Under Wellington\'s Command

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"Yes, of course I know him," Terence said. "He has several times
come with you, when you have ridden over; and was in command of the
detachment that was with me, when we captured the French garrison
at Tordesillas. I was much pleased with him and, although too
occupied to see much of him, I conceived a great liking for him. I
should say that he is just the man to manage this business
successfully, if it is possible to do so."

"At all events, I will despatch him with six other men, whom he may
choose himself, this afternoon," Moras said. "I had intended him to
remain in command of the party we leave here when we march,
tonight; but I will hand that over to another."

That night the force, with the exception of 500 guerillas and as
many of the Minho regiment, marched away from the station they
occupied to take up a new position, between Valladolid and
Valencia. Herrara was to remain behind, in command of the 500
Portuguese. These, in conjunction with the guerillas, were to
occupy their old positions; stopping all lines of communication,
showing themselves in villages and towns hitherto unvisited and,
divided into parties of two or three hundred, march rapidly about
the country, so that the fact that the main body had moved
elsewhere should be unknown to the French authorities, who would
therefore believe that the force that was to cut the road north of
Valladolid was a newly-arrived one.

Thirty-six hours later Terence, with a battalion and a half of his
regiment and 1500 of Moras's guerillas, took up their position in
the mountains lying to the east of Valencia, between the rivers
Esqueva and Arlanza. From this position they could, with equal
facility, come down on the road between Valladolid and Valencia, or
between the latter town and Burgos. Here for some weeks they
maintained themselves, in the first place falling upon convoys from
Valladolid south and, when these only moved forward under escorts
too strong to be attacked, carrying on their operations on the road
to Burgos. In these raids they obtained an abundance of provisions,
a considerable number of arms and much ammunition and, in two or
three instances, a large amount of treasure that was being taken
forward for the payment of the troops.

The provisions and wine were amply sufficient for the support of
the force. Half the money was set aside for future needs, being
divided between the regimental chest of Moras and that of the Minho
regiment. The other half was similarly divided as prize money among
the men, a proportion being sent down to Herrara, for his command.

The operations of the band caused immense annoyance and difficulty
to the French. It was no longer possible to travel by the main road
from France between Burgos and Valladolid, and thence down to
Salamanca or Zamora, without the convoys being accompanied by
strong bodies of troops. Several incursions into the mountains were
organized from Burgos, which was always a great military centre,
aided by detachments from Valencia; but these met with no success
whatever. On entering the passes they were assailed by a heavy fire
from invisible foes. Great rocks were rolled down upon them; and
when, after much loss, they succeeded in forcing their way up to
the hills, no traces of their foe could be discovered.

As among Moras's guerillas were natives of both Burgos and
Valencia, and these had put themselves in communication with their
friends, the band was kept well informed of every movement of the
French, and received early intelligence when a convoy, or an
expedition into the hills, was on the point of setting out, and of
the exact strength of the military force employed. They were,
therefore, always prepared either to sally out for an attack on the
convoy, or to oppose an expedition as soon as it entered the
mountains. Their stores were hidden away among rocks, being divided
into several portions so that, should the French by fortune or
treachery discover one of these, the loss would not cripple them.

Their greatest enemy was cold. It was now the end of October, and
several times snow had fallen, and it was necessary to keep up
large fires. This was a double inconvenience. In the first place,
the smoke by day and the flames by night might betray the position
of their camp; and in the second place, their tracks in the snow,
which would speedily cover the hills, would enable the enemy to
follow them wherever they moved. It was therefore determined that
they could no longer maintain their position there, but must return
to the plains.

Frequent communication had been kept up with Herrara, who reported
that Salamanca was now occupied by so large a force that he was no
longer able to maintain his position; and that he had fallen back
across the Douro, and had established himself in the stronghold,
from which he made frequent excursions towards Zamora and
Benavente.

To Dick Ryan, in his prison, the first fortnight had passed slowly.
That Terence would, as soon as he learned of his capture, make
every effort to free him he knew well; but he could not see how he
could give him any material aid. The French force at Salamanca was
far too strong to admit of a possibility of any attempt to rescue
him by force, and the barred windows and the sentry seemed to close
every chance of communication from without. On the tenth day of his
imprisonment, he noticed that the sergeant who brought his food had
been changed.

"What has become of Sergeant Pipon?" he asked the non-commissioned
officer who filled his place.

"He was killed yesterday evening, in the streets," the man replied.
"It was not an ordinary broil, for he had half-a-dozen dagger
stabs. It is some time since those dogs of Spaniards have killed a
French soldier in the town, and there is a great fuss over it. The
municipality will have to pay 10,000 dollars, if they cannot
produce his murderer. It is curious, too, for Pipon was not a man
to get drunk. He did not speak a word of the language, and
therefore could not have had a dispute with a Spaniard.

"We have been ordered to be more vigilant than before. I suppose
the authorities think that perhaps there was some attempt to bribe
him and, on his seizing the man who made it, some of the fellow's
comrades rushed upon him, and killed him."

Ryan wondered whether the supposition was a correct one, and
whether the men concerned had been set at work by Terence, in order
to effect his release. Two days later, on cutting the loaf that
formed his day's ration of bread, he found a small piece of paper
in its centre. It had evidently been put there before the bread was
baked for, although he examined it very closely, he could find no
sign in the crust of an incision by which the note might have been
inserted. It contained only the words:

"Keep your eyes open, and be in readiness. Friends are working for
your release."

So Terence was at work. Evidently the baker had been gained over,
but how it had been contrived that this special loaf should have
been handed to him he could not imagine; unless one of the men in
charge of the distribution of the prison rations had been bribed.
That something of the sort must have taken place he was certain
and, although he was still unable to imagine how he could be got
out of the prison, he felt that, in some way or another, Terence
would manage it. He thought over the means by which the latter had
escaped from the convent, but the laxity that had there prevailed,
in allowing people to come in to sell their goods to the prisoners,
was not permitted in the prison where he was confined. The
prisoners were, indeed, allowed to take exercise for an hour in the
courtyard, but no civilian ever entered it, and twelve French
soldiers watched every movement of those in the yard, and did not
permit a single word to be exchanged.

Another week passed, and Ryan began to fear that his friends
outside had abandoned the scheme as impossible, when one day he
received another message:

"Do not undress tonight. On reaching the courtyard, take the first
passage to the right. Follow it to the end. The bars of the window
there have been nearly sawn through. Inclosed with this is a saw.
Finish the work on the middle bars. You will find a cord hanging
down outside. Friends will be awaiting you."

With the note was a very fine steel saw, coiled round and round,
and a tiny phial of oil. Ryan gave a cry of delight as he read it;
and then hid the saw and the oil bottle in his bed, made up the
tiny note into a pellet, and swallowed it. As he ate his dinner, he
pondered over how so much could have been managed. The courtyard of
the prison was, he knew, some ten feet higher than the ground
outside. Some one must, after nightfall, have climbed up to the
passage window and sawn the bars almost asunder, with a saw as fine
as the one he had received. The cuts could hardly have been
perceptible, and had probably been filled in with dust or black
lead, each night, after the work was done. The difficulty must have
been great, for he had learned that sentries patrolled the street
outside the prison, and the work could only have been carried on
for two or three minutes at a time. How he was to get down to the
courtyard he knew not, but probably a sentry had been found more
amenable to a bribe than the old sergeant had been.

To his bitter disappointment the night passed without anything
unusual taking place, and the scheme had evidently failed. He broke
up his loaf eagerly the next morning; and found, as he expected,
another message:

"Authorities suspicions. Sentries changed. Must wait till vigilance
subsides. Keep yourself in readiness."

A fortnight passed; and then, in the middle of the night, he leapt
suddenly from the bed on which he had thrown himself, without
undressing, as he heard the key grating in the door. For a minute
or two the sound continued, and his heart sank again.

"They have got a key, but it won't fit," he muttered.

Suddenly he heard the bolt shoot back, and the door quietly opened.

"Are you ready?" a voice asked in a whisper.

"Quite ready."

"Then follow me."

Ryan had caught up his boots as he leapt from the bed. The man
outside had evidently taken the precaution to remove his, for his
step was perfectly noiseless. Dick followed him downstairs and out
into the courtyard. He could then see that the man was not, as he
had expected, in uniform; but wore a long cloak and a sombrero,
like those in general use among the peasantry. He turned in at the
passage that had been indicated to Ryan, and stopped at the grated
opening at the end.

Ryan at once took out the saw, poured some oil on it, and passed
his nail down the bar until he found a fine nick. Clearing this out
with the saw, he began to cut. The task was far easier than he had
expected, for the bar had been already almost sawn through and, in
five minutes, the cut was completed. A couple of feet higher up he
found the other incision, and completed it as quietly as before.
Then he removed the piece cut out, and handed it to the man, who
laid it quietly down on the pavement of the passage.

In ten minutes the other bar was removed.

"I have the cord," the man said, and unwound some ten feet of stout
rope from his waist.

Ryan put his head out through the hole, and looked down. In the
darkness he could see nothing, but he heard the heavy tread of two
sentries. As the sound of their footsteps faded away in the
distance, he heard a sudden exclamation and a slight movement and,
a few seconds later, a voice below asked in a whisper:

"Are you there?"

"Yes," Ryan replied joyfully.

Putting a noose which was at one end of the rope over the stump of
one of the bars, he at once slid down. A moment later, the other
man descended after him.

"This way, senor," the voice said and, taking his hand, led him
across the street; and then, after a quarter of a mile's walk,
stopped at the door of a large house. He opened this with a key,
and led the way up the stairs to the second floor; opened another
door, and said:

"Enter, senor, you are at home."

Ryan had noticed that the man who had released him had not followed
them, but had turned away as soon as they left the prison.

"You are most welcome, senor," his guide said as, opening another
door, he led the way into a handsome apartment, where a lamp was
burning on the table.

"First let me introduce myself," he said. "My name is Alonzo
Santobel, by profession an advocate. I am a friend of Don Leon
Gonzales, one of Moras's officers, whom I believe you know. He will
be here in a minute or two. He has followed us at a distance, to be
sure that we were not watched. He enlisted me in this enterprise,
and I have gladly given my assistance, which indeed was confined to
bringing you here. All the rest he has managed himself, with the
aid of six of his men who accompanied him here. He has been longer
over it than he had expected, but we had difficulties that we did
not anticipate."

He spoke in French, but added: "I understand sufficient Portuguese
to follow anything that you say, senor."

"I am indeed grateful to you all," Ryan said warmly. "It is good of
you, indeed, to run so great a risk for a stranger."

"Not exactly a stranger, senor, since you are a friend of my
friend, Leon Gonzales."

At this moment the door of the room opened, and the officer named
entered and warmly shook hands with Ryan, and congratulated him
cordially on his release.

"Thanks to you, senor," Dick said gratefully.

"It has been a matter of duty, as well as pleasure," the other
replied courteously; "for Moras committed the task of freeing you
to my hands."

"I have just been telling Senor Ryan," the other said, "that you
found it somewhat more difficult than you expected."

"Yes, indeed. In the first place, my face is known to so many here
and, unhappily, so many Spaniards are friends of the French, that I
dared not show myself in the streets, in the daytime. And before I
tell my story, Alonzo, please open a bottle of wine, and produce a
box of cigars. Our friend has not had a chance of a decent smoke
since he has been shut up.

"Now, senor, I will tell you all about it," he went on, as soon as
the glasses were filled and the cigars lighted. "In the first
place, one of the men with me has a cousin who works for the baker
who contracts for the supply of bread to the prison and,
fortunately, it was one of his duties to go with the bread, to hand
it over and see it weighed. That simplified affairs amazingly. In
the next place, it was necessary to get hold of the soldier who
usually handed the bread to the non-commissioned officers, who each
took the rations for the prisoners under their special charge. I
had been well provided with money and, when the soldier came out
one evening, I got into conversation with him. He assented
willingly enough to my offer to have a bottle of good wine
together. Then I opened the subject.

"'I believe you distribute the bread rations to the prisoners?" I
said.

"He nodded.

"'I want one special loaf which is rather better bread than the
rest, though it looks the same, to reach a prisoner who is a friend
of mine. It may be that I shall want two or three such loaves to
reach him, and I will not mind paying a hundred francs for each
loaf.'

"'A hundred francs is a good sum,' he said, 'especially as our pay
is generally some months in arrear; and there can be no harm in a
prisoner getting one loaf, more than another. But how am I to know
which is the loaf?'

"'It will be the last the baker's man will deliver to you, my
friend. He will give you a wink as he hands it to you, and you will
only have to put it on the tray intended for the English prisoner,
Ryan, when the sergeant comes down to the kitchen for it. But mind,
don't make any mistake and put it on the wrong tray.'

"'I will be careful,' the soldier said, 'and I don't mind how many
loaves you send in, at the same price.'

"'Very well,' I said. 'Here are the hundred francs for the first
loaf, which will come not tomorrow morning, but the day after.'

"So that part of the business was arranged easily enough; but
another attempt, which I had set on foot at the same time, had
already failed. My men had discovered who was the sergeant under
whose charge you were. He was an old soldier, and I had my doubts
whether he could be bribed. One of the men who spoke a little
French undertook it, but took the precaution of having three of the
others near him, when he attempted it. It was two or three evenings
before he could get speech with him in a quiet place, but he
managed at last to do so.

"'Sergeant,' he said, 'do you want to earn as much money, in a day,
as your pay would amount to in a year?'

"'It depends how it would have to be earned,' the sergeant said
cautiously.

"'We want to get a friend of ours out of that prison,' the man
said, 'and would pay a thousand francs for your assistance.'

"The sergeant at once grasped him by the throat.

"'You attempt to bribe me!' he exclaimed. 'Parbleu! we will hear
what the governor says about it;' and he began to drag him along.

"There was nothing to be done, and the three other men, who had
been standing hidden in a doorway, ran out and poniarded the
Frenchman before he had time to give the alarm. It was unfortunate,
but it was unavoidable.

"However, two days later the loaf got safely to you; at least we
were assured that it had done so, by the soldier in the kitchen. In
the meantime I learned from a man who had been a warder in the
prison, before the French took possession of it, that the passage
close to the bottom of your staircase terminated at the barred
window in the street behind. Two of my men undertook to cut the
bars. It was no easy matter, for there were sentries outside, and
one came along the back every two or three minutes. The men had a
light ladder and, directly he had passed, ran across the street,
placed it in position, and fell to work. But the constant
interferences by the passing of the sentinel annoyed them, and
greatly hindered the work.

"You see, the sentry had to patrol the lane down one side of the
prison, then along behind, and back; so they had only the time
taken by him from the corner to the end of the lane, and back, to
work. They were so annoyed at this that one night, when the sentry
came to be relieved, he was found stabbed to the heart and, as this
misfortune happened just after he went on duty, the men managed to
file one of the bars that night. Curiously enough, the same
accident happened two nights later; just as I had arranged, with a
Spaniard who had enlisted in the French army, that he would aid you
to escape. He was a sharp fellow, and had managed to get the key of
your room from the peg where it hung, and to take an impression of
it in wax, from which we had a key made.

"Everything was now ready. The other bar was sawn on, the night the
accident happened to the second sentry. The next night the Spaniard
was to be on guard on your staircase, and I sent you a loaf with a
message to be in readiness. Unfortunately, the second accident
aroused the suspicion of the authorities that these affairs had
something to do with the escape of a prisoner. Accordingly, the
sentries outside were doubled, two men patrolling together and,
that evening, the guards were suddenly changed.

"It was evident that, for a time, nothing could be done. For nearly
a fortnight this dodging about of the guard continued; then, as all
was quiet, things went back to their old course. Four sentries were
taken off, the others going about two together, each pair taking
two sides of the prison. This morning my Spaniard who, as he was on
duty at night, was able to come out into the town early, told the
man who had arranged the affair with him that he would be on night
duty; and would manage to take his place among the guards so that,
when they arrived at your door, he should be the one to be left
there. As the bread had been already sent in, I had no opportunity
to warn you."

"I suppose the Spanish soldier you bribed has deserted?"

"Certainly. There was nothing else for him to do. He had that long
cloak under his military greatcoat, and the sombrero flattened
inside it so that, before opening your door, he had only to stand
his musket in the corner, laying his greatcoat and shako by it, and
he was in a position to go through the streets, anywhere, as a
civilian. He has been well paid and, as he was already heartily
tired of the French service, he jumped at the offer we made him."

After chatting for some time longer, and obtaining some more
details of the proceedings of the rescue party, Ryan and Gonzales
lay down for a few hours' sleep on the couches in the room; while
their host turned into his bed, which he had vainly attempted to
persuade one or other to accept.

Chapter 16: Back With The Army.

Ryan remained four days in the flat occupied by Don Alonzo
Santobel. Leon Gonzales had left, before daybreak, to regain the
house where he was staying, with one of his friends, before the
discovery of the escape of a prisoner was made. The affair was
certain to cause great excitement, and there was no doubt that
everyone leaving the town would be strictly examined at the gates
and, not improbably, every house would be searched, and an order
issued that no one would be allowed to be out at night, after ten
o'clock, without a military pass. Three soldiers had been in turn
assassinated, and one had deserted, a prisoner had been released;
and there were evidently several persons concerned in the matter,
and it would not improbably be guessed, by the authorities, that
the actors in the plot were agents of the British officer in
command of the troops that had given them such trouble over the
whole province between Burgos and Salamanca.

Don Alonzo gave his manservant, on whose fidelity he could rely,
permission to go into the country for ten days to visit his
relations; and Ryan was installed in his place, and dressed in a
suit of his clothes; but was not to open the door to visitors, the
Spaniard himself doing so, and mentioning to those who called that
his servant had gone on his holiday. The French, indeed, instituted
a strict search among the poorer quarters. But the men who had
accompanied Don Leon were all dressed as villagers, who had come
into the town from fear of being attacked by the guerillas and
their allies and, as the people with whom they stayed all vouched
for their story, and declared with truth that they were relatives,
none of them were molested. For four days all persons passing out
of the gates were examined but, at the end of that time, matters
resumed their ordinary course; and Don Leon and his followers all
quitted the town soon after the market closed, carrying with them
empty baskets, as if they were countrymen who had disposed of the
produce they had brought in.

Clothes of the same kind were procured for Ryan and, the day after
his friends had left he, too, went through the gate, going out with
several peasants who were returning home. One of Leon's followers
had taken out his uniform in his basket; with a cloth thrown over
it, on which were placed some articles of crockery which he had
apparently bought for his use at home. Ryan had been carefully
instructed as to the road he should follow and, four miles out from
the city, he turned down a by-path. He kept on for a mile and a
half, and then came to a farmhouse, standing alone. As he
approached, Leon came out to meet him, and shook him warmly by the
hand.

"I have been feeling very anxious about you," he said. "We got
through yesterday unquestioned, but the officer at the gate today
might have been a more particular sort of fellow, and might have
taken it into his head to question any of those who came out. The
others all went on at once, but we will keep quiet until nightfall.
I left my horse here when I came in; which I could do safely, for
the farm belongs to me, and the farmer has been our tenant for the
last thirty years. There is a horse for you here, also.

"I have got the latest intelligence as to where the French are
lying. They have a strong force at Tordesillas; but this won't
matter to us, for I got a message from Moras, yesterday, saying
that the hills are now all covered with snow, and that the whole
force would march, today, for their old quarters in the valley near
Miranda. So we sha'n't have to cross the river to the north, but
will keep on this side and cross it at Miranda, or at some ford
near. The column that was operating round Zamora fell back behind
the Esla, a fortnight since; for four thousand of the French
reinforcements from the south had reached Zamora, and strong
parties of their cavalry were scouting over the whole of the
country round."

Ryan had already heard how the road between Valladolid and Burgos
had been interrupted, and several convoys cut off and captured. He
was glad to find, however, that no serious fighting had taken place
while he had been a prisoner.

After nightfall they started on their journey. They travelled sixty
miles that night. The farmer's son, a young fellow of twenty, who
knew the country thoroughly, accompanied them on horseback for the
first twenty miles, to set them on their way. The road they
followed ran almost parallel to the Tormes, all the bridges over
that river being, as they learned, held by strong parties of French
troops; posted there to prevent any bodies of the Spaniards
crossing it, and placing themselves between Salamanca and Ciudad
Rodrigo.

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