rt of genius for escapes, would have
found it, as I did, simply impossible to get away."

"No, the lookout was certainly bad; and you had none of the
advantages we had, at Bayonne, of being guarded by friendly
soldiers. If I had, at Salamanca, not been able to make friends
with a Spanish girl--

"Well, tell me all about it."

Ryan gave full details of the manner in which Don Gonzales had
contrived his escape.

"That was well managed, indeed," Terence said. "Splendidly done.
Leon is a trump. He ought to have been born an Irishman, and to
have been in our regiment. I don't know that I can give him higher
praise than that."

On their arrival in the valley, they found that another courier had
returned, half an hour before. Both despatches expressed the
commander-in-chief's extreme satisfaction with the manner in which
Terence had carried out his instructions.

"The employment of your force in cutting the main road between
Valladolid and Valencia, and between the latter place and Burgos;
while at the same time you maintained a hold on the country south
of the Douro, thus blocking the roads from Salamanca both to Zamora
and Valladolid, was in the highest degree deserving of commendation.
The garrisons of all the towns named were kept in a state of constant
watchfulness, and so great was the alarm produced that another
division followed that of Drouet. This has paralyzed Marmont. As snow
has already begun to fall among the mountains, it is probable that he
will soon go into winter quarters. Your work, therefore, may be
considered as done and, as your position in the mountains must soon
become untenable, it would be well if you, at once, withdraw all your
forces into Portugal."

Moras also received a despatch signed by Lord Wellington himself,
thanking him warmly for the services he had rendered.

"I may say, sir, that yours is the first case, since I have had the
honour to command the British force in the Peninsula, that I have
received really valuable assistance from a body of irregular
troops; and that I am highly sensible of the zeal and ability which
you have shown in cooperating with Colonel O'Connor, a service
which has been of extreme value to my army. I must also express my
high gratification, not only with the conduct of the men under your
command when in action, but at the clemency shown to French
prisoners; a clemency, unfortunately, very rare during the present
war. I shall not fail to express, to the c