suggested.

"It is not aisy to get them off, and how should I get them on again? No;
they have got there, and there they have got to stop, bad cess to them! I
told Hoolan to rub grease into them for an hour last night, but the rascal
was as drunk as an owl."

There was no more talking, for every man felt that an hour's sleep would
do wonders for him; soon absolute quiet reigned in the grove, and
continued until the bugle again called them to their feet. All knew now
that it was Leirya they were making for, and that another ten miles still
remained to be accomplished. A small body of cavalry which accompanied
them now pushed on ahead, and when half the distance had been traversed a
trooper brought back the news that the enemy had not yet reached the town.
It was just six o'clock when the brigade marched in amid the cheers and
wild excitement of the inhabitants. The waggons were not yet up, and the
troops were quartered in the town, tired, and many of them foot-sore, but
proud of the march they had accomplished, and that it had enabled them to
forestall the French.

Laborde, indeed, arrived the same night at Batalha, eight miles distant,
but on receiving the news in the morning that the British had already
occupied Leirya, he advanced no farther. His position was an exceedingly
difficult one; his orders were to cover the march of Loison from Abrantes,
and to form a junction with that general; but to do so now would be to
leave open the road through Alcobaca and Obidos to the commanding position
at Torres Vedras. Batalha offered no position that he could hope to defend
until the arrival of Loison; therefore, sending word to that general to
move from Torras Novas, as soon as he reached that town, to Santarem, and
then to march to join him at Rolica, he fell back to Alcobaca and then to