dly intercourse sprang up between them, the Allies and French
often going so far as to shake hands with each other.

At one or two o'clock the enemy again advanced and recommenced with a
heavy cannonade and an attack on the whole British lines, but after
some very brisk fighting on both sides we repulsed them for the third
time, and obliged them to retreat with a loss of some thousands and a
few pieces of cannon, the British loss being about a thousand killed
and three or four thousand wounded. A very dreadful occurrence
happened after the battle, for the long dry grass in which many of the
wounded were lying caught fire, and many were scorched to death before
assistance could be brought to convey them to hospital in Talavera. We
lay that night in much the same state as on that previous, expecting
to see our noble enemy again, but we were mistaken, for most of them
took themselves off during the night, and in the morning only their
rear-guard could be seen.

Next month commenced by Sir Arthur Wellesley leaving the Spanish
general Cuesta in charge of Talavera and the wounded, while on the
3rd he proceeded to Oropesa, where he expected to come up with and
engage Soult's army. But he had not been there long before he found
the obstinate Cuesta, upon hearing that the enemy was on his flank,
had abandoned Talavera, thus leaving nearly the whole of the British
wounded unprotected. The conduct of Cuesta in thus retreating and
abandoning the position and the charge entrusted to him, was almost
too much for Sir Arthur to bear, particularly as it was afterwards
found that there was no need for it, as the enemy was at some distance
off, and not in the least interfering with the Spanish army's
movements. So in this case we would have been much better without his
services altogether.

From Oropesa we advanced through a country abounding with
difficulties, the army suffering much during this march from the heat
of the weather, the long exposure, insufficient food, and bad roads,
and illness being very prevalent. Our provisions rarely exceeded two
pounds of meat a day; and sometimes a pint of wheat took the place of
one of the pounds of meat, with occasionally, but very rarely, a
little flour. Our way of cooking the wheat was to boil it like rice,
or sometimes, if convenient, we would crack the kernel between two
flat stones and then boil it, making a kind of thick paste out of it.
This having so little bread or other vegetable sub