principal inn a man, dressed in some attempt at a uniform, came out from a
door.

"You are a British officer, sir?" he asked Terence, raising his broad hat
courteously.

"I am an officer on the English general's staff, and am proceeding on a
mission from him to the northern frontier to ascertain the best means of
defence, and the route that the enemy are most likely to move by if they
attempt to invade Portugal from that direction."

"The French general would hardly venture to do that," the officer said,
disdainfully, "when there will be 50,000 Portuguese to bar his way."

"He may be in ignorance of the force that will gather to meet him,"
Terence said, gravely, and with difficulty restraining a smile at the
confident tone of this leader of an armed mob. "However, I have my orders
to carry out. Do you not think," he said, turning to Herrara, "that it
will be better for us to go on to the next hamlet, if there is one within
two or three miles. I fear there is little chance of obtaining any
accommodation for our men here."

"There is no need for that," the Portuguese colonel broke in. "There is a
large house at the end of the village that is at present vacant; the
proprietor, who was a disturber of the peace, and who belonged to the
French faction, was killed last week in the course of a disturbance
created by him. I, as Commissioner of the Junta here, had the house closed
up, but it is quite at your service."

As the march had already been a long one, Terence thought it best to