ceedings of our patriotic allies. It was soon observable that more than half their number had gone off to the rear, under the pretence of their ammunition being expended, while those who remained merely loaded and fired off their pieces in the direction of the distant enemy, to the great waste of powder and ball, but without working the smallest mischief on their foes. The manner in which they made their own personal assurance doubly sure in this matter, was described as being ludicrous enough. They first ran to the brow of the hill, from whence they got a glimpse of the enemy, sitting at his ease in a field, and then, having fired, ran back again a hundred yards to reload in security.
“This sham fighting lasted for nearly half an hour, when the French, who by this time had taken sufficient rest, rose from the ground, buckled on their great coats and knapsacks, but without any fuss, or seeming to care one straw about the Spaniards, and advanced slowly up the hill, directly in the face of their fire[1].”
As the main body drew near, some riflemen threw themselves in the front, and, under the protection of every piece of uneven ground, kept up a destructive fire on the patriots. In vain did Lieutenant Thruston urge a body of men he had placed in reserve, to advance, and support the broken line. About fifty French dragoons, who had gained the hill by a circuitous route, soon made their appearance on the high level ground in the rear. Their presence alone decided the business; for in a very few minutes the hill was deserted by all except the old Spanish soldiers, not exceeding 100 in number. These brave men stood to the last, and drew off in good order to some broken ground on the left, thereby covering the retreat of Lieutenant Thruston, who succeeded in reaching the sea-shore, accompanied by his friends Lapido and Camano. The fugitives, who followed their motions, re-assembled on the beach, about a mile from the scene of action, and there met the boats of the Endymion, under the command of her first lieutenant. Thus ended the battle of Corcubion, which the renowned Junta of that place ever afterwards spoke of as a victory.
After this, the armed peasantry of Gallicia never acted together again in any great force, but dividend themselves into
- ↑ See Hall’s “Fragments of Voyages and Travels,” vol. iii, pp. 6–78.
