accept the offer. The colonel called a man, who presently brought a key,
and accompanied them to the house in question. It showed signs at once of
mob violence. The snow in the garden was trampled down, the windows
broken, and one of the lower ones smashed in as if an entry had been
effected here. The door was riddled with bullet holes. Upon this being
opened the destruction within was seen to be complete, rooms being strewn
with broken furniture and litter of all sorts.

"At any rate there is plenty of firewood," the lieutenant said, as he
ordered his men to clear out one of the rooms. "There has been dastardly
work here," he went on, as the man who had brought the key left the place.

"Yes, I have no doubt the proprietor, whoever he was, has been foully
murdered, and as likely as not by the orders of that fellow we met, who
says he is Commissioner of the Junta. I should not be surprised if we have
trouble with him before we have done. I should think, Herrara, you had
better send off a couple of men to get what they can in the way of
provisions and a skin of wine. This is a cheerless-looking place, and
these broken windows are not of much use for keeping out the cold. Bull,
you had better see if you can find something among all this rubbish to
hang up in front of the window, for in its present state it merely creates
a draught."

The orderly went out, and returned with two torn curtains.

"There has been some bad work going on here, sir," he said. "There are
pools of blood in three of the rooms upstairs, and it is evident that
there has been a desperate struggle. One of the doors is broken in, and
there are several shot-holes through it."