leep; the videttes, weary and
tired, seemed anxiously watching for the relief; and the disordered and
confused appearance of everything bespoke that discipline had relaxed its
stern features, in compassion for the bold exertions of the preceding day.
The only contrast to this general air of exhaustion and weariness on every
side was a corps of sappers, who were busily employed upon the high grounds
above the village. Early as it was, they seemed to have been at work
some hours,--at least so their labors bespoke; for already a rampart
of considerable extent had been thrown up, stockades implanted, and a
breastwork was in a state of active preparation. The officer of the party,
wrapped up in a loose cloak, and mounted upon a sharp-looking hackney, rode
hither and thither as the occasion warranted, and seemed, as well as from
the distance I could guess, something of a tartar. At least I could not
help remarking how, at his approach, the several inferior officers seemed
suddenly so much more on the alert, and the men worked with an additional
vigor and activity. I stopped for some minutes to watch him, and seeing
an engineer captain of my acquaintance among the party, couldn't resist
calling out:--

"I say, Hatchard, your friend on the chestnut mare must have had an easier
day yesterday than some of us, or I'll be hanged if he'd be so active this
morning." Hatchard hung his head in some confusion, and did not reply;
and on my looking round, whom should I see before me but the identical
individual I had so coolly been criticising, and who, to my utter horror
and dismay, was no other than Lord Wellington himself. I did not wait for a
second peep. Helter-skelter, through water, thickets, and brambles, away I
went, clattering down the causeway like a madman. If a French squadron had
been behind me, I should have had a stouter heart, although I did not fear
pursuit. I felt his eye was upon me,--his sharp and piercing glance, that
shot like an arrow into me; and his firm look stared at me in every object
around.

Onward I pressed, feeling in the very recklessness of my course some relief
to my sense of shame, and ardently hoping that some accident--some smashed
arm or broken collar-bone--might befall me and rescue me from any notice
my conduct might otherwise call for. I never drew rein till I reached the
Villa Formosa, and pulled up short at a small cottage where a double sentry
apprised me of the general's quarters. As I came u