274 Passages from a Military Journal. 



tack was meditated upon the building to which his daughter has been 

 conveyed. Those to whom he addressed himself seemed interested 

 in his distress, and turned him over to the colonel. He will, there- 

 fore, accompany us ; and Colonel has kindly promised to do all 



he can towards the recovery of his daughter." 



" I am glad to hear it," said I. " If we take the place, of course 

 we shall be able to give his daughter up to him." 



" Not altogether sure/' returned Major B . " We may beat 



them, indeed, out of the building, but they may be able to scrape 

 clear, and carry off their plunder with them. But how the matter 

 will end, remains to be seen. Disperse your troops, Captain, and 

 beat the ground as if you expected to meet a power of game. Here 

 conies the infantry ! Adieu, Captain, for the present.'' 



He galloped off, and I followed his example, together with my 

 troop of hussars. 



The ground was not over difficult. It was a kind of miniature 

 plain, though not very flat ; skirted with bushes, and a few groups of 

 trees ; a little broken, but covered with a luxuriant sward. On one 

 side of us, however, was a deep pine-wood, almost forming a semi- 

 circle around our plateau, and descending into a broad and beautiful 

 valley, over which we could see the deep blue summits of a fine range 

 of mountains basking in the radiance of a glorious Spanish sun. 

 Pushing on a little further, the whole front of the ancient convent 

 presented itself; its grey walls and pyramidical turrets beautifully 

 contrasted with the trees which surrounded its rear and flanks. As 

 yet we could not discover that it was a strong position; but we were 

 soon undeceived. 



On a nearer approach, the nature of the building became apparent. 

 It was disposed in the form of a square, with old gothic turrets at the 

 angles, rising in several stories, with battlemented parapets, barti- 

 zans, and little watch-towers. Each tower and turret was crowned 

 with a cone-shaped tiled roof, and adorned with either brass wea- 

 thercocks or crosses. Slips of windows studded these roofs, and the 

 ancient grey walls were variegated with loop-holes, around which a 

 number of creeping plants had gathered, giving a very pretty effect 

 to the whole contour of this side of the building. The walls were 

 high, and supported by a number of buttresses of various sizes and 

 appearances. In the centre was an advanced tower, furnished with 

 as many oddly-constructed appurtenances as other parts of the erec- 

 tion. A pair of huge gates led under this tower, strongly defended 

 with iron work, and now blocked up with gabions. We could see 

 that the walls were profusely pierced for musketry, and that several 

 light pieces of artillery were mounted on them. How many were 

 planted on other parts of the position we had no means of ascertain- 

 But what tended to render the building a stronger situation was a 

 deep, though not sudden descent on one side of the ground, and a 

 proportionable rise upon that of the enemy. This fosse had, un- 

 doubtedly, once been supplied with water; but, to judge from ap- 

 pearances, it had been dry for some time. Under any circumstances 

 it was an awkward feature, since the enemy could have all the ad- 



