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The long column of misery tended continually to grow longer, as the more robust struggled to get as far as possible from the pursuing French, and as the weaker fell farther and farther behind. There were enough weaklings in all conscience; even in summer the men had been badly clothed, and even in victory insufficiently fed, and now it was winter, and Espinosa had been fought and lost, and the route of the retreat lay away from the fertile plains and up into the inhospitable mountains. The rain had fallen upon them in deluges for days and now as they climbed higher it was turning into sleet, and a bitter cold wind blew. Ahead of them, they could see the snow lying thick on the mountain passes through which they would have to climb, without food or fuel or rest, and with the terror of the French to urge them on. Disease had come inevitably to complete the work so well begun by hunger, exposure, and the sword.