1830.] The Captain of Rifles. 445 



of the Highland company, which we had at that time in the regiment. 

 I found them on piquet, half of them posted at a mud cottage, and half 

 of them in a ruined convent close under the walls. 



" We could not show our noses at any point without being fired at ; 

 but as we were posted there merely to protect the right flank of the 

 trenches from any sortie, we did not fire at them, and kept as quiet as 

 could be, considering the deadly blast that was blowing around us. 

 There are but few situations in life where something may not be 

 learned, and I stood indebted to my twenty-four hours residence there 

 for a more correct knowledge of martial sounds than in the study of 

 my whole life before. 



" They must be an unmusical pair of ears that cannot inform the 

 wearer whether a cannon or a musket played last ; but the various 

 notes from their respective mouths admit of nice distinctions. My party 

 was too small, and too well sheltered to repay the enemy for the 

 expense of shells and round shot, but the quantity of grape and mus- 

 ketry aimed at our particular heads, made a concert of first and second 

 whistles ; while the more sonorous voice of the round shot, travelling to 

 our friends on the left, acted as a thorough bass : and there was not a 

 shell that passed over us to the trenches, that did not send back a frag- 

 ment among us as soon as it burst." 



Two practicable breaches were soon made. On the 1 9th of January 

 the assault was made, at eight in the evening, by the third and light 

 divisions ; the latter being appointed to the left breach. The storming 

 party, consisting of three officers, and a hundred men from each regi- 

 ment of the division, rushed forward at the signal. The enemy were 

 prepared for them ; and the space which the troops had to pass was 

 instantly in a blaze with fire-balls, and swept with grape and mus- 

 ketry, which, as the captain justly observes, " are the devil's own 

 brooms." 



As he was one of the officers employed on this party, he gives us 

 the following reflections, worthy of him equally as a soldier and a phi- 

 losopher : " The advantage of being on a storming party is consi- 

 dered as giving the prior claim to be put out of pain ; for they receive 

 the first fire, which is generally the best ; not to mention that they are 

 expected to receive the earliest salutation from beams of timber, 

 hand-grenades, and other missiles. But I experienced no such pre- 

 ference, for, as every ball has a considerable distance to travel, I have 

 generally found them equally ready to pick up their man at the end, as 

 at the beginning of their flight ; luckily, too, the other proportions 

 cannot always be adjusted at the moment ; so that, on the whole, the 

 odds are prettynear, that all concerned come in for an equal share of 

 whatever happens to be going on." 



The assault was triumphant. The struggle at the breach was brief; 

 and, in less than half an hour from the advance, the fortress, one of the 

 strongest in the Peninsula, was captured. 



The next morning, the fifth division took charge of the town, and the 

 rifles, and other regiments of the light division, marched out. Yet they 

 had provided for themselves handsomely, short as the tiA was. 

 " Lord Wellington happened to be riding in at the gate at the time 

 when we were marching out, and had the curiosity to ask the officer of 

 the leading company what regiment it was ? for there was scarcely a 

 vestige of uniform among the men ; some of whom were dressed in 



