It had the honour of being specially chosen by Sir John Moore
for its steadiness and good conduct. I was not with it, but was one of
Brigadier-general Fane's aides-de-camp. It was while carrying a message to
him that my horse was killed and I myself stunned by being thrown onto a
heap of stones."
Sir John Cradock nodded, and then opened Romana's despatch. He raised his
eyebrows slightly. He had been accustomed to such appeals for arms and
money, and knew how valueless were the promises that accompanied them.
"What force has General Romana with him?"
"Some two hundred cavalry and three or four thousand peasants, about a
quarter of whom only are armed."
"He says that he expects to be joined by twenty thousand men in a few
days. Have you any means of judging whether this statement is well
founded?"
"That I cannot say. General Romana seems to me to be a man of greater
energy than any Spaniard I have hitherto met, and I know that he has
already sent messages to the priests throughout that part of Galicia
urging upon them the necessity of using their influence among the
peasantry. He got a force together in a very short time, after the
complete defeat and capture of his own command by the French, at the time
of Blake's defeat, and I think that he might do so again, though whether
they would be of any use whatever in the field I cannot say; but should
Soult advance into Portugal, I should think that bands of this sort might
very much harass him.
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