Half a dozen officers at once offered to go, and a captain and three
lieutenants were told off for the work.

"They know how to make cigars, if they don't know anything else," Captain
O'Driscol said; "this is a first-rate weed."

"So it ought to be by the brand," another officer said. "I took the two
boxes from a cupboard that was locked up. There are a dozen more like
them, and I thought it was as well to take them out; they are at present
under the table. I have no doubt that they are real Havannas, and have
probably been got for some grandee or other."

"He will have to do without them," O'Grady said, calmly, as he lighted his
second cigar; "they are too good for any Spaniard under the sun. And,
moreover, if we did not take them you may be sure that the French would
have them to-morrow, and I should say that the Central Junta of the
Province will be mighty pleased to know that the tobacco was smoked by
their allies instead of by the French."

"I don't suppose that they will care much about it one way or another,"
O'Driscol remarked; "their pockets are so full of English gold that the
loss of a few tons of tobacco won't affect them much. I enjoy my cigar
immensely, and have the satisfaction of knowing that for once I have got
something out of a Spaniard--it is the first thing since I landed."

"Well, boys, we had better be off to sleep," the colonel said. "I am so
sleepy that I can hardly keep my eyes open, and you ought to be worse, for
you have tramped well-nigh forty miles to-day. See that the sentry at the
door keeps awake, Captain Humphrey; you are officer of the day; upon my
word I am sorry for you. Tell him he can light up if he likes, but if he