So, as I don't mean to be trapped
there, we will rest on our laurels until we see how matters go."
It was well for the corps that Terence abstained from joining the army at
Braga. As the French entered the pass of Benda Nova, the peasants rushed
furiously down upon them. Many broke into the French columns, and fighting
desperately, were slain. The survivors made their way up the hillside, and
then making a detour, fell upon the rear of the column, killed fifty
stragglers and plundered the baggage. This spontaneous action of the
peasants was the only attempt made to bar the advance of the French, and
Friere permitted them to pass through defile after defile without firing a
shot. His conduct aroused the fury of his troops, and the feeling was
fanned by agents of the bishop, who had now become jealous of him, and his
men rushing upon him dragged him from a house in which he had taken
refuge, and slew him--a fit end to the career of a man who had proved
himself as unpatriotic as he was incapable.
On the 18th Soult arrived near Braga, and the Portuguese, who were now
commanded by Eben, a German officer in the British service, drew up to
meet him. The French began their advance on the 20th, and half an hour
later the Portuguese army was a mob of fugitives. The vanquished army lost
4,000 men and all their guns, 400 only being taken prisoners; the rest
dispersed in all directions, carrying tales of the invincibility of the
French.
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