Chapter 4: Guerillas.
The marches were short, as many of the prisoners were still weakand, indeed, among their guard were many convalescents who hadrecently been discharged from the hospital at Toledo, and who weregoing back to France. The little column was accompanied by fourwaggons, two of which were intended for the conveyance of any whoshould prove unable to march; and the others were filled withprovisions for consumption by the way, together with a few tents,as many of the villages that would be their halting places were toosmall to afford accommodation for the 400 men, even if every housewas taken up for the purpose. Although the first day's march wasonly twelve miles, the two empty waggons were quite full beforethey reached their halting place; and many of the guard had placedtheir guns and cartridge boxes on the other carts.
It was now the middle of August, and the heat in the valley of theTagus was overpowering. The convoy, however, had marched at six inthe morning; and halted at eight, in the shade of a large olivewood; and did not continue its march until five in the afternoon.The night was so warm that the English prisoners, and many of theirguards, preferred lying down in the open and throwing the blanket(with which each had been furnished) over him to keep off the dew,to going into the stuffy cottages, where the fleas would give themlittle chance of rest.
On the third day they arrived at the village of Escurial. The nextmorning they began to mount the pass over the Sierra, and sleptthat night in an empty barracks, at Segovia. Here they left themain road leading through Valladolid and took one more to the east,stopping at small villages until they arrived at Aranda, on theDouro. Thence they marched due north, to Gamonal.
They were now on the main road to the frontier, passed throughMiranda and Zadorra, and began to ascend the slopes of thePyrenees. The marches had, for some days, been considerably longerthan when they first started. The invalids had gained strength and,having no muskets to carry, were for the most part able to marcheighteen or twenty miles without difficulty. Four had been leftbehind in hospital at Segovia, but with these exceptions all hadgreatly benefited by steady exercise, and an ample supply of food.
"I could do a good deal of travelling, in this way," one of theofficers said, as they marched out from Miranda. "Just enoughexercise to be pleasant; no trouble about baggage or route, orwhere one is to stop for the night; nothing to pay, and everythingmanaged for you. What could one want for, more?"
"We could do with a little less dust," Dick Ryan said, with alaugh; "but we cannot expect everything."
"Unfortunately, there will be an end to our marching, and not avery pleasant one," Terence said. "At present, one scarcelyrecognizes that one is a prisoner. The French officers certainly doall in their power to make us forget it; and their soldiers, andours, try their best to hold some sort of conversation together. Ifeel that I am making great progress in French, and it isespecially jolly when we halt for the night, and get the bivouacfires burning, and chat and laugh with the French officers asthough we were the best friends in the world."
The march was, indeed, conducted in a comfortable and easy fashion.At starting, the prisoners marched four abreast, and the French twoabreast at each side; but before a mile had been passed the orderwas no longer strictly observed, and the men trudged along, smokingtheir pipes, laughing and talking, the French and Englishalternately breaking into a marching song. There was no fear of theprisoners trying to escape. They could, at night, have got awayfrom their guards easily enough; but there was nowhere for them togo, if they had done so. The English, smarting from the cruelty andill faith of the inhabitants of Talavera and the Spanishauthorities, felt a burning hatred of the Spanish; while theSpaniards, on their side, deceived by the lying representations oftheir Juntas, had no love whatever for the English, though readyenough to receive money and arms from them.
On leaving Zadorra, the French officer in command said to Terence:
"Now, colonel, we shall have to be more careful during our marches,keeping a sharp lookout at night. The country here is infested byguerillas, whom all our efforts cannot eradicate. The mountains ofNavarre and Biscay are full of them. Sometimes they are in bands offifteen or twenty strong, sometimes they are in hundreds. Some ofthem are at ordinary times goatherds, shepherds, muleteers, andpeasants; but a number of them are disbanded soldiers--the remainsof armies we have defeated and broken up, and who prefer this wildlife in the mountains to returning to their homes. Our convoys areconstantly attacked, and have always to be accompanied by a strongguard."
"As we have no waggons with us, I should think that they wouldhardly care to molest us," Terence said.
"That renders it less likely, certainly, colonel; but they fightfrom hatred as much as for booty, and no French soldier who fallsinto their hands is ever spared. Generally they are put to deathwith atrocious tortures. At first there was no such feeling hereand, when my regiment was quartered at Vittoria, some three yearsago, things were quiet enough. You see, the feeling gradually grew.No doubt some of our men plundered. Many of the regiments werecomposed of young conscripts, with very slight notions ofdiscipline. Those from the country districts were, as a rule, quietlads enough; but among those from the towns, especially such placesas Toulouse, Lyons, and Marseilles, were young scoundrels ready forany wickedness, and it is to these that the troubles we now haveare largely due.
"Of course the peasants, when they were able to do so, retaliatedupon these marauders. The feeling of hatred grew, on both sides.Straggling parties of our men were surrounded, captured, and thenhung, shot, or burnt alive.
"Then, on our side, villages were destroyed and the peasants shotdown. Lately, that is, after the defeats of their armies, numbersof fugitives took to the hills, threw away their uniforms, obtainedpeasants' dresses, and set up as what they called guerillas, whichis only another term for bandits; for although their efforts arechiefly directed against us, they do not hesitate to plunder theirown people, when they need provisions, and are a perfect scourge toall the villages among the hills between the Bay of Biscay and theMediterranean. Of course, they are strongest along the line ofcommunication with France; but it may be said that, roughly, wherethere are mountains there are guerillas, though there are but fewof them along the hills we crossed between the valley of the Tagusand that of the Douro.
"This is for two reasons: in the first place, there are very fewvillages, and they would have difficulty in maintaining themselves;and in the second place, because hitherto Leon and Old Castile, onthe north of the Sierra, have always been under different commandsto that in the Tagus valley, and therefore there has been but smallcommunication between them, except by messengers with despatchesfrom Madrid. The passes have scarcely been used and, indeed, inwinter they are practically altogether impassable; except thatalong the valley of the Ebro. We found that to our cost, when wemarched with Napoleon to cut off your British General Moore. Welost nearly two days getting through them, and the delay saved yourarmy."
"Yes, it was a very close thing," Terence said. "As I have toldyou, I was with Moore; and if the troops from the south had come upbut six hours earlier, it would have gone very hard with us."
"It was an awful time," the officer said, "and I think our armymust have suffered quite as much as yours did. Soult's force wasreduced fully to half its strength, when he first arrived on thathill near Corunna. Of course the stragglers came in rapidly, but agreat number never returned to their colours again--some died ofcold and hardship, others were cut off and murdered by thepeasantry. Altogether, we had an awful time of it. Your men were,in one respect, better off than ours; for your stragglers were notregarded with hostility by the peasants, whereas no mercy was shownto ours."
"Yes, major, one of the battalions that fought at Talavera wasentirely composed of men who had straggled in the retreat, and whoafterwards succeeded in gaining the Portuguese frontier."
That evening they halted, for the night, at a small village high upin the passes. The French officer took every precaution againstsurprise. Twenty sentries were placed at vari
ous points round thevillage; and as many more were posted, in pairs, three or fourhundred yards farther out.
At three in the morning, several shots were fired. The troops allgot under arms, and parties were sent out to the outposts. At twoof these posts both the sentries were found stabbed to the heart.At others men had been seen crawling up towards them, and the shotsthat had aroused the troops had been fired. The outposts wererecalled to the village, and the soldiers remained under arms untilmorning.
As soon as it was daybreak a scattered fire opened from the hillson either side of the valley, and it was evident that these wereoccupied by strong parties. The villagers, on being questioned,denied all knowledge of these bands; but under threats said thatthey had heard that Minas, with a very strong force, was in theneighbourhood, and that the Impecinado had been reported to beamong the hills between the pass and that of Roncesvalles.
"What strength do you put them down at, colonel?" the major askedTerence.
"I should say, from what we can see of them, that there must befour or five hundred on each hill."
"They must have had information from their spies at Zadorra,colonel, and half a dozen bands must have united to crush us.
"Diable, that was a good shot!" he exclaimed, as his shako wasstruck from his head by a bullet. "That is the worst of thesefellows. They are uncommonly good shots. You see, almost all thesemountain men are accustomed to carry guns, and the charcoal burnersand shepherds eke out a living by shooting game and sending it downto the towns."
"What are you thinking of doing, major?"
"I shall hold the village," the latter replied. "We might getthrough the pass, but I doubt whether we should do so; and if wedid, my men and yours would suffer terribly. Can I rely upon yourfellows keeping quiet?"
"I think so. At any rate, we will all go round and order them to doso."
There was, however, no necessity to impress this on the men. Two ofthem had already been wounded by the guerillas' fire.
"Why, sir," one of them said, "if we had but muskets here, we wouldturn out and help the French to drive those fellows off. The Frenchhave behaved very well to us, while the Spaniards did their best tostarve us to death; and there ain't one of us who wouldn't jump atthe chance of paying them out."
"All right, men!" said Terence. "I agree with you, as to thetreatment you have received; however, we are not here to fight. Weare prisoners, and have nothing to do with the fray, one way or theother; though I don't mean to say that I should not, myself, beglad to see the French beat the guerillas off."
The other officers found the same spirit among the soldiers theyquestioned.
"I quite agree with them," one of the officers said, "and if therewere muskets handy I would not mind leading them, myself, if itwere not for the uniform. Sir Arthur would scarcely be pleased if,among all his other worries, he got a despatch from the centralJunta, complaining that a large number of innocent peasants hadbeen killed by English troops, fighting by the side of the French."
Gradually the guerillas drew in towards the village, takingadvantage of every stone and bush, and rarely giving a chance tothe French infantry. Their aim was exceedingly accurate and,whenever a French soldier showed himself from behind a hut to fire,he was fortunate if he got back again without receiving a bullet.
"This is getting serious," the French major said, coming into thecottage where the English officers were gathered. "I have lostthirty-eight killed and wounded, already. I have had the woundedcarried into the church, and some of your men are unloading theprovision waggons, and taking the contents inside. They haverequisitioned every utensil that will hold water in the village. Nodoubt we shall be able to hold out there till some other detachmentcomes along the road."
"I think that it is a very good plan, major," Terence said. "Theywould hardly be able to carry it by assault, unless they burnt downthe door; and you ought to be able to prevent them from doingthat."
Half an hour later, the whole French force was collected in thechurch. As soon as the Spaniards found what had happened, theyspeedily entered the village; and opened fire from every windowgiving a view of the church, and from loopholes that they quicklymade in the walls.
Terence noticed that, when the British soldiers entered the church,most of them carried heavy staves. A sergeant came up, and saluted.
"We have had four men killed and eight wounded, sir. The mendeclare that they are not going to stand still and see the Frenchmurdered by these fellows, and I doubt if any orders will keep themback."
"Very well, sergeant. I will speak to them, presently.
"Now, gentlemen," he said, to the other officers, "three of you aresenior to me in our own army and, though I own that I don't knowhow matters should stand, holding as I do Lord Beresford'scommission as colonel, I am perfectly willing to place myself underthe orders of whoever may be senior of you."
"I believe I am the senior," one of the captains said; "but Ishould imagine that Lord Beresford's commission would, for thetime, rank just as if it had been signed by our own authorities.Moreover, you are on Wellesley's staff. You have seen more serviceout here than any of us, and I think that you are certainlyentitled to the command; though really, I don't see what we can do,in our uniforms."
"I quite agree with you, Captain Travers, and therefore my proposalis that we shall all take them off, and fight in our shirt sleeves.The guerillas will then not be able to affirm that there were anymen in English uniforms assisting the French."
"I think the idea is an excellent one," Captain Travers said.
"Then in that case I will act upon it;" and Terence went up to theEnglish soldiers, who were standing in a group in the middle of thechurch.
"I am sure you quite understand, my men," he said, "that it wouldnever do for you to be fighting, in British uniforms, against theSpaniards; otherwise, I leave the matter in your hands. But I maymention that it is the intention of myself, and the other officers,to defend this church without our coats and caps. If any of youlike to do the same, of course you can join us. I give no orderswhatever on the subject, but you see that it would get rid of theinconvenience of soldiers, in British uniforms, fighting againstthe Spaniards."
The men answered with a shout of satisfaction, mingled withlaughter and, in less than a minute, the scarlet uniforms haddisappeared. The muskets of the French killed and wounded wereappropriated, and the rest of the English prisoners seized theirclubs.
For some hours the fight continued and, from the roof of the churchbelfry and windows, a hot fire answered the incessant fusillade ofthe Spaniards. The French and English officers were obliged,constantly, to impress upon the men that they must husband theirammunition; as there was no saying how long they might be besiegedbefore a detachment, strong enough to turn the scale, arrived.
"Maintain a fire heavy enough to make them keep at it. Theirammunition is likely to run short as soon as ours, and there is notmuch chance of their being able to replenish it. But don't fire atrandom. Let every bullet tell. Take a steady aim at the windowsthrough which they are firing."
Late in the afternoon the fire of the guerillas slackened a gooddeal, and it was evident that their leaders were enjoining them notto waste their ammunition. As it became dark, the officers gatheredagain in the body of the church. The total loss had risen tothirty-two killed and fifty wounded, the English casualties beingabout a third of the whole.
"It is a heavy loss," the major said, "and I have noticed that, asthe fire slackened, the proportion of men hit has been larger. Isuppose that they are only keeping their best shots at work."
"I should fancy," Terence said, "that if we were to make a sortie,we could scatter them altogether. As soon as it is dark we mightget out by that sacristy door at the rear. They gave up the attackon that side some time ago, as they could not get any shelter; andwhen they found that was so, they betook themselves to houses wherethey were better covered. If we were to go out noiselessly andsweep round the village; so as to fall upon it in two bodies, oneat each end; they wil
l take us for a body of troops just arrived.Even if they do hear us, as we go out, we can go straight at them;and should, I have no doubt, be able to clear the place with arush.
"The only thing is, major, I should be glad if your soldiers wouldtake off their coatees, too, so that there would be nothing todistinguish our men from yours. What do you think?"
"I think that it will be much the best plan," Captain Travers said."In the first place, it is probable that they will try to burn usout, tonight; and we could not hope to prevent their piling faggotsagainst the doors, in the dark. For that reason, alone, I thinkthat it will be much better to attack them than wait for them toattack us.
"We need only leave some twenty of the less seriously wounded mento guard the place. When we sally out, the guerillas will haveplenty to do without making an attack on the church. I certainlythink that we are not likely to lose so many lives in a sortie aswe should do in the defence, here, against a night attack."
"I certainly am of your opinion, colonel," the French major said;"and if you and your men will join us, I have no doubt that weshall be able to clear the village."
As soon as it became quite dark, the men on the roof were allcalled down; with the exception of one or two, who were ordered tocontinue to fire from various spots there and in the belfry, sothat the Spaniards should not discover that the garrison had beenwithdrawn. Then the French were drawn up, and divided into twoparties. The English who had muskets were told off, in equalnumbers, to each of these parties; as were those who had nothingbut their clubs. The major then ordered his soldiers to take offtheir coats, and to leave their shakos behind them.
The French major took the command of one party, and asked Terenceto take command of the other. This he declined.
"No, sir, it is better that one of your own officers should be incommand. We will divide ourselves between the two parties."
The major now impressed upon his men the necessity for absolutequiet, and for marching as lightly and silently as possible. TheEnglish officers gave similar instructions to their men. It wasarranged that, when the door was opened, the two parties shouldissue out simultaneously, two abreast; so that if the alarm wasgiven before all were out, they would be able to turn right andleft, and attack in both directions at once. A French lieutenantwas appointed to remain in the church, and command the littlegarrison of wounded men.
Those who sallied out were to stoop low as they went, and were tokeep a few paces apart. Some hangings in the church were pulleddown and torn up into strips, with which the men were directed tomuffle their boots.
There was no mistaking the ardour with which the soldiers preparedfor the sortie. Both English and French were indignant at beingpent up by a foe they thoroughly despised, and were eager to be atthe enemy. The casualties added to their wrath; one of the Frenchofficers had been killed, and another hurt seriously; while threeof the English had also been wounded, though in each case butslightly.
The bolts of the door were noiselessly drawn, and that of the lockforced back; then the two little parties stole out, in the order inwhich they had been directed. The guerillas had just begun to fireheavily, as a prelude, Terence had no doubt, to a serious attackupon the church. Fortunately there were no houses at the back ofthe church, and no shout indicated that the party were seen. Theytherefore kept together, until fifty or sixty yards from the door;then they separated, and continued their way to the ends of thevillage to which they had been, respectively, assigned.
Then at one end of the village a French trumpeter sounded thecharge, and two drummers at the other beat the same order,vigorously, and with loud cheers they rushed down the street, theFrench and English alike shouting. It had been arranged that, whilethe French held their way straight on, shooting down the Spaniardsas they poured out into the street, the British should break upinto small detachments, burst their way into the houses, andoverpower the enemy there. They found the first houses they entereddeserted, and the soldiers uttered exclamations of impatience asthey heard the heavy roll of firing in the main street. As theyapproached the centre of the village, however, they came upon anumber of the Spaniards rushing from their houses.
The men who had arms opened fire at once upon them, while thosewith clubs dashed forward, levelling the panic-stricken guerillasto the ground with their heavy blows, and arming themselves withtheir muskets and bandoleers. Thus the firing soon became general,and the Spaniards, struck with utter dismay, and believing thatthey had been attacked by a heavy column that had just arrived,speedily took to headlong flight, most of them throwing away theirarms as they fled. In some of the houses there were short butdesperate conflicts but, in a quarter of an hour after the firstshot was fired, there was not a guerilla remaining alive in thevillage, upwards of a hundred and fifty having been killed; whileon the side of their assailants only some fifteen had been killed,and twenty-eight wounded.
They soon formed up in the street, and were told off, in parties oftwelve, to the houses in the outskirts of the village. Three ineach party were to keep watch, by turns, while the rest slept. AnEnglish officer was to remain in charge on one side of the street,and a French officer on the other. The rest went back to thechurch, whose doors were now thrown open.
"I thank you most heartily, gentlemen," the French officer said, toTerence and to the other British officers, "for the immense servicethat you have rendered us. Had it not been for your aid, ourposition would have been a very precarious one, before morning. Asit is, I think we need fear no further interruption. We are now allarmed; and as, with the wounded fit for work, we are still threehundred strong, we should beat off any force likely to attack us;though indeed, I have no belief that they will rally again. At anyrate, their losses have been extremely heavy; and the streets werecompletely strewn with guns, so that I doubt whether half of thosewho got away have carried their weapons with them."
The next morning, indeed, it was found that in all about 400muskets had been left behind. All that remained over, after armingthe British soldiers, were broken up and thrown down the wells.Enough provisions were collected, among the houses, to furnish thewhole with three or four days' rations. The dead were buried in afield near the village, those wounded too severely to march wereplaced in the waggons; and the rest, who had now resumed theiruniforms, set out in high spirits. They were in the same order asbefore, but the prisoners were told to carry their muskets at thetrail, while the French shouldered theirs; so that, viewed from adistance, the British should appear unarmed.
"That has been a grand bit of excitement, Terence," Dick Ryan saidgleefully to his friend, as they marched along together. "Thosefellows certainly fight a good deal more pluckily than the regulartroops do. It was a capital idea to make all the men take off theiruniforms, for I don't suppose the Spaniards, even for a moment,dreamt that we were among their assailants; at any rate, they haveno proof that we were.
"You really must get me as your adjutant, Terence. I see there isvery much more fun to be got out of your sort of fighting thanthere is with the regiment. I am very pleased, now, that I stuck toPortuguese as you advised me; though it was a great bore, atfirst."
"I hope, Dicky, we sha'n't find, when we get back in the spring,that the corps has been turned over to Beresford as part of hisregular command; for I must say that I quite appreciate theadvantage of independence.
"Well, this business ought to do us some good. No doubt the majorwill report, in warm terms, the assistance we have rendered him;and we shall get good treatment. Of course, some of their prisonsmust be better than others and, if they will confine us in someplace near the frontier, instead of marching us half throughFrance, it will make it all the easier for us to get away. It isnot the getting out of prison that is the difficulty, but thetravelling through the country. I am getting on well with myFrench, but there is no hope of being able to speak well enough topass as a native. As for you, you will have to keep your mouth shutaltogether, which will be mightily difficult."
"You will manage it somehow, Terence. I have no
fear of you gettingme through the country. It is getting out of the country thatseems, to me, the difficulty."
"There is one thing, Dicky. We need be in no hurry about it. Thereis little chance of fighting beginning for another six or sevenmonths and, directly we come to the end of our march, wherever itmay be, we must begin to pick up as much French as we can, from ourguards. In three or four months I ought, at least, to be able toanswer questions; not perhaps in good French, but in French as goodas, say, a Savoyard workman or musician might be able to muster."
"Oh, Lor'!" Dick Ryan said, with a deep sigh, "you don't mean tosay that I must begin to work on another language, just after Ihave been slaving, for the last six months, at Portuguese?"
"Not unless you like, Dicky. I can either start alone, or withsomeone else who has some knowledge of French; but I am not goingto run the risk of being recaptured by taking anyone with me whocares so little for liberty that he grudges three or four hours'work, a day, to get up the means of making his escape."
"Oh, of course I shall learn," Ryan said pettishly. "You always getyour own way, Terence. It was so at Athlone: you first of all beganby asking my opinion, and then carried out things exactly as youproposed, yourself. Learning the language is a horrid nuisance, butI see that it has to be done."
"I expect, Dicky, you will have to make up as a woman. You see, youare not much taller than a tallish woman."
"Well, that would be rather a lark," Ryan said; "only don't youthink I should be almost too good-looking for a French woman?"
"You might be that, Dicky. It is certainly a drawback. If I couldget hold of a good-sized monkey's skin, I might sew you up in it."
"A bear skin would be better, I should say," Dick laughed; "but Idon't think anyone would think that it was a real bear. I saw achap with one once, at Athlone: no man could open his mouth as wideas that beast did; and as to its tongue, it would be four times aslong as mine. No, I think the woman idea would be best; but Ishould have to shave very close."
"Shave!" Terence repeated, scornfully. "Why, I could not see anyhair on your face with a magnifying glass. If that were the onlydrawback, the matter could be arranged without difficulty."
Without farther adventure, they crossed the mountains and came downto Bayonne. At each halting place where French troops werestationed, the British prisoners were received with warmhospitality by them, when they learned from their comrades that theBritish had fought side by side with the French against theguerillas, and had saved them from what might have been a veryserious disaster. The French shook hands with them warmly, pattedthem on the shoulders, with many exclamations of "Braves garcons!"and they were led away to cafes, and treated as the heroes of theday, while the officers were entertained by those of the garrison.
At Bayonne they and their escort parted on the most cordial terms,the French exclaiming that it was a shame such brave fellows shouldbe held as prisoners; and that they ought to be released at once,and sent back in a ship, with a flag of truce, to Portugal.
The major, after handing over the soldiers to the prisonauthorities, took Terence and the other British officers to theheadquarters of the governor of the town; and introduced them tohim, giving him a lively account of the fight with the guerillas,and the manner in which the prisoners, armed only with clubs andthe muskets of the soldiers no longer able to use them, had madecommon cause with the French and, joining them in the sortie,defeated the Spanish with heavy loss. The governor expressed,courteously, his thanks to the officers for the part they hadtaken.
"I shall forward Major Marcy's report to headquarters, gentlemen,and shall be happy to give you the liberty of the town on parole. Ihave no doubt that, if no other good comes of your adventure, youwill be placed among an early list of officers to be exchanged."
"I am very much obliged to you, general," Terence said, "but I andLieutenant Ryan would prefer not to give our parole. I don't say weare likely to make our escape but, at any rate, we should like tobe able to take any opportunity, if we saw one."
The general smiled.
"Of course, it must be as you like, sir; but I think that you arewrong. However, at any time, if you like to change your minds, Iwill give instructions to the officer in command of the prison torelease you, immediately you give your parole not to leave thetown."
The matter had been talked over on the march, and the others nowexpressed their willingness to give their parole. They had toldTerence they thought he was wrong, and that it would be impossibleto make an escape, as it would be necessary to traverse either thewhole of Spain or the whole of France before he could find anymeans of rejoining the army; and that, before long, they might beexchanged.
"I don't think there is a prospect of an early exchange," Terencesaid. "There cannot have been many prisoners taken, during thisshort campaign; and I don't suppose there will be any talk ofexchanges, for some time to come. I am particularly anxious to getback again, if I possibly can, as I am afraid that my regiment willbe broken up; and that, unless I get back before the campaignbegins in spring, I shall not get the command again. So I mean toget away, if I can. Anyhow, I would just as soon be in prison aswalking about the streets of Bayonne. So I have quite made up mymind not to give my parole."
The officers all returned to the prison quarters assigned to them;the difference being that those on parole could go in and out asthey chose, and could, at will, take their meals in the town; whileTerence and Ryan were placed together in a room, with a sentry atthe door, whose instructions were to accompany them whenever theywished to go beyond the door and to walk in the prison yard, or onthe walls surrounding it.