New-York tribune., 1903-06-29
CHAPTER XIII.
IN CIUDAD RODRIGO.

on the town
It is not for me to describe this wonderful
siege, the operations of which, though witness
ing them in part, 1 did not understand in the
least. 1 have read more than one book about
it since, and could draw you map blindfold
and tell you where the counter-batteries stood,
and where the lunette which Colborne carried.
and how 1t stood with regard to the Convent OF
San Francisco: where the parallels ran, where
the French brought down howttzer and where
by a sortie they came near cutting up a divi-
sion. I could trace you the fausse braye and
the main walls and put my fingers on the angle
where our guns pierced the greater breach. and
carry it to the tower where, by the lesser
breach our own storZnt-g party Of the Light
Division climbed into the town saw a many
things shattered during the next five days to
lay the foundations of a fame which still Is
proved the sounder the closer men examine 1t
I mean Lord Weuingtons; and in the end 1.
Harry Revel, contributed my mite to it in
spIintered ankle I understand now many
things which were then a mere confused hurly-
burly and even now-havtng arrived at an age
when men take stock Of themselves and, casting
up their accounts with life, out their vanl-
ties-I am proud to remember that along with
the great Craufurd Mackinnon. Vandeleur, Col
| borne, our colonel. and Napier, I took my un-
considered hurt. To this day you cannot speak
|
my own bugle Ginning with the rest below the
| breache and swelling the notes of the "ad-
vance" and my heart sweIls with IT. But I tell
now strictly what I saw, and for this reason
| only-that the story to which you have oeen
| listening points through those breaches-and
within them has It's end.
To me, watching them day by day from the
! hillside. they appeared but trifling gaps in the
fortifcations On the 18th I never dreamed
! ir7Sc in ba
| lesser breach to the left my inexpert eye could
| detect no gap at all. What chiefly impressed
a+ the time was our enemy's superiority in am
| rnunf+ton Their guns fired at least thrice to
our once.
Still holding myself strictly to what l said
| I can tell you even less Of the assault itsel1
| can tell indeed how on the evening OF the 10Ih'
when we were looking forward to another turn
at the trenches with the Third Division Gen
| eral Craufurd paraded US unexpectedly anu
| how. at a nod from him. Major Napier ad-
/ dressed US Men of the Light Division ne
| said. 1--WE assault tonight have the honor
| TO lead the storrning party. and want a nun
! dred volunteers from each regiment thoSe
who will go with me, step forward
Instantly the battalions surged forward-the
nrass of the volunteers carrying US with theIh
| as if we would have marched on Ciudad Rodrlgo
| with one united front.
The major flung UP a hand and turned 10
! c,ar.raI Craufurd. Their eyes met, and they
| both broke out laughing
! This much 1 saw and heard And when, at
! g o'clock they marched down under the
! lac o4 San Francisco, I saw Lord Wellington
ride I'D. disnount, give over his horse 10 an
! orderly and walk past column into the
darkness He was going to give the last olrec-
tions to Major Napier and the stornlng party
! hut they were drawn up behind an angie OF the
| convent wall and we, the supporting columns
massed in the darkness two hundred yards III
| the rear neither saw the conference nor caught
mora than the low, clear tones Of Cra ufurd ad-
dressing his men for the last time
Then. after many minutes of silence. suddenly
| tho sl.v over the convent wall opened with a
| glare and shut again and heard the French
| guns tearing the night The attack of the Third
| Division on our right had begun, and the noise
| Of it was taken up by the Goth Rihemen, spread
wide in three companies TO scour the fausse
brave between the two breaches and keep the
| defenders busy along it. AS the sound OF the
/ assault spread down to US, interrupted again
| and again by the explosions of shells, we were
marched forward for two or three hundred yards
| and halted, put into motion and halted again
| We could see the city now, opening and shut
| ting upou US in fiery flashes; and in the inter
! ,,aIe ie+ after Jet of fire streamed from the
| rifles on our right.
| Then some one shouted to TO advance at
the double and I ran blowing upon my bugle.
| for now the calls were sounding all about me.
| T had no thought of death in all this roar-tne
| crowd seemed to close around and shut that out
until we came to the edge Of the ditch facing
| the fausse braye. and by that time the worst
| Of the danger had passed. The fausse braye
| itself was dark and the darker for blaze OF
light behind it. Our storrners had carried 1t and
svent the defenders back into the true oreach
| beside the tower. Some stray bullets splashed
| among US as we toppled down the ditch and
! mounted the glacis-fred from heaven KNOWS
| where but probably from some French retreat
ing along the top of the fausse braye
| While we were mounting the glacls Napier
| and his men must have carried the inner breach
! At the top we thronged to press through the
/ narrow entrance for all the world like crowd
/ elbowing its way into q theatre. and as pressed
| into the skirts of the throng it seemed TO SUCK
/ me- in and choke me. My small rlps caVeo IN
/ ward as we were driven through by the weigh'
NJ men behind The pressure eased and an eX-
/ nIostop threw a dozen of us TO earth between
[ tbe fausse braye and the slope of ruople bS
/ which the stormeTs had climbed
( picked myself up-found my ougle-aho ran ran
for the slope still blowing. man or the 100
gave me hand and helped me up. for now We