"A poor young officer (lieutenant in an English light cavalry regiment) expired under the pain of his mortifying wounds and accumulated sufferings. This event caused a temporary halt. By the side of the mule-track, which crossed that arid plain, we hastily made a little grave, about a foot deep, and laid him down, yet warm, in his uniform, and coffinless. A little of the blood-stained straw from the waggons was spread over his face, and then we covered him up, heaping the dry dusty soil over him by our feet, by the butts of muskets, and blades of bayonets, to keep the wolves from disturbing his rest. Near this lonely grave there flowed a little fountain from a rude stone duct, which had been made in the days of old, 'en tiempo antique,' as a mule-driver told me. In twenty minutes after, we were all again en route, with the mule-bells jangling and the wheels jarring, as if nothing had happened; but his place in the waggon was soon supplied, as every hour some of my convalescent guard became unable to endure the weight of their trappings, and had to be placed among the sick. Thus our progress was so slow that night was closing before we entered La Guardia, a small town, about sixteen miles from Aranjuez.
"As we clambered and toiled up the rocky ridge which it crowns, on the right bank of the Cedron, Crogan and I, who rode in front, were surprised to find the little town almost deserted, and that a few of the inhabitants who had lingered until we were close at hand, were retiring from it on the other side, some on foot and others on mules, but all bearing away their goods and chattels, beds and furniture. Entering, we found it empty; and as there were neither alcalde nor alguazils to go through the farce of distributing billets, we quartered ourselves wherever we best could. After conveying all the wounded from the waggons into the great convent (I carried Dr. Quill on my back, for he was weak as a child), there we laid them, in rows, on the tiled floors; and, after filling their canteens with water, left them to warm themselves the best way they could, for we were wearied almost to death by the slow loitering march of the past day, under a scorching Castilian sun.
"La Guardia is surrounded by a strong but ruinous fortified wall, which was built in the olden time to defend the district from the incursions of the Moors; and at each end it had a gate, whereon I posted a guard of a corporal and three men; for as the whole country swarmed with thieves and guerilla deserters, I knew not what picaros might be lurking in the old gypsum quarries near the Cedron.