ers of the
French. The Spaniards fought well, imitating the steadiness of the
Portuguese and, being for the most part good marksmen, their fire
was very deadly; and several determined attacks of the French were
beaten off with heavy loss.

Then, from the valley below, was heard the sound of a bugle. The
call was repeated by the bugles of the assailants and, slowly and
reluctantly, the French began to fall back.

Terence looked round. He had from time to time glanced across to
the hills opposite, and had seen his men there retiring steadily,
and in good order, before the assault of the French; and now he saw
that his force from the valley was marching rapidly along the
hilltop to their assistance; while away on the French right,
Macwitty's command, spread out to appear of much greater strength
than it really possessed, was moving down the slope, as if to the
assault.

Below, in the valley, a battalion of French infantry with their
cavalry and artillery were drawn up, and were evidently only
waiting for the return of the two assaulting columns, to join in
their retreat. The French commander doubtless supposed that he was
caught in a trap. Unable to effect the passage of the river, and
seeing the stubborn resistance his troops were meeting with on the
hills, the arrival of two fresh bodies of the enemy on the scene
induced him to believe that the foe were in great force; and that,
ere long, he might be completely surrounded. He moved forward
slowly, by the road he had come, and was presently joined by the
two detached parties.

As soon as they moved on, Terence sent an orderly at a gallop
across the valley, to order Macwitty and Moras to follow the French
along on the hills on their side of the valley, and to harass them
as much as possible; while he, with Bull's command, kept parallel
with them on his side.

The French cavalry kept ahead of their column. The leading
battalion was thrown out as skirmishers, on the lower slopes of the
hills; while the artillery, in the rear, kept up a heavy fire upon
the Portuguese and Spanish, as soon as they were made out on the
hills above them. Terence kept his men on the crest, and signalled
to Macwitty to do the same; but the guerillas swarmed down the
hillside, and maintained a galling fire on the French column.
Terence took his men along at the double and, heading the column,
descended into the valley at the point they had fortified.

Here there was a sharp fight. The Fren