ten o’clock
Having been despatched to the rear with orders for General Crawfurd , I did not reach Talavera till the morning of the 28th . Two days ' hard fighting had left the contending armies still face to face , and without any decided advantage on either side . When I arrived upon the battle-field , the combat of the morning was over . It was then ten o'clock , and the troops were at breakfast , if the few ounces of wheat sparingly dealt out among them could be dignified by that name . All was , however , life and animation on every side ; the merry laugh , the passing jest , the careless look , bespoke the free and daring character of the soldiery , as they sat in groups upon the grass ; and except when a fatigue party passed by , bearing some wounded comrade to the rear , no touch of seriousness rested upon their hardy features . The morning was indeed a glorious one ; a sky of unclouded blue stretched above a landscape unsurpassed in loveliness . Far to the right rolled on in placid stream the broad Tagus , bathing in its eddies the very walls of Talavera , the ground from which , to our position , gently undulated across a plain of most fertile richness and terminated on our extreme left in a bold height , protected in front by a ravine , and flanked by a deep and rugged valley .