"In one hand I carried my sword, in the other a ham, which I had picked up when overhauling a French caisson. My lieutenant had a small wine-skin, and my ensign a round loaf under his arm; thus, we, the officers of the 1st company, looked forward, to what we deemed, in those hard times, a sumptuous repast, on halting in the quadrangle of the vast and silent palace, from which Joseph and his court had fled but a few hours before, leaving behind many a sign of their hasty departure. Here lay Turkey carpets half torn up; there, velvet hangings but half torn down; in one room were bales of furniture, ornaments, and plate, packed but abandoned; in another lay the remains of a sumptuous feast, the wine was yet in the half-emptied glass; the fork remained in the breast of the turkey; the ashes of a large fire yet smouldered in the vast kitchen, and in each apartment of these long and magnificent suites, which traverse the whole palace of Philip II., were splendid Parisian clocks, with their gilt pendulums yet wagging under crystal shades, and all remaining in statu quo, just as the French fugitives had left them, on the approach of our advanced guard.
"We chose our apartment, seized utensils, and, after a bath in the sandy Xarama to refresh us after our long and dusty march, we sat down to a supper on my ham, the ensign's loaf, and the lieutenant's skin of the country wine. Fresh from the royal gardens we took fruit in abundance; for the season was summer, and the purple grape, the golden apple, and the ruddier orange, with the ripe pomegranate, were all to be had at arm's length from the tall, painted windows. Nor were cigars wanting: for, when investigating the contents of a certain press, I found several boxes, from which we supplied ourselves, and gave the remainder to the men of our company, who were solacing themselves in the adjacent apartments, and lounging on the velvet sofas, down ottomans, and satin fauteuils, on which the fair demoiselles of the usurper's court had sat but the day before.
"The quarter-guards were set; the out-pickets had been posted in the direction of the enemy; in the palace court, our ten pipes had sounded for the tatoo, and, wearied to excess, we lay down, some on beds, and some on benches, but many more on the hard floor, where we slept soundly, and heedless of the advancing, the marching, and skirmishing of the morrow; for we light troops had always our full share of the latter.