CHAPTER VIII.
The8th and 9th of November passed over without any event occurring worthy of recital. On the former of these days, indeed, we had the satisfaction to see a French gun-brig destroyed by one of our light cruisers, a small schooner, off the harbour of St Jean de Luz. She had lain there, as it appeared, for some time, and, apprehensive of falling into our hands, had ventured on that day to put to sea; but, being observed by a brig, and the schooner above alluded to, she was immediately followed, and after an action of nearly an hour's continuance, she blew up. Whether her crew had abandoned her previous to the explosion I had no means of ascertaining.
Meanwhile, among ourselves, and throughout the different divisions contiguous to us, a silence like that of a calm before a storm prevailed. Each man looked as if he knew that an attack was impending, though few conjectures were hazarded touching the precise moment of its occurrence. On the eveningof the 9th, however, all doubt was at length removed. We were assembled at parade, or rather the parade was dismissed, but, the band continuing to play, the officers were waiting in groups about the colonel's tent, when an aide-de-camp riding up informed us that the army was to advance upon the morrow. The battalion to which I belonged was appointed to carry the village of Urogne—a place containing perhaps a hundred houses and a church; and we were to take post for the purpose an hour before daybreak on the highroad, close to the advanced sentinels. Of the disposition of other corps we knew nothing.
As soon as the aide-de-camp departed, we began, as people so circumstanced generally do, to discuss the propriety of our general's arrangements. On the present occasion we were more than usually convinced of the sagacity and profound skill of the noble lord. Our corps had been selected, in preference to many others, for a service, perilous, it is true, but therefore honourable. This showed that he knew at least on whom he could depend; and we, of course, were determined to prove that his confidence had not been misplaced.
Having passed an hour or two in this manner, we departed each to his own tent, in order to make the necessary preparations for the morrow. These were soon completed. Our baggage was packed; ourhorses and mules, which, for the sake of shelter, had been kept during the last ten days at certain houses in the rear, were called in; and provisions enough for one day's consumption put into a haversack. With this and our cloaks we directed a Portuguese lad, a servant of Grey, to follow the battalion upon a little pony, which we kept chiefly for such uses; and finally, having renewed our directions, the one to the other, respecting the conduct of the survivor in case either of us should fall, we lay down.
It was quite dark when I arose. Our fires had all burned out; there was no moon in the heavens, and the stars were in a great measure obscured by clouds; but we took our places instinctively, and in profound silence. On these occasions I have been always struck with the great coolness of the women. You seldom hear an expression of alarm escape them; indeed they become, probably from habit, and from the example of others, to the full as indifferent to danger as their husbands. I fear, too, that the sort of life which they lead, after they have for any length of time followed an army in the field, sadly unsexes them (if I may be permitted to coin such a word for their benefit); at least I recollect but one instance in which any symptoms of real sorrow were shown even by those whom the fate of a battle had rendered widows. Sixty womenonly being permitted to accompany a battalion, they are, of course, perfectly sure of getting as many husbands as they may choose; and hence few widows of soldiers continue in a state of widowhood for any unreasonable length of time; so far, indeed, they are a highly-favoured class of female society.
The column being formed, and the tents and baggage so disposed as that, in case of a reverse, they might be carried to the rear without confusion or delay, the word was given to move on. As our route lay over ground extremely uneven, we moved for a while slowly and with caution, till, having gained the highroad, we were enabled to quicken our pace. We proceeded thus, perhaps, about a mile, when the watch-fire of a German picket was seen. Then the order to halt being passed quietly from rank to rank, we ordered arms, and sat down upon the green banks by the roadside. Here we were directed to remain till there should be light enough to make surrounding objects clear, and a gun somewhere to the left of us should give the signal of attack.
Men are very differently affected at different times, even though the situations in which they may be cast bear a strong affinity to one another. On the present occasion, for example, I perfectly recollect that hardly any feeling of seriousness pervaded my own mind, nor, if I might judge fromappearances, the minds of those around me. Much conversation, on the contrary, passed among us in whispers, but it was all of as light a character as if the business in which we were about to engage were mere amusement, and not that kind of play in which men stake their lives. Anxiety and restlessness, indeed, universally prevailed. We looked to the east, and watched the gradual approach of dawn; but it was with that degree of interest which sportsmen feel on the morning of the twelfth of August—or rather, perhaps, like that of a child in a box at Covent Garden, when it expects every moment to see the stage curtain lifted. We were exceedingly anxious to begin the fray, but we were quite confident of success.
In the meanwhile, such dispositions were made as the circumstances of the case appeared to require. Three companies, consisting of about a hundred and fifty men, were detached, under the command of a field-officer, a little to the right and left of the road, for the purpose of surprising, if possible, two of the enemy's pickets. The remaining seven, forming into column as day broke, extended their front so as to cover the whole breadth of the road, and made ready to rush at once, in what is called "double quick," upon the village. That it was strongly barricaded and filled with French infantry we were aware; but, by making our first attack a rapid one,we calculated on reaching the barricade before the enemy should have time to do us much damage by their fire.
We stood, perhaps, half an hour after these dispositions were effected before the signal was given, the dawn gradually brightening over the whole face of the sky. Now we could observe that we had diverged in some degree from the main road, and occupied with our little column a lane hemmed in on both sides by high hedges; presently we were able to remark that the lane again united itself with the road about a hundred yards in front of us; then the church and houses of the village began to show through the darkness like rocks or mounds; by-and-by the stubble-fields immediately around could be distinguished from green meadows; then the hedgerows which separated one field from another became visible. And now the signal-gun was fired. It was immediately answered by a couple of nine-pounders, which were stationed in a field adjoining to the lane where we stood; and the battle began.
The three detached companies did their best to surprise the French pickets, but without success, the French troops being too watchful to be easily taken. They drove them in, however, in gallant style; and the little column, according to the preconcerted plan, pressed forward. Meanwhile the houses and barricade of Urogne were thronged withdefenders, who saluted us, as we approached, with a sharp discharge of musketry. The bullets whistled round us, but with less effect than might have been expected. A few men and one officer fell, the latter being shot through the heart. He uttered but a single word—the name of his favourite comrade—and expired. On our part we had no time for firing, but rushed on to the charge; whilst the nine-pounders already alluded to cleared the barricade with grape and canister. In two minutes we had reached its base; in an instant more we were on the top of it; when the enemy, as if panic-struck at the celerity of our movements, abandoned their defences and fled. We followed them through the street of the place, as far as its extremity; but having been previously directed to proceed no farther, we halted there, and they escaped to the high grounds beyond.
The position now attacked in front of St Jean de Luz was one of which Lord Wellington himself has said that he never beheld anything more formidable. It extended for about three miles along the ridge of a rising ground, the ascent of which was for the most part covered with thick wood and intersected by deep ditches. These natural defences Marshal Soult had strengthened with redoubts, open batteries, and breastworks; the completion of which was begun prior to our passage of the Bidassoa, andfinished during our compulsory halt on the heights above Handaye. Towards our left, indeed—that is, towards the right of the enemy, and in the direction of the village which we had just carried—the works in question presented so commanding an appearance that our gallant leader deemed it unwise to attempt any serious impression there; and hence, having possessed ourselves of Urogne, we were directed to attempt nothing more than to keep it at all hazards, and to make, from time to time, a demonstration of advancing. This was done in order to deter Soult from detaching any of this corps to the assistance of his left, which it was the object of Lord Wellington to overwhelm, and which, after twelve hours of severe fighting, he succeeded in turning.
As soon as we had cleared the place of its defenders, we set about intrenching ourselves, in case any attempt should be made to retake the village. For this purpose we tore up the barricade erected by the French, consisting of casks filled with earth, manure, and rubbish, and rolling them down to the other end of the town, soon threw up a parapet for our defence. The enemy, meanwhile, began to collect a dense mass of infantry upon the brow of the hill opposite, and turning a battery of three pieces of cannon upon us, they swept the street with round-shot. These whizzing along, caused the walls and roofs of the houses to crumble; but neitherthe shot, nor the shells, which from time to time burst about us, did any considerable execution. By avoiding conspicuous places, we managed to keep well out of reach; and hence the chief injury done by the cannonade fell upon the proprietors of houses.
We found in the village a good store of brown bread and several casks of brandy. The latter were instantly knocked on the head and the spirits poured out into the street, as the best means of hindering our men from getting drunk; but the former was divided amongst us; and even the black bread issued to the French soldiers proved a treat to us, who had tasted nothing except biscuits, and these none of the most fresh, for the last three months. We were not, however, allowed much time to regale ourselves.
It was now about eleven o'clock, and the enemy had as yet made no attack upon us. We could perceive, indeed, from the glancing of bayonets through the wood in front, that troops were there mustering; and as the country was well adapted for skirmishing, being a good deal intersected with ditches, hedges, and hollow ways, it was deemed prudent to send out three or four companies to watch their movements. Among the companies thus sent out was that to which I belonged. We took a direction to the left of the village, and, being noticed by the enemy's artillery, were saluted with a shower ofround-shot and shell. Just at this moment a tumbril or ammunition-waggon coming up, a shell from a French mortar fell upon it. It exploded, and two unfortunate artillery drivers who chanced to be sitting upon it were hurled into the air. I looked at them a moment after they fell. One was quite dead, and dreadfully mangled; the other was as black as a coal, but he was alive, and groaned heavily. He lifted his head as we passed, and wished us success. What became of him afterwards I know not, but there appeared little chance of his recovery.
Having gained a hollow road somewhat in advance of the village, we found ourselves in connection with a line of skirmishers thrown out by Colonel Halket from his corps of light Germans, and in some degree sheltered from the cannonade. But our repose was not of long continuance. The enemy having collected a large force of tirailleurs, came on with loud shouts, and every show of determination. His object seemed to be to catch us in the hollow way, where, because of the height and steepness of the bank, we should have been at his mercy. The word was therefore passed to move out and meet him, whereupon we clambered up the face of the acclivity and dashed forward.
It would be hard to conceive a more animating military spectacle than met the eye that day, as itmoved to the right and left, tracing the British line. For the benefit of my more peaceable readers, I may as well mention that troops sent out to skirmish advance or retire in files; each file, or pair of men, keeping about five yards from the files on both sides of them. On the present occasion our line of skirmishers extended about a mile in both directions, all spread out in a sort of irregular order, and all firing independently of one another, as the opportunity of a good aim presented itself. On the side of the French, on the contrary, all was apparent confusion. Yet the French tirailleurs are by no means in disorder when they appear so. They are admirable skirmishers; and they gave our people this day a good deal of employment before they again betook themselves to the heights. They did not, however, succeed, as I suspect was their design, in drawing us so far from the village as to expose us to the fire of their masked batteries; but having followed them across a few fields only, we once more returned to our hollow road.
It was evident, from the numerous solid bodies of troops which kept their ground along the enemy's front, that the plan of Lord Wellington had been successful; and that no force had been sent from the right of Soult's army to the assistance of his left. The continuous roar of musketry and cannon which was kept up in that direction proved, at thesame time, that a more serious struggle was going on there than any to which we were exposed. It was no rapid but intermitting rattle, like that which we and our opponents from time to time produced; but an unceasing volley, as if men were able to fire without loading, or took no time to load. At length Soult appeared to have discovered that he had little to dread upon his right. About three o'clock we could observe a heavy column beginning its march to the left; and at the same instant, as if to cover the movement, the enemy's skirmishers again advanced. Again we met them, as we had done before, and again drove them in; when, instead of falling back to the hollow way, we lay down behind a hedge, midway between the village and the base of their position. From this they made several attempts to dislodge us, but without effect; and here we remained till the approach of darkness put an end to the battle.
The sun had set about an hour when the troops in advance were everywhere recalled, and I and my companions returned to the village. Upon it we found that the enemy still kept up an occasional fire of cannon; and hence that the houses, which were extremely thin, furnished no sufficient shelter for the troops. It was accordingly determined to lodge the corps that night in the church; at the door of which, to our great satisfaction, my friendand I found that our Portuguese servant was waiting for us. The sumpter-pony was soon unladen; and provisions and grog being at the same time served out to the men, the graver business of the day was succeeded by universal jollity and mirth.
The spectacle which the interior of the church of Urogne presented that night was one which the pious founder of the fabric probably never contemplated. Along the two side aisles the arms of the battalion were piled, the men themselves occupying the centre aisle. In the pulpit were placed the big drum and other musical instruments, a party of officers taking possession of a gallery erected at the lower extremity of the building. For our own parts, Grey and myself asserted a claim to the space round the altar, which in an English church is generally railed in, but which in foreign churches is distinguished from the rest of the chancel only by its elevation. Here we spread out our cold salt beef, our brown bread, our cheese, and our wine; and here we ate and drank in that state of excited feeling which attends every man who has gone safely through the perils of such a day.
Nor was the wild nature of the spectacle around us diminished by the gloomy and wavering light which thirty or forty small rosin tapers cast over it. Of these, two or three stood beside us upon the altar. The rest were scattered about by ones andtwos in different places, leaving every interval in a sort of shade, which gave a wider scope to the imagination than to the senses. The buzz of conversation, too, the frequent laugh and joke, and, by-and-by, the song, as the grog began to circulate, all these combined to produce a scene too striking to be soon forgotten.
As time passed on, all these sounds became more and more faint. The men, wearied with their day's work, dropped asleep one after another; and I, having watched them for a while, stretched out like so many corpses upon the paved floor of the church, wrapped my cloak round me, and prepared to follow their example. I laid myself at the foot of the altar; and though the marble was not more soft than marble usually is, I slept as soundly upon it as if it had been a bed of down.