The men near at once formed up and got in motion, those in the houses
poured out, and in two minutes the whole force were going up the hill at a
trot, but still preserving their order. Five minutes later the head of the
French column poured over the bridge. Just as the troops reached the place
of encampment the fire of the battery ceased suddenly.
CHAPTER XVIII
MARY O'CONNOR
Never was a large force of men driven from a very strong position,
carefully prepared and defended by a vast number of guns, so quickly and
easily as were the Portuguese before Oporto. The bishop, after rejecting
Soult's summons and disregarding his prayers to save the city from ruin,
suddenly lost heart, and after all his boasting, slipped away after dark
to the Serra Convent, leaving the command to the generals of the army. The
feint which Soult had made with Merle's division the night before against
the Portuguese left succeeded perfectly, the Portuguese massing their
forces on that side to resist the expected attack.
Soult's real intentions, however, were to break through the centre of the
line and then to drive the Portuguese right and left away from the town,
while he pushed a body of troops straight through the city to seize the
bridge and thus cut off all retreat. Accordingly he commenced the attack
on both wings.
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