Produced by Ted Garvin, Suzanne Shell, William Flis, and PG Distributed Proofreaders THE YOUNG BUGLERS by G.A. Henty PREFACE To my Young Readers. I remember that, as a boy, I regarded any attempt to mix instruction with amusement as being as objectionable a practice as the administration of powder in jam; but I think that this feeling arose from the fact that in those days books contained a very small share of amusement and a very large share of instruction. I have endeavored to avoid this, and I hope that the accounts of battles and sieges, illustrated as they are by maps, will be found as interesting as the lighter parts of the story. As in my tale, "_The Young Franc-Tireurs_," I gave the outline of the Franco-German war, so I have now endeavored to give the salient features of the great Peninsular struggle. The military facts, with the names of generals and regiments, the dates and places, are all strictly accurate, and any one who has read with care the story of "The Young Buglers" could pass an examination as to the leading events of the Peninsular war. Yours truly, THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. A Coaching Adventure CHAPTER II. The Young Pickles CHAPTER III. Enlisted CHAPTER IV. A Tough Customer CHAPTER V. Overboard CHAPTER VI. Portugal CHAPTER VII. The Passage of the Douro--Talavera CHAPTER VIII. A Pause in Operations CHAPTER IX. "With the Guerillas" CHAPTER X. Madrid CHAPTER XI. The Fight on the Coa CHAPTER XII. Busaco and Torres Vedras CHAPTER XIII. Albuera CHAPTER XIV. Invalided Home CHAPTER XV. Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos CHAPTER XVI. Salamanca CHAPTER XVII. Caught in a Trap CHAPTER XVIII. Just in Time CHAPTER XIX. Vittoria CHAPTER XX. Toulouse THE YOUNG BUGLERS. CHAPTER I. A COACHING ADVENTURE.