Then again, Moore, by his marvellous march, checked the course of victory of Napoleon and saved Spain for a time. Cradock organized an army, and Wellesley hurled back Soult's invasion of the north, and drove his army, a dispirited and worn-out mass of fugitives, across the frontier, and in less than a year from the commencement of the campaign carried the war into Spain. So far I have endeavoured to sketch the course of these events in the present volume. But the whole course of the Peninsular War was far too long to be condensed in a single book, except in the form of history pure and simple; therefore, I have been obliged to divide it into two volumes; and I propose next year to follow up the adventures of my present hero, who had the good fortune, with Trant, Wilson, and other British officers, to attain the command of a body of native irregulars, acting in connection with the movements of the British army. Yours sincerely, G. A. HENTY. CONTENTS CHAP. I. THE MAYO FUSILIERS II. TWO DANGERS III. DISEMBARKED IV. UNDER CANVAS V. ROLICA AND VIMIERA VI. A PAUSE VII. THE ADVANCE VIII. A FALSE ALARM IX. THE RETREAT X. CORUNNA XI. AN ESCAPE XII. A DANGEROUS MISSION XIII. AN AWKWARD POSITION XIV. AN INDEPENDENT COMMAND XV. THE FIRST SKIRMISH XVI. IN THE PASSES XVII. AN ESCAPE XVIII. MARY O'CONNOR XIX. CONFIRMED IN COMMAND XX. WITH THE MAYOS XXI. PORTUGAL FREED XXII. NEWS FROM HOME ILLUSTRATIONS TERENCE FINDS THAT THE _SEA-HORSE_ HAS BEEN BADLY MAULED BETWEEN-DECKS TWO FRENCH PRIVATEERS BEAR DOWN UPON THE _SEA-HORSE_ "I SHOULD NOT HAVE MINDED BEING HIT, FATHER, IF YOU HAD ESCAPED" "I AM TOLD THAT YOU WISH TO SPEAK TO ME, GENERAL" "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, TERENCE?... WE WOULD HAVE THRASHED THEM OUT OF THEIR BOOTS IN NO TIME" "POOR OLD JACK! HE HAS CARRIED ME WELL EVER SINCE I GOT HIM AT TORRES VEDRAS" TERENCE RECEIVES A PRESENT OF A HORSE FROM SIR JOHN CRADOCK "IN THE NAME OF THE JUNTA I DEMAND THAT AMMUNITION," SAID CORTINGOS "THE FRENCH CAVALRY RODE UP TOWARDS THE SQUARES, BUT WERE MET WITH HEAVY VOLLEYS" "MACWITTY WAS STANDING COVERING THE TWO BOATMEN WITH HIS PISTOLS" TERENCE BIDS GOOD-BYE TO HIS COUSIN, MARY O'CONNOR "WHO ARE YOU, SIR, AND WHAT TROOPS ARE THESE?" SIR ARTHUR ASKED, SHARPLY [Illustration: Sketch Map of NORTHERN PORTUGAL.] WITH MOORE AT CORUNNA CHAPTER I THE MAYO FUSILIERS "What am I to do with you, Terence? It bothers me entirely; there is not a soul who will take you, and if anyone would do so, you would wear out his patience before a week's end; there is not a dog in the regiment that does not put his tail between his legs and run for his bare life if he sees you; and as for the colonel, he told me only the other day that he had so many complaints against you, that he was fairly worn out with them." "That was only his way, father; the colonel likes a joke as well as any of them."