ere is no
saying how long one may be kept."

"If we find any difficulty in crossing into Portugal this side of
Badajoz, I shall not mind going down to Cadiz. I should have no
difficulty, there, in getting a ship to Lisbon."

"Well, we shall see," the muleteer said. "We will go the short way,
if we can. I hate the Portuguese, and they are no fonder of us; but
with you with me, of course, I should not be afraid of interference
from them."

"But the Portuguese are fighting on our side, and aiding us to help
you."

"Yes, because they think it is better that the war should be
carried on here than in their own country. Besides, from what I
hear, it is with no goodwill that they fight under your British
general; but only because he tells them that, unless they furnish
so many troops, he will have nothing more to do with them, but will
sail away with his army to England."

"That may be true, Garcia; but you know that when we were here--for
I was with the British army that marched through Salamanca--the
Spanish authorities were no more willing to assist than were the
Portuguese; and not a single soldier--with the exception of two or
three thousand half-armed men under Romana--joined, from the day we
crossed the frontier to that on which we embarked to Corunna."

"The authorities are all bad," Garcia said scornfully. "They only
think of feathering their own nests, and of quarrelling among
themselves. The people are patriots, but what can they do when the
Juntas keep the arms the English have sent us in their magazines,
and divide the money among themselves? Then our generals know
nothing of their business, and have their own ambitions and
rivalries. We are all ready to fight; and when the drum is beaten
and we are called out, we go willingly enough. But what do we do
when we go out? We are marched backwards and forwards without
motive; the officers are no good; and when at last we do see the
French we are always beaten, and the generals and the officers are
the first to run away.

"We ought in the first place to rise, not against the French, but
against the Juntas, and the councillors, and the hidalgos. Then,
when we have done with them, we ought to choose officers from among
ourselves, men that have done good service as leaders of partisans.
Then we could meet the French. We are brave enough, when we are
well led. See how the people fought at Saragossa, and since then at
Gerona, and many other places. We are not afrai