fell in with a French rear-guard of ten or twelve men; the non-commissioned officer who commanded it immediately ordering us to halt, and give an account of ourselves.

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Señores," said Diego, nothing abashed, "I am going to Benevente with a cargo of Tostado wine."

"And excellent tipple it is," said the sergeant," of which we are sadly in want. Therefore, move on, and report your arrival to the commandant."

"And be sure you include the ladies in your report," said the corporal: for our noble captain loves a pretty girl as well as a sparkling glass."

'Mañana! Mañana!” replied Diego, as he pushed forward towards the main body, under an escort from the rear-guard, who had orders to shoot him instantly if he ventured to deviate from the road, or make any resistance.

All this appeared to me so singular, and my companions seemed so little affected by the perilous position in which we were placed, that I could not help thinking there was some premeditation in the whole affair. I had no time, however, for any explanation with them on the subject, for we soon got up with the main body; this consisted of sixty men, under a captain and subaltern, escorting a convoy of mules and waggons, laden with a miscellaneous collection of articles, the disjecta membra of a hurried march out of snug quarters in Gallicia. It was, in short, the heavy baggage and plunder of a division of French troops, then some twenty miles in advance, on their way to join the army of Massena; and it comprised, amongst other valuable property, several fine paintings by Velasquez and Murillo, which the general commanding the division had taken, as opima spolia, from the shrine of Santiago, together with numerous silver candlesticks, gold ornaments, valuable jewels, rich sacerdotal robes, &c., &c.

The arrival of Diego and his cargo of Tostado wine being notified to the commandant, he condemned it instanter, as good and lawful capture, and ordered our arriero to join the cortége accordingly. Both the commandant and his subaltern eyed Doña Maria and myself with looks of eager curiosity and evident interest; and the former, having inquired who we were, Diego coolly replied that it was his wife and sister, going to a neighbouring convent, where his sister was to take the veil.

We soon after approached the village of Abavides, which lay in the bottom of a narrow valley, through whose centre a mountain torrent urged its foaming course. On the other side of the village rose a precipitous ridge, with a winding pathway to the summit; up this we perceived, slowly wending their way, the inhabitants of the village, led by the alcade and the priest, who were easily distinguished by their black cloaks, and the canoe-shaped hat of the latter. The children, and most valuable effects of the villagers, were borne by strings of mules and asses, followed by the women; while the male peasants, armed with carbines and escopetas, or long-barrelled muskets, brought up the rear.

We accordingly found the village totally deserted on our approach,

and nothing could exceed the ominous silence that reigned around. This, however, did not affect the spirits of the Frenchmen, who jested merrily at the panic of the poor fugitives, and congratulated each other on the easy conquest they were about to accomplish. Having taken possession, in the name of Napoleon the Great, head-quarters were established in the principal mansion of the place, and the two señoras invited to take up their residence there also; the said invitation being, to all intents and purposes, a most peremptory order.

The singular position in which I thus found myself, appeared to me like a dream, and a very unpleasant one too; for I could no otherwise look on my approaching interview with our hospitable entertainers, than as a certain prelude to a French prison, if not to a summary fusillade as a spy, should my sex and country be dis covered. I determined, therefore, to affect a silent, modest, and reserved line of conduct, while at table-for we were invited to dinner and to retire as soon as possible after, under pretence of fatigue.

The mules and baggage-waggons were drawn up in front of the commandant's quarters, and a guard of twenty men told off for their protection; the remainder of the troops were then dismissed, and ordered to billet themselves for the night, à discrétion, or according to their own faney, in the empty houses. I had thus an opportunity of seeing, for the first time, the expertness with which French soldiers accomodate themselves to circumstances. They broke in all directions, into squads and parties of three and four; who ran in and out of the houses like so many ants, in search of plunder, provisions, and cooking utensils: while, if any doors happened to have been locked by their too careful owners, a musket-shot fired into the keyhole speedily disembarrassed them of the obstacle.

By this laudable system, before many minutes had elapsed, our escort seemed to be abundantly furnished with "all appliances and means to boot; " and soon settled down in numerous parties, to prepare their evening meal. But what surprised and displeased me not a little, as I stood at a window of the commandant's drawing-room, which overlooked the moving scene, was to behold that knave Diego, that pious Catholic, and profound hater of the French, actively assisting these bitter enemies of his country to make themselves comfortable at the expense of his unhappy compatriots: nay, actually stealing, every now and then, for their accommodation, and from under the very eyes of the sentinels, a skin-full of that precious Tostado wine with which his mules were laden. In short, to such a pitch did his bonhomie extend, that he supplied the very sentinels them. selves with horn after horn of the precious liquid; which they gulped down with many a Merci!" "Bon enfant !" and " Cher Espagnol !"

for his unaccountable hospitality.

Diego, finally, by his unpatriotic assiduity, became an especial favourite with the whole party, who wrung him by the hand with loud expressions of gratitude, and even consulted him in the arrange. ment of their respective bivouacs. Unable any longer to conceal my

disgust at so flagrant a betrayal of the honour and interest of his country, I turned away from the window, and was met plump by the commandant, who, with the well-known gallantry of his nation, offered me his arm to conduct me to the dinner-table.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE GUERRILLEROS.

OUR Company consisted of the commandant and his subaltern, Doña Maria, and myself; as snug a parti carré as may be met with at any restaurant à trente sous in the Champs Elysées, or the Palais Royal. Lieutenant Derville, a good-looking young fellow, seemed, as if by a preconcerted arrangement, to devote himself exclusively to Doña Maria; while the commandant, an ugly, wizen-faced vieux moustache, was my beau for the nonce.

Our dinner was very good, considering the hasty nature of the cuisine; and I paid it all due honour, for the mountain air had sharpened my appetite. Indeed, our two military friends, as they helped me alternately, plate after plate, must have thought that such an appetite as mine was anything but fit for the spare diet of a convent. I had, however, sufficient command over myself not to drink in proportion; though I anxiously longed to have a good manly swig of the delicious wine which the knave Diego was at that moment serving out to the soldiers.

But this abstemiousness of mine did not prevent my companions from paying due honour to the bottle. Doña Maria herself set the example; every moment challenging our two beaux to hob-nob, in full tumblers of the pure liquid, and taunting them as milksops if they did not do her justice. This she carried to such a degree, that I wondered not only at her want of delicacy, but at her strength of head; which enabled her to stand potations that were evidently making a serious inroad on the brains of the Frenchmen, who had not been long accustomed to the strong wines of the Peninsula.

When the dinner-things were removed, and fresh wine placed upon the table, with the delicious fruit of the country, our two beaux were evidently fuddled. Their conversation became excited, and their pronunciation thick and unintelligible, speaking Spanish, as they both did, badly. Derville hung over his Dulcinea, whispering soft nonsense: to which she, "nothing loth," her ear did seriously incline; not even sparing those little female arts by which the lord of the creation is so often won to his own undoing. Captain Dubardieu, on the contrary, called for his guitar, and sang me a doleful dump from a French opera of the old school, before Auber had infused an Italian soul into the maudlin mass.

When this had continued for some half-hour, amidst the giggling of the other pair of lovers at the little effect it seemed to produce,

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Dubardieu at length arose, made a most elaborate bow, requested me to honour him with a waltz, caught me round the waist with one arm, and thrust his unoccupied hand into my bosom.

Enraged beyond all prudence, and without taking time for reflection, I gave my inamorato such a box on the side of the head, as sent him staggering a dozen paces backwards; till at length he fell over a pine log into the capacious fire-place, amidst a roar of laughter from Derville and his chère amie: the former, mystified as he was, looking upon it as nothing more than a piece of prudery on the part of the nun elect.

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C'est un jeune homme!" cried the commandant, picking himself up, and spluttering out a mouthful of ashes, "C'est un vilain garçon! Ah, coquin! je te paierai pour ça."

He drew his sword accordingly, and made at me with intense fury and tolerable agility; while Derville was so stupified with love and wine, that he looked upon the whole as a jest, and laughed immoderately at the fun.

Not so, however, the commandant, whom I seemed to have effectually sobered; and who, now perfectly master of himself, rushed at me with the most sanguinary intentions. In this predicament, I looked round for something to defend myself; and suckily spying an old broom in a corner, I seized it just in time to parry a thrust that would otherwise have brought my adventures to a permanent close. Foiled in this attempt, Dubardieu renewed his attack with all the skill of which he was master, delivering carte and tierce with a perfection of science that was ingloriously wasted upon an old broomstick; with which I not only managed to defend myself, but gave my adversary several sound whacks upon the ribs that made him grunt and grin like a baboon.

At length, the noise we made in our courses round the room, and the unextinguishable laughter of Derville, in which he was heartily joined by Doña Maria, when she saw that I was more than a match for the old captain, attracted the baggage-guard to the scene of action. Bursting open the door, they all rushed in, drunk and sober as they were, at the critical moment when I had their breathless commandant pinned up in a corner; and throwing themselves upon me in a body, they speedily bore me to the ground.

A spy! a spy!" screamed the commandant, with scarcely breath enough to utter the suggestions of his fury. "A villanous spy! a sacré guerilla!"

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Nay, nay, mon capitaine," said a shrewd non-commissioned officer. "he is at all events no Spaniard. Where will you find a complexion like this in all Gallicia?

Unluckily a scratch of my adversary's point, in one of his savage assaults, had drawn some blood on my cheek, and this being rubbed had removed the brown ointment with which Doña Maria had concealed my northern complexion. A towel and water were now produced; my face was washed, my country discovered as well as my sex; while, to put the matter beyond all doubt, my person being searched, my pistols and my commission were brought to light.

""Tis an English dog, un sacré Jean Rosbif!" cried the captain; "a thousand times worse than a guerilla. I'll hang him instantly, before he does more mischief."

The propriety of this decision was lauded by all. Even Derville, who had come to his senses, acknowledged that it was not only justifiable by the laws of war, but actually necessary for the safety of the convoy; this being evidently threatened with some serious disaster, of which I was doubtless the instrument. Finding myself thus on the point of destruction, for I was ordered to be hanged instantly on a tree before the door, I kicked and struggled with might and main to release myself; but my arms were tied behind my back, and a huge grenadier seized me by the shoulders to drag me out to execution.

At this moment Doña Maria, who had hitherto been a passive spectator of what was going on, uttered a fearful shriek; then stooping down she drew a knife from her garter, the well-known scabbard of the Manolas, and rushing at the grenadier, she plunged it into his abdomen with so deadly an aim and purpose, that he fell dead before his astonished comrades.

With the fury of a tigress deprived of its young, Doña Maria next attacked the others, and inflicted some desperate wounds; accompanying every plunge of her knife with a shriek that rang through the silent village, and was echoed amongst the caverns and hills by which it was surrounded.

She was at length overpowered, her weapon wrenched from her grasp, and the soldiers were about to inflict a summary vengeance on her, when a yell, like the united voices of a thousand fiends, rose on the air, multiplied by the mountain echoes; and this was succeeded by several volleys of small arms, and ferocious cries of

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Abajo malditos gabachos! Boca á tierra ladrones del demonio!" "The guerrilleros! the guerrilleros! cried every voice, as all rushed out pell-mell to make head against the onslaught; while Doña Maria, throwing herself into my arms, exclaimed, as she fainted,

"Sal de mi alma !-you are saved, and I care not for the rest!" Grateful, truly grateful as I was for the timely succour of Doña Maria, I could not avoid shuddering when I reflected that I had so determined a murderess in my arms, and felt that her affection for me was the cause of her ferocity. The singular contrast between her recent frenzy, and the excessive and amiable gentleness she had always hitherto evinced, in my presence at least, also increased my wonder; and opened to my inexperienced mind another fearful chapter in the anatomy of the human heart.

Meanwhile I exerted myself to bring her to her senses: laying her gently down upon a sofa, I bathed her temples with water, till at length she opened her eyes, and gazed around her with a bewildered look. But the volleys of musketry, and the shouts of the combatants outside, having speedily brought her to her recollection, she fixed her eyes upon mine, and throwing her arms round my neck, wept and sobbed in my bosom.

When the first gush of passion had subsided, I tried to comfort,