The boats plied their oars vigorously, and the French soldiers cheered;
they were but some three hundred yards away when first discovered. The
Portuguese were coming rapidly up at the double. Terence shouted that not
a shot was to be fired until he gave the order. He was obeyed by his own
men, but the peasants at once began a wild fire at the boats. By the time
these were within fifty yards of the shore Terence saw with satisfaction
that fully a company had come up. The men stood firmly, although the balls
from the French battery ploughed up the ground around them.
"Wait until the first boat grounds," Terence shouted again. Another minute
and the first fishing-boat touched the shore. Then the horn sounded, and
the front line of the Portuguese poured a terrible volley into it. A few
of the French soldiers only succeeded in gaining the land, and these were
at once shot down. Then the troops opened a rolling fire upon the other
boats. The French replied with their musketry, but their fire was feeble.
They had expected to have effected a landing with but slight opposition,
and the concentrated fire of the troops and the peasantry convinced them
that, even should they gain the shore, they would be greatly outnumbered,
and would be shot down before they could gather in any regular formation.
Many of the rowers, who were Spanish peasants forced into the work, had
fallen.
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