reported fully to Colonel Crofton. The latter, who was
provided with full authority, despatched the greater portion of
his troops, with a large number of peasants, with materials to
fill up the deep ruts, repair the bridges, and make the roads, as
far as possible, fit for the passage of an army.

In ten days, Desmond had surveyed all the roads down both the
valley of the Guadiana and that of the Tagus, and had sent off his
report to Madrid, together with his observations as to the points
at which a defensive position could, in his opinion, be best taken
up. Having done this, he prepared to undertake the second part of
his mission, and to investigate the roads on the Portuguese side
of the frontier.

"Now we shall have to keep our eyes open, Mike," he said. "So far
as we have heard, there are no bodies of the enemy's troops
anywhere in this neighbourhood, but there is a bitter enmity
between the Spanish and Portuguese, and we shall be liable to be
attacked by the peasants."

"Are we to ride in our uniforms, your honour?"

"Certainly we are, Mike. If we are captured in uniform, we should
be dealt with as prisoners of war and have a right to fair
treatment. If we are taken in disguise, we shall be shot as
spies."

"Faith, your honour, the alternative is not a pleasant one. If we
go as civilians, we may be shot as spies; if we go in uniform, we
may be murdered by the peasants."

"That is so, Mike. But, you see, we are not likely to fall into
the hands of the peasants. We are both well mounted, and the
peasants will be on foot, and a great proportion of them unarmed;
so that, beyond the chance of being hit by a ball, the risk is not
great."

Accordingly, on the following day they rode out, and for nearly a
week examined the lines of route across the frontier. They
followed the roads between the foot of the mountains and the
frontier, as far as Portalegre, but avoided the towns of Campo
Mayor and Arronches; crossed the hills, and struck upwards by the
bank of the Zarina to Frontiera, and thence west as far as Lavre.
They met with no interference by such peasants as they saw working
in the fields, or by those in the small villages through which
they passed, these supposing the uniforms to be those of English
or Dutch officers.

They found that the roads were fully as bad as those of Spain, and
would present great difficulty to any army with artillery and a
long train of waggons. In one of the places they heard fr