Under Wellington's Command: A Tale of the Peninsular War

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Henty George Alfred. Under Wellington's Command: A Tale of the Peninsular War

Preface

Chapter 1: A Detached Force

Chapter 2: Talavera

Chapter 3: Prisoners

Chapter 4: Guerillas

Chapter 5: An Escape

Chapter 6: Afloat

Chapter 7: A French Privateer

Chapter 8: A Smart Engagement

Chapter 9: Rejoining

Chapter 10: Almeida

Chapter 11: The French Advance

Chapter 12: Fuentes D'Onoro

Chapter 13: From Salamanca To Cadiz

Chapter 14: Effecting A Diversion

Chapter 15: Dick Ryan's Capture

Chapter 16: Back With The Army

Chapter 17: Ciudad Rodrigo

Chapter 18: The Sack Of A City

Chapter 19: Gratitude

Chapter 20: Salamanca

Chapter 21: Home Again

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"Here we are in June, and the sun getting hotter and hotter, and the whisky just come to an end, though we have been mighty sparing over it, and nothing to eat but ration beef. Begorrah, if it wasn't for the bastely drill, I should forget that I was a soldier at all. I should take meself for a convict, condemned to stop all me life in one place. At first there was something to do, for one could forage for food dacent to eat; but now I don't believe there is as much as an old hen left within fifteen miles, and as for ducks and geese, I have almost forgotten the taste of them."

"It is not lively work, O'Grady, but it is worse for me here. You have got Dicky Ryan to stir you up and keep you alive, and O'Flaherty to look after your health and see that you don't exceed your allowance; while practically I have no one but Herrara to speak to, for though Bull and Macwitty are excellent fellows in their way, they are not much as companions.

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"Quite so, and Sir Arthur could not expect it. My own opinion is that we shall have fifty thousand men coming down from the north. I have told the chief as much; but naturally he will believe the assurances of the Spanish juntas, rather than reports gathered by our spies; and no doubt hopes to crush Victor altogether, before Soult makes any movement; and he trusts to Venegas' advance, from the south towards the upper Tagus, to cause Don Joseph to evacuate Madrid, as soon as he hears of Victor's defeat.

"But I have, certainly, no faith whatever in either Venegas or Cuesta. Cuesta is loyal enough, but he is obstinate and pig headed and, at present, he is furious because the Supreme Junta has been sending all the best troops to Venegas, instead of to him; and he knows, well enough, that that perpetual intriguer Frere is working underhand to get Albuquerque appointed to the supreme command. As to Venegas, he is a mere tool of the Supreme Junta and, as likely as not, they will order him to do nothing but keep his army intact.

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