and made their escape by the backs of the houses; or came
quietly out and, forming in some sort of order, accompanied the
regiment. Several shots were heard behind, as the search parties
cleared out those who had remained in the houses and, presently,
the force entered the main square of the town and halted in its
centre, the bugles still blowing the Assembly. Numbers of officers
at once ran up, and many of the more sober soldiers.

"Form them up as they arrive," the general said to the officers.

In a few minutes, some five hundred men had gathered.

"Do you break your regiment up into four columns, Colonel O'Connor.
A fourth of these men shall go with each, with a strong party of
officers. The soldiers will be the less inclined to resist, if they
see their own comrades and officers with your troops, than if the
latter were alone. I will take the command of one column myself, do
you take that of another.

"Colonel Strong, will you join one of the majors of Colonel
O'Connor's regiment; and will you, Major Hughes, join the other?

"All soldiers who do not, at once, obey your summons to fall in
will be taken prisoners; and those who use violence you will shoot,
without hesitation. All drunken men are to be picked up and sent
back here. Place a strong guard over them, and see that they do not
make off again."

Five minutes later, the four columns started in different
directions. A few soldiers who, inflamed by drink, fired at those
who summoned them to surrender, were instantly shot and, in half an
hour, the terrible din that had filled the air had quietened down.

Morning was breaking now. In the great square, officers were busy
drawing up the men who had been brought in, in order of their
regiments. The inhabitants issued from their houses, collected the
bodies of those who had been killed in the streets, and carried
them into their homes; and sounds of wailing and lamentation rose
from every house.

Lord Wellington now rode in, with his staff. The regiments that had
disgraced themselves were at once marched out of the town, and
their places taken by those of other divisions. But nothing could
repair the damage that had been done; and the doings of that night
excited, throughout Spain, a feeling of hostility to the British
that has scarcely subsided to this day; and was heightened by the
equally bad conduct of the troops at the storming of Badajoz.

Long before the arrival of Lord Wellington, the whole of the