During the march that ensued, which of necessity was rapid, my mind was deeply impressed with the occurrences of the preceding eventful day. Many of my valued friends were missing, and their remains lay unburied on the spot where they fell. Colonel Hull, who had joined the regiment only the day before the action, was killed; and I afterwards saw his body, with the face downwards, thrown across the back of a mule, for conveyance to some place of interment. The colonel’s nephew was also badly wounded in the mouth, and obliged to return to England. Despondency is not, however, the fitting mood for a soldier. Tears for the dead were soon brushed away, and, to secure our own preservation, thought was soon diverted from musing on the past to the active operations before us. Unremitted exertions were made by the commissariat to provide us with necessaries. Grapes were plentiful; vegetables also were within reach. Bread in sufficient quantities, with a pipe of wine in front for regimental use, afforded an agreeable prospect; and the evening after the arrival of this welcome reinforcement was spent in a good-humoured review of dangers gone by. 104 CHAPTER V. ADVANCE OF LORD WELLINGTON TO THE SIERRA BUSACO—BATTLE OF BUSACO—DISASTERS AT COIMBRA—MASSÉNA OUT-GENERALLED—TEMPTED BY A BUNCH OF GRAPES—DINNER INTERRUPTED BY THE ENEMY—LINES OF TORRES VEDRAS—GALLANT FIGHT AT BAROSSA—BADAJOS BETRAYED TO THE FRENCH—RETREAT OF MASSÉNA FROM TORRES VEDRAS. The captain of the company in which I served being in want of a servant, I had the honour of being engaged in that capacity. My place, however, was no sinecure, and often amounted to a rather dangerous distinction. The duties enjoined were heavy, and contributed not a little to increase the severity of general military service. When my master dismounted from his horse, I had to hold the animal, or lead him by the bridle along roads through which it was difficult to drag myself; and the horse, chafed by rough usage and deficient feed, was frequently so restive that my employment was both irksome and laborious. This horse became an eventual favourite. Having been placed for a short time at large, he thought proper to escape, and accordingly scoured away over hill and dale, with the saddle and accoutrements of his master, including a pair of pistols in the holster and change of clothing behind. He was observed by a party of French, who tried to secure him, but, strange to say, he was determined they should not. By a kind of instinct, to me an entire enigma, the horse chose the road in which he apparently knew his old associates were to follow; and when we had crossed the bridge, to my surprise, he was there 105beforehand, and waiting our arrival. A rare and unpleasant circumstance took place here. The discipline and good order of the 43rd were proverbial. The matter was therefore so much the more vexatious. Being placed for a brief