in the rear, and this not upon a concerted signal or as a trial, but at all times, and to a certainty. Our condition at that season was no unapt epitome of what the Christian ought to be. With a foe so vigilant as his spiritual adversary, the godly man should be all eye and ear, ready to gather himself up for action every moment, both by night and day; not by way of experiment and trial, but as matter of constant and universal practice. The waters of carnal security are sadly deceptive; the enemy may find some fordable spot when least expected. If the heaven-bound pilgrim cast behind his worldly load, and place it in the rear, as we did our baggage, he would find himself so much the more free to give and take manfully. This is a digression; but men have souls to save though they wear red coats, and an occasional halt to look at eternal things through the vista of temporalities may not, after all, produce much loss of time.