“You will be furnished with a native guide, well acquainted with the passes of the sierras between the Tagus and the Guadiana.  This part of your journey will not be unattended with danger, for the mountains swarm with bands of partisans; that is to say, bandits.  I shall, however, give you an order, to the officer in command of the garrison at Toledo, to furnish you with an escort of ten troopers under an officer, to conduct you across the mountains.  Four of these will accompany you to Badajos, and remain with you until you return to Toledo.  Once in the valley of the Guadiana, you should have little chance of falling in with any bands of guerrillas, but an escort will add to your weight and importance in the eyes of the Spaniards.”

“I feel greatly honoured, Your Royal Highness, by your selecting me for the mission, and will carry it out to the best of my ability.”

“In an hour the papers will be ready for you, and you can start at daybreak tomorrow.”

“We are going on a long trip this time, Mike.”

“Back to France, your honour?”

“No; we are going to the western frontier, by Badajos.”

“It makes no difference to me, sir, where we are going; but, in truth, I shall be glad to go anywhere, for I am mightily sick of this town, where the people have no great love for the French, and the best part of them seem to look down upon us soldiers, as if we were dirt under their feet.  It is unsafe to go through the streets alone at night.  A score of men have, since we came here, been found lying dead with a knife between their ribs.”

“Yes; the population here is very much divided, Mike, and even those who are favourable to Philip have no love for the foreign soldiers whose bayonets keep him on the throne.  The duke has, many times, made formal complaints to the king and the city authorities.  Philip has given strict orders for the arrest of bad characters, but the city civil authorities protest that they cannot lay hands upon them, and I believe have never taken the slightest trouble to do so.”

“How long shall we be away, your honour?”

“I should say, a month.  I am to have temporary rank as major, while engaged on this business.  Anyone under that grade would receive but little courtesy from the Spaniards.”

“They are a mighty haughty lot,” Mike grumbled.  “I believe they think that, when the flood came, the Spanish grandees had an ark all to themselves, as they could not be expected to put up with a conveyance full of animals.”

Desmond laughed.

“They haven’t yet taken in the fact that Spain is no longer the great power she was when she was mistress of half of Europe.  They were fine fighters then, Mike.  For my part, I own that I cannot understand how it is they have fallen off in that respect; for certainly, without our troops, they would make but a poor stand against the Portuguese, backed up by the English and Dutch.”